Robert Young Pelton

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Robert Young Pelton
Born July 25, 1955 (1955-07-25) (age 53)
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Occupation Journalist, Author, Filmmaker
Children He lives in Los Angeles with his wife and twin daughters.
Official website

Robert Young Pelton (b. July 25, 1955, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada), is an author, journalist and documentary filmmaker. A self-styled adventurer, he considers himself a "witness" to conflict, rather than a serious journalist and promotes this image publicly and as a business. He has witnessed conflicts such as the siege of Grozny in Chechnya, the battle of Qala-I-Jangi in Afghanistan, the rebel campaign to take Monrovia in Liberia and survived an assassination attempt in Uganda.[1] Also, he spent time with the CIA during the hunt for Bin Laden and also with both insurgents and Blackwater security contractors during the war in Iraq.[2]

Pelton's regularly published guide The World's Most Dangerous Places, which provides practical and survival information for people who work and travel in high risk zones, was a best seller.[3] With the book's best seller status Pelton has become a self-proclaimed expert on travel and "high-risk" travel.[4][5] He was also host of the Discovery Travel Channel series "Robert Young Pelton's The World's Most Dangerous Places" from 1998 to 2003. Now residing in Los Angeles, California, Pelton currently writes books and produces documentaries on conflict-related subjects. He is also an occasional television and magazine interview subject, often appearing as an often humorous raconteur of his various misfortunes and safety tips on shows as diverse as Oprah, Conan O'Brien, CNN, Fox, BBC, ABC, CBS, NBC and others. In 2007 with former CNN member, Eason Jordan he started Praedict, which describes itself as a "war zone-focused media company providing customized, up-to-the-minute news, intelligence, and safety tips to those in harm's way." Praedict's first project is the Iraq focused news site, Iraqslogger.com.[6]

Contents

[edit] Bio

Pelton was born July 25, 1955, in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. He became the youngest student ever to attend St John's Cathedral Boy's School a Canadian survival school in Selkirk, Manitoba.[7] The school was later closed down after the deaths of a number of students.[7] Pelton went on to become a lumberjack, boundary cutter, tunneler, driller and blaster's assistant before getting his first job as a copywriter when he was 17 in Toronto, working for the ad agency BBDO, having originally been working in the mailroom.[8] He moved to the United States where he worked for various multimedia companies that did product launches like working directly with Steve Jobs with the Lisa launch and Macintosh launch.[1] In his mid forties he retired from the business world and focused his time on understanding conflict. Pelton quickly made a name for himself traveling and reporting from the dirty wars, rebel camps and war zones.[9] He got his break as a writer while reporting on the Camel Trophy, an annual event in which teams from around the world competed by overcoming some of the world's most hostile natural environments in Land Rovers. He was with the U.S. team and published his account in Soldier of Fortune.[8]

While in Uganda he missed a bomb assassination attempt by the ADF, an islamic group by 10 minutes at the Speke's Hotel.[1] In January 2003, Pelton was assigned by Discovery and National Geographic to do a television special and article on the Darien Gap. Pelton and two 22 year old travelers were ambushed, killing one Kuna Indian and injuring one other. The group was then kidnapped and marched at gunpoint through the Darien Gap by the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) and held for 10 days before being released.[10][11]

While Pelton was being held, Commandate Roberto the AUC and a column of militia then brutally decapitated and disemboweled the leaders of the village of Paya whom Pelton had stayed with. They went to burn a number of houses in their efforts to punish the Indians for supporting the FARC. When AUC leader Carlos Castano finally learned of the identity of the hostages, he ordered Pelton and his companions released and issued a press release to Reuters stating that they were being held for their safety. [12]

Pelton contributed to National Geographic Adventure as both a Contributing Editor and a long running Columnist from January 2001 to 2007. In December 2007 he released his article on Blackwater Worldwide.[13] He has been in negotiations with the President of Equatorial Guinea regarding the arrested coup plotters, many of whom had worked for Executive Outcomes in the mid-1990s. The story behind the coup and his efforts to free Nick du Toit and Simon Mann are documented in the May 2008 Men's Journal "How to Stage a Coup".

In January 2009 Pelton resumed his classic immersion style coverage by going inside the Army's controversial Human Terrain Teams.[14] Pelton is currently researching and traveling in Djibouti, Somaliland, Puntland and Yemen with not only pirates but with an anti piracy crew researching the piracy and anti-piracy industry as well as contributing to his own new media ventures; IraqSlogger, AfPax and other publications.

In a return to his background doing licensed products for Lucasfilm, Disney, Marvel and others Pelton has also released a new limited edition survival knife called the DPx H•E•S•T (hostile environment survival tool) at www.dpxgear.com. Pelton has also been seen with with the top U.S military command in Kabul, Afghanistan.

[edit] Projects

Pelton has built a career around his own unique experiential style of reportage and documentary filmmaking, spending time with many different terrorist, rebel or insurgent groups around the world, often returning with exclusive and unique footage. Pelton began the "SoJo" concept or solo journalist concept for ABC News in 1996. Pelton filed copy, photos and video as he went to the world's longest running hotspots. The series called "Dangerous Places" had a viewership of 800,000 people per day (second highest rated web event at the time after the death of Diana) as they followed Pelton to Bougainville, Afghanistan and the Sudan. Peter Jennings' documentary crew Bob Woodruff and Jay Ananai abandoned their attempts to follow Pelton.[citation needed]

[edit] Writing projects

Robert Young Pelton's first major writing project was the breakthrough guide to conflict; The World's Most Dangerous Places.[15] The massive 1000 page plus book was disguised as a travel guide and written in a humorous and apolitical style. The first edition was written in 1993 and it currently is in its fifth edition. The mascot of the book is Mr. DP, a laughing skull that has been seen stickered on AK's and in bars around the world.

Pelton has written about contemporary private military contractors (Licensed to Kill, Hired Guns in the War on Terror), as well as his experiences with US Special Forces in the opening weeks in the war on terror.[16][17][18][19] He has also written a fictionalized account of his early life, entitled Raven, as well as an autobiography entitled The Adventurist.[20] He is currently working on the updated version of DP: Professional Strength while writing a column entitled, "Pelton's World" for National Geographic Adventure.

Among Pelton's many interviews: Hashim Salamat of the MILF in the Southern Philippines; "Mono Jojoy", "Tiro fijo" Marulando and the top FARC leadership in Colombia; Francis Ona, the leader of the BRA in Bougainville; Abdul Rashid Dostum; [21] Ahmed Shah Massoud[22]; Al Qaeda prisoners and the world's first interview with the senior Taliban leadership in Afghanistan; the world exclusive interview of captured Russian GRU agent Aleksey Galkin in Grozny, Chechnya who implicated Russia in the bombing of apartment buildings that led to the second war in Chechyna.[23]; the first post 9/11 interview with the American Al Qaeda jihadi John Walker Lindh in December 2001 (Lindh was the second American jihadi who had been trained and fought for bin Laden;[24] the first was Aqil Collins who was featured in Pelton's DPTV America special along with Russell Means, Willie Nelson and Peter Fonda). Pelton most recently did exclusive interviews with imprisoned mercenary Niek Du Toit and President Obiang in Equatorial Guinea, and with Erik Prince, the owner of Blackwater USA.[25]

Some of the groups Pelton has lived with and interviewed include, the Northern Alliance in Afghanistan, the LURD rebels in Liberia, MILF in the Southern Philippines, Bougainville Revolutionary Army, the SPLA in Southern Sudan, the Taliban leadership in Kabul, the FARC leadership in Colombia, and the Chechen rebel leadership. His interviews initially were to create "The World's Most Dangerous Places". His unusual and death-defying efforts to get this access soon then morphed into his TV series and then into a series of other books and film projects.

Pelton has shown how he gets access and interviews in his TV series "The World's Most Dangerous Places" for the Discovery Channel.

Pelton has also investigated from the inside the drug business in Colombia and Peru, mafyia in Georgia and Turkey, and bounty hunting in Mexico.

Pelton purchased and later sold the Fielding travel guide concession named after Temple Fielding.

[edit] Television Series

Pelton exec produced and hosted seven one hour specials for Discovery from 1998 until 2003. According to the site www.comebackalive.com (which has video clips and a timeline) This was the line up of Pelton's series:

1) "The Crescent and the Cross" - first footage of a new communist rebel group on the island of Negros, the MILF, pirates, a Crucifixion and Pelton tracks down the most wanted man in the Philippines, the man who killed Special Forces legend Nick Rowe

2) "The Lion of the Pansjshir" - Pelton enters Afghanistan to find Ahmed Shah Massoud and then he enters the war on both sides. First with the Northern Alliance and then the feared Taliban.

3) "Home of the Brave" - A journey through America on a motorcycle to find rebels, revolutionaries and militias. Pelton visits with country & western singer Willie Nelson, native American activist Russell Means, motorcycle icon Peter Fonda and finds an American jihadi Aqil Collins who trained in terrorist training camps run by Osama bin Laden

4) "Inside Afghanistan" - In his first post 9/11 show Pelton reenters Afghanistan, this time he is only outside witness to war with a Special Forces team that fights on horseback with a brutal warlord, General Rashid Dostum. He is in the battle of Qali Jangi and finds an American jihadi named John Walker Lindh, introducing the world to the first American al Qaeda member ever interviewed on the battlefield

5) "Inside Liberia" - Pelton enters a little known war in which he is surrounded by armed child soldiers in a brutal fight to the death. The rag tag LURD rebels and Pelton's group is surrounded by the violent forces of Charles Taylor. Pelton becomes close to the Small Boys Unit, a group of child soldiers and we meet "Survival" a 5 year old gun toting killer who befriends Pelton.

6) "Inside Colombia" - Pelton is the first outside to interview and meets with the leaders (Marulando, Raul Reyes, Mono Jojoy, Alphonso Cano) of the deadly left wing FARC rebel group. Barely escaping being kidnapped by Mono Jojoy at a drunken party. Pelton then switches sides and searches for the right wing death AUC squads. While waiting he provides a rare inside view on the cocaine trade from growing to picking to processing the final product.

7) "Kidnapped" - Pelton intended to be back from vacation to film a show about 9/11 in America but was kidnapped. His footage of the brutal kidnap is interwoven with previous trips to Grozny, Chechnya where he interviews a captured Russian spy Aleksi Galkin, then to Uganda where a young terrorist puts a bomb under Pelton's table at the Speke's Hotel seriously injuring a number of patrons. Pelton then spends a long bloody night in Kampala, Uganda at other bomb sites trying to save shattered victims before heading to meet the SPLA in Southern Sudan and finally Peru in which Pelton's journey inside the drug war is cut short when he is hit and seriously injured by a car while riding his motorcycle on a mountain road.

Although the WMDP series under Discovery's Mike Cheskin were renewed for another year, Pelton's series of specials were cancelled by Discovery after Pelton left for Iraq.

[edit] Documentaries

He would produce "House of War" with award winning documentary director Paul Yule to document the largest and most bloody battle in the operation and work on more personal documentaries and projects. Pelton headed to Iraq to cover the war for ABC Investigative and then led a search for a find of chemical tipped rockets for CBS's 60 Minutes. Pelton eventually chose to hang out along the Syrian border with insurgents and later document evidence of mass graves around the country, traveling in a red Bentley previously owned by Uday Hussein.

Pelton would return to Iraq in late 2004 to live with a Blackwater USA security team running Route Irish in Baghdad while researching his bookLicensed to Kill, Hired Guns in the War on Terror.

Pelton continues to be featured in a number of upcoming documentaries on a diverse variety of subjects that range from mercenaries, child soldiers, security contractors and conflict. They are a diverse selection including "Iraq for Sale" by Robert Greenwald, "Shadow Company" by Nick Bicanic, "Weapons of Mass Deception" by Danny Schecter, "Children at War" and "Bounty Hunting" by Bobby Williams as well as news documentaries and interviews by Al Jazeera, CNN, Dan Rather and many others.

[edit] Personal Appearances

Pelton has promoted his controversial agenda of experiential education in selected venues like TED, colleges, television and long form radio like Coast to Coast.[26] His view that people must take responsibility for their own education, safety and insight and form their own opinions outside of the media and political environment has created a following at Black Flag Café.

[edit] Bibliography

  • Robert Young Pelton. Licensed to Kill, Hired Guns in the War on Terror (Reprint edition (August 28, 2007) ed.). Three Rivers Press. pp. 368. ISBN 1400097827. 
  • Robert Young Pelton. DP Professional Strength (September 1, 2007 ed.). Collins. pp. 304. ISBN 0061120219. 
  • Robert Young Pelton. The World's Most Dangerous Places (April 1, 2003 ed.). Collins. pp. 1088. ISBN 0060011602. 
  • Robert Young Pelton. The Adventurist, My Life In Dangerous Places (June 19, 2001 ed.). Broadway. pp. 268. ISBN 0767905768. 
  • Robert Young Pelton. Hunter Hammer and Heaven, Journeys to Three World's Gone Mad (January 1, 2002 ed.). The Lyons Press. pp. 320. ISBN 1585744166. 
  • Robert Young Pelton. Come Back Alive (June 1, 1999 ed.). Main Street Books. pp. 304. ISBN 0385495668. 
  • Robert Young Pelton. Hired Guns (June 28, 2007 ed.). Constable and Robinson. pp. 320. ISBN 1845295900. 
  • The Best American Travel Writing
  • Best Adventure and Travel Stories
  • Robert Young Pelton; Mark Bowden; Tracy Kidder; Philip TaubmanNate Hardcastle; Clint Williseds. (in English) American Soldier: Stories of Special Forces from Iraq to Afghanistan (First Edition edition (October 27, 2002) ed.)Da Capo Presspp. 364ISBN 1560254386 
  • Boots on the Ground
  • Robert Young Pelton. Fielding's Hot Spots, Travel in Harm's Way (December 1997 ed.). Fielding Worldwide. pp. 256. ISBN 1569521662. 
  • Robert Young Pelton. Fielding's Borneo: The Adventurous Guide to the Island of Borneo Covering Brunei, Kalimantan, Sabah and Sarawak/1995 (Fielding's Borneo) (June 1995 ed.). Fielding Worldwide. pp. 704. ISBN 1569520267. 
  • Robert Young Pelton. Three Worlds Gone Mad: Dangerous Journeys through the War Zones of Africa, Asia, and the South Pacific (First edition (December 1, 2003) ed.). The Lyons Press. pp. 320. ISBN 1592281001. 

[edit] Awards

[edit] External links

[edit] National Geographic Adventure Columns

"Pelton's World" column from National Geographic Adventure Magazine

[edit] Other

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c "The World's most Dangerous places" (HTML). lost.art.br. 2009. http://www.lost.art.br/ryp_e.htm. Retrieved on 2009-04-08. 
  2. ^ "Author, Journalist and Documentary Filmmaker Robert Young Pelton to Speak Oct. 10" (HTML). University of Pittsburgh. 10/5/2007. http://www.upj.pitt.edu/12453/. Retrieved on 2007-12-18. 
  3. ^ "Robert Young Pelton" (HTML). PBS. 2004-03-24. http://www.pbs.org/kcet/tavissmiley/archive/200403/20040324.html. Retrieved on 2009-04-08. "His New York Times bestseller, The World's Most Dangerous Places, is an underground classic in the CIA" 
  4. ^ Daintry Duffy (2007). "Robert Young Pelton: The World's Most Dangerour Places" (HTML). CXO Media Inc.. http://www.csoonline.com/article/print/219645. Retrieved on 2009-04-08. 
  5. ^ "The Ultimate Emergency Kit Interview with Robert Young Pelton" (HTML). publicradio.org. 2004. http://savvytraveler.publicradio.org/show/features/1999/19990109/interview.shtml. Retrieved on 2009-04-08. 
  6. ^ "About us" (HTML). Praedict. 2007. http://www.iraqslogger.com/index.php/category/8/AboutUs. Retrieved on 2009-04-09. 
  7. ^ a b "Robert Young Pelton" (HTML). dpgear.com. 2007. http://www.comebackalive.com/df/authors.htm. Retrieved on 2009-04-11. 
  8. ^ a b Rolf Potts (2009). "Robert Young Pelton's Come Back Alive" (HTML). Vagabonding. http://www.rolfpotts.com/writers/index.php?writer=Robert+Young+Pelton. Retrieved on 2009-04-9. 
  9. ^ David Isenberg (November 4, 2006). "Mercenaries or 'contractors'? Licensed to Kill by Robert Young Pelton" (HTML). Asia Times Online. http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/HK04Ak01.html. Retrieved on 2009-04-09. 
  10. ^ "3 Americans freed, 2 journalists still captive in Colombia" (HTML). CNN News. 2003-01-24. http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/americas/01/24/colombia.journalists/. Retrieved on 2007-05-22. 
  11. ^ Markey, Sean (January 22, 2003). "Adventure Writer Reportedly Kidnapped in Panama" (HTML). National Geographic News. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/01/0122_030122_kidnapping.html. Retrieved on 2007-05-15. 
  12. ^ "Robert Young Pelton's World: The Kidnap Course". National Geographic. May 2006. http://www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/0605/columns/robert_young_pelton.html. Retrieved on 06 January 2009. 
  13. ^ Robert Young Pelton (December 2007). "title" (PDF). Mens Journal. http://www.coloyan.com/media/blackwater.pdf. Retrieved on 2009-04-11. 
  14. ^ Robert Young Pelton (January 21, 2009). "Afghanistan: The New War for Hearts and Minds" (HTML). Mens Journal. http://www.mensjournal.com/new-war-for-hearts-and-minds. Retrieved on 2009-04-11. 
  15. ^ Author Robert Young Pelton with Raul Reyes (2007). "Book advises how to survive in trouble spots" (HTML). CNN News. http://archives.cnn.com/2001/TRAVEL/NEWS/03/02/danger.side/index.html. Retrieved on 2009-04-08. 
  16. ^ "Kerry Candaele's interview with Robert Pelton" (HTML Transcript of video). Iraq for sale. 2009. http://iraqforsale.org/robert_pelton.php. Retrieved on 2009-04-09. 
  17. ^ Ken Silverstein (September 7, 2006). "Six Questions for Robert Young Pelton" (HTML). Harper's. http://www.harpers.org/archive/2006/09/sb-six-questions-robert-young-pelton-1157654152. Retrieved on 2009-04-09. 
  18. ^ "Congress Investigates Private Military Contracts in Iraq" (HTML). PBS. February 7, 2007. http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/middle_east/jan-june07/outsourcing_02-07.html. Retrieved on 2009-04-09. 
  19. ^ Robert Young Pelton (April 2005 issue). "Riding Shotgun in Baghdad with Blackwater's Security Detail" (HTML). Popular Mechanics. http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/military_law/1506812.html?nav=hpPrint&do=print. Retrieved on 2009-04-09. 
  20. ^ Robert Young Pelton. The Adventurist, My Life In Dangerous Places (June 19, 2001 ed.). Broadway. pp. 268. ISBN 0767905768. 
  21. ^ Mark Scheffler (2002-04-23). "The real war on terrorism" (HTML). Salon. http://dir.salon.com/story/books/int/2002/04/23/pelton/print.html. Retrieved on 2009-04-09. 
  22. ^ "Robert Young Pelton: Insights into Afghanistan" (HTML). CNN News. October 2, 2001. http://archives.cnn.com/2001/COMMUNITY/10/02/pelton/index.html. Retrieved on 2009-04-08. 
  23. ^ Pg 188 - Robert Young Pelton. Hunter Hammer and Heaven, Journeys to Three World's Gone Mad (January 1, 2002 ed.). The Lyons Press. p. 320. ISBN 1585744166. 
  24. ^ DONNA KELLEY, CNN ANCHOR interviewing Pelton (December 2, 2001). "American Fighting for the Taliban now P.O.W." (HTML). CNN News. http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0112/02/sun.13.html. Retrieved on 2009-04-08. 
  25. ^ Jay Price (November 05, 2006). "Soldiers for hire" (HTML). The News & Observer Publishing Company. http://www.newsobserver.com/105/story/506536-p2.html. Retrieved on 2009-04-09. "Pelton gets an extraordinary amount of access to Erik Prince, Blackwater's boyish, low-profile owner" 
  26. ^ "Pelton is a regular guest on Coast to Coast" (HTML). Coast to Coast. 2009. http://www.coasttocoastam.com/guests/473.html. Retrieved on 2009-04-09. 
  27. ^ "PLATINUM Pelton" (HTML). oss.net. 2009. http://www.oss.net/extra/page/?action=page_show&id=363&module_instance=1. Retrieved on 2009-04-08. 
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