Michael Ware interviewed by Aussie Andrew Denton ("Enough Rope") July 2004

[lebkuchen]

There are two types of war correspondent - those who stick to the circuit of military briefings, safe hotels and careful excursions into unstable areas, and those who throw themselves at the job with apparently reckless disregard for their own safety. Mike Ware is one of the latter. Writing from Afghanistan and Iraq for 'Time' magazine, he spent much of the past few years behind enemy lines, bringing back stories of the Taliban, Afghani war lords and, more recently, Iraqi insurgents. A few weeks ago some of those insurgents sent him tapes showing in chilling detail just how they go about their work, tapes whose images were soon flashed around the world.


ANDREW DENTON: Mike, thanks for being on Enough Rope. How does a boy from Brisbane end up in the middle of an Iraqi insurgency?

MICHAEL WARE: Yeah, I'm sort of asking myself that same question every night before I go to sleep. It's quite hard to fathom actually. But, yeah, from suburban Brisbane to the trenches in Baghdad, to having the words I write read in the White House, it's all quite a trip actually.

ANDREW DENTON: The President reads?

MICHAEL WARE: Well, so we're told, or perhaps it's read to him! I did say it was "read in the White House".

ANDREW DENTON: Your ability to get close up to groups that others can't is quite extraordinary and you describe this as 'gumshoe journalism' - you're basically on the ground with the Iraqis, earning their trust. How do you do that?

MICHAEL WARE: Well, it's pretty difficult, as you can imagine. I've been here in Iraq for just over 18 months now. I arrived before the war and then was here through all the conflict. And then as soon as the first phase, as I call it, of the war finished - the actual invasion - I quickly turned my attentions to the second phase which we're in now, the insurgency and the occupation.

Now, I started off very simply with the 'bad guys' as people from the West and certainly Fox News likes to call them. In the beginning they were just ragtag groups - you, me, a cousin, Ahmed, we go out, we shoot at a passing American convoy and feel a lot better for it. So, I started just hooking up with these guys, talking to them individually. Over time, they started to get their act together and they formed into groups, then that group would join another group and then suddenly there'd be a structure and it would grow and there'd be commanders. And I just kept in touch and followed them as they progressed, so it's taken well over a year and it's had some moments, I can tell you.

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http://www.abc.net.au/tv/enoughrope/transcripts/s1162781.htm