He had been hunted, kidnapped, and told he was filming his own execution. But CNN correspondent Michael Ware had no plans to leave Iraq. Now, it won’t leave him.
by Greg Veis
“I am not the same fucking person,” he tells me. “I am not the same person. I don’t know how to come home.”
It’s October, six months after our first meeting, and Michael Ware, 39, is at his girlfriend’s apartment in New York, trying to tell me why after six years he absolutely must start spending less time in Iraq. He’s crying on the other end of the telephone.
“Will I get any better?” he continues. “I honestly don’t know. I can’t see the — right now, I know no other way to live.”
To begin to understand where he’s coming from, Ware wants you to see a movie. He filmed it. It’s just after midnight during the second battle of Fallujah, November 2004. The marine unit he’s hooked up with has cornered six insurgents inside a house, and with no air support available, the only way to take them out is person-to-person. Staff Sergeant David Bellavia doesn’t like the sound of that — odds are one of his men, or he, will die in the pitch-black of an unfamiliar house — but he knows he can’t just let these guys go. So he asks for volunteers to go with him: Three men raise their hands, followed by Ware, who as a reporter (then for Time, now for CNN) is the only one without a gun or night goggles, and still can’t explain why he went along. He just couldn’t not.
Ware flips on his video camera and creeps into the house six feet behind Bellavia. His device is picking up nothing but darkness and the slow, creaking sound of footsteps. Then, light, blinding light. Bullets ping around the living room, and before he knows what’s going on, two bodies drop. Bellavia has knocked off the first of them. For the next hour — until all six insurgents are carried out dead from the house — Ware captures that same pattern of blackness and near silence (in the background you can hear the insurgents chanting, “Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar”) pierced by gunfire and screaming.
Ware believes he recorded the perfect war experience that night, a snapshot you can get only from terrifying proximity. He dreams of renting out a theater and subjecting an audience to it in full surround sound; that way people would know what it’s really like over there. “It’s my firm belief that we need to constantly jar the sensitivities of the people back home,” he says. “War is a jarring experience. Your kids are living it out, and you’ve inflicted it upon 20-odd million Iraqis. And when your brothers and sons and mates from the football team come home, and they ain’t quite the same, you have an obligation to sit for three and a half minutes and share something of what it’s like to be there.”
It’s an obligation now owed to Michael Ware, too.
When I first met Ware, in Amsterdam last April, it was four in the afternoon. He had just gotten up. He was hungover as hell and already into his first beer of the day. His face was scruffy, his shirt unbuttoned to his sternum; he was wearing wraparounds to block the light. “I can’t begin to tell you how little I’m in the mood for this,” were his first words to me. Even in his weakened state — maybe because of it — he seemed like the ideal of a foreign correspondent: His thick Aussie accent and facial contortions, his crime novelist diction and that sad, twisted nose, broken so many times on a rugby field that he stopped counting at a dozen. “I can break it for you right now,” he offered.
Over more beers his mood improved and he told me his story. He arrived in Iraq before the Americans did, in early 2003, after 13 months in Afghanistan. Since then he has been shot at, hunted, blindfolded, and stuffed into the back of cars, marked for death, and kidnapped — including once, in 2004, by an angry flock of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi’s boys. They dragged Ware into an anonymous building in Baghdad, hung up a banner, and were preparing to tape his execution with his own camera — until an Iraqi friend of his, a former Baathist, insisted they spare his life. “I didn’t leave my hotel room for three days after that,” he said. “I was nauseated for weeks.”
Yet he was also in love with the war, he said. Addicted to it. Felt that he had stumbled upon the story he was born to tell.
“Do you want to get to the nub of life?” Ware asked me. “To strip away the bullshit? Life is so distilled down in war — that’s an obvious statement — but to be able to see it with your own eyes and be able to discover that which lies within yourself, I don’t know, it’s more than life changing.
“You just can’t talk about things with anybody else — except those who know,” he said, seemingly oblivious to his girlfriend, photographer Lorena Ros, two feet away.
Although he takes pains not to dog fellow correspondents, it’s clear Ware thinks he has a bead on Iraq that others don’t. In 2006 he told CNN he couldn’t abide by the stringent security measures imposed on employees in Iraq, which inhibited travel in favor of safety. “In either its infinite wisdom or endless insanity,” he says, CNN acquiesced.
This freedom has helped Ware stay a year in front of conventional wisdom. In 2003, while others were covering the conquest of Baghdad, he talked with Iraqi policemen and soldiers, the men who would become the insurgency. Then in 2004, when Donald Rumsfeld was dismissing these insurgents as “dead-enders,” Ware was reporting on their strength after seeing their training camps firsthand. Two years later, Ware was branding the conflict in Iraq a civil war while the Bush administration boasted about the results of Iraq’s democratic elections. This year his obsession has been the extent of Iran’s influence over the Iraqi government.
“Baby, I’ll be there filming that last chopper as it flies off the embassy that you’re giving to Iran,” Ware says.
“From the moment the first American tanks crossed the Kuwait border, America was in a proxy war with Iran,” Ware says. “The Iranians knew it, but it took the U.S. four years to figure it out. Now the Iraqi government is comprised almost entirely of factions created in Iran, supported by Iran, or with ties to the Iranian government — as many as 23 members of the Iraqi parliament are former members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard.”
Explaining why he first wanted to become a war reporter, Ware mentions an Australian cameraman named Neil Davis, whose interviews he used to listen to as a child. Davis is famous for shooting footage of a North Vietnamese tank running through the presidential palace in Saigon; he’s also known for filming his own death during a 1985 coup in Bangkok. Among his maxims was that it’s one thing to film a soldier firing his weapon, but it’s a whole other thing to shoot the expression on his face as he does it.
“If you think about it, to get that expression on his face, what do you have to do?” Ware asks. “You have to break from cover and expose yourself. You have to get in front of the man who is shooting and being shot at. Because that’s where the story is, in that face.”
—-
Ware’s detractors have painted him as a drunk, a rage-aholic, a partisan. They claim he heckled John McCain at a press conference and accuse him of being a terrorist stooge for airing enemy footage of U.S. troops being gunned down — anything to mark him as, at best, too rough to be trusted or, at worst, outright unhinged. And though he’s still able to perform during his three-and-a-half-minute spots on CNN, it isn’t hard to make a case against him for erratic behavior. Fellow reporters claim Ware has bragged about being drunk on air (he denies it) and has destroyed television equipment during epic tantrums (“Things get broken in bureaus from time to time; it’s just normal wear and tear,” he demurs). He admits to having a terrible time sustaining relationships and once got in an altercation with another man over his former girlfriend (and fellow tabloid fodder) CBS reporter Lara Logan. He can’t sleep and watches trash TV until the sun comes up over Baghdad. In short, he hasn’t been well for a while.
“The American military is guilty of an unmitigated war crime,” Ware says, his face flush. For the first time since we met, he falls silent. “Near beer. In any civilized army that goes to war, the fundamental rule is two cans, per man, per day. This rule about no alcohol for the soldiers is absurd. That’s what Nuremberg was about, all right.” It’s a good line, the kind of black humor that endears Ware to the troops.
“I can’t stand the media, but I would go through hell with a bucket of gasoline for Michael Ware,” says Sergeant Bellavia, who was nominated for the Medal of Honor for his service in Fallujah. “He goes through all the things we go through — 55 cigs a day, no sleep. And if we were allowed to drink, we’d drink as much as he does.
“When you look at him, you look into vacant eyes. He looks like my military friends do. He’s seen enough shit.”
But finally, slowly, Ware is starting to pull out of Iraq. Instead of living there 11 months of the year, he is cutting down to six, traveling to other war zones around the world to report for CNN.
“I’m a war dog,” he says. “After seven straight years, you’re always hypervigilant, always on alert. You become conditioned to a state of being where everything is a threat and it’s hard to turn that off; that becomes your normal. There’s an old cliché about the legendary war correspondent who comes home to find he has no wife or many ex-wives, no kids or kids who won’t talk to him, who has no tapestry to his life. At some point you have to consciously reclaim your life.”
It’s a tough balance. On one hand, he feels tremendous responsibility for his best friends in the war: his team of Iraqi translators, drivers, and fixers. At least three of them have been abducted and tortured for personal information on Ware, and not one rolled on him. All of them would die for him.
“How do you ever reconcile the fact that you’ve abandoned your brotherhood and you know that they’ll eventually be killed because of their association with you?” Ware asks. “How do you say, ‘Hey, guys, we’ve traveled a long ride, so if you survive, drop me a line in 10 years and let me know you’re alive and we can catch up’? It doesn’t work like that.”
“I can’t stand the media,” Sergeant Bellavia says, “but I would go through hell with a bucket of gasoline for Michael Ware.”
As uncomfortable as he is with the idea of his leaving Iraq, if Ware were setting policy, American forces would be in Iraq for a very, very long time. He shudders at the idea of massive American troop withdrawals. Horrific genocide, he predicts; worse than Bosnia. “John McCain said, ‘The war’s going so well, so why stop now?’ I say it’s going so badly that we have to pay the price to prevent what’s to come.”
“The successes in bringing down the violence are undeniable, yet America hasn’t been looking at the price to deliver these successes. Obama can bring American kids home tomorrow, but are you willing to mortgage your foreign policy future in that region? Are you willing to walk away from a stronger Iran that is gaining leverage to be a nuclear power? Are you willing to accept your diminished influence in the Middle East? As long as the American public is willing to ante up, then you can bring them home.”
Last April he boasted of his ability to persevere. Alluding to the fall of Saigon, he said, “Baby, I’ll be there filming that last chopper as it flies off the embassy that you’re giving to Iran.” In October, I asked if he’ll still hang on to the bitter end.
“Fucking A right!” he shoots back. But within minutes, he’s welling up again, talking about how badly he needs to make a change. “You lose touch with life. It sounds trite, but I need to find humanity again a little bit. In so many ways, war casts a shadow across you that will never leave, dark places seen that can never be forgotten,” Ware says. “When you get to the point where you come home from a bombing, realize what’s on the soles of your shoes, and can wipe it off without a second thought — it takes its toll. I was on the verge of becoming irretrievable.”
—-
The last six years have made Ware an Iraqi citizen both by choice (it’s his official residence) and, in a sense, the polar opposite. Even when he’s out drinking with friends in Amsterdam, he’s stuck in Kirkuk. When he’s at his girlfriend’s place in New York, he’s in Diyala.
Of the many stories that haunt Ware when he closes his eyes but can’t sleep, this one singes a little more because he caught it on film and CNN refused to air it: It was spring 2007. He was in Diyala province, in a village north of Baghdad, embedded with a U.S. infantry platoon conducting a sweep for insurgents. By the time they arrived at daybreak, the insurgents had fled. The whole thing looked like a bust, but then there was a shot. An American sniper had seen an armed man running toward the platoon and put a bullet in the back of his skull. The soldiers went to look for him. Was he dead? Was he still a threat? When they found him, alive, they dragged him to a secure area.
“When you get to the point where you come home from a bombing, realize what’s on the soles of your shoes, and can wipe it off without a second thought — it takes its toll.”
“Then, for the next 20 minutes,” Ware remembers, “all of us just stood around and watched this guy’s life slowly ebb away in painful, heaving sobs for air, rendering him absolutely no assistance or aid. If that had been an American soldier, he would have been medevacked out and in 20 minutes would’ve landed on an operating table. Once an enemy combatant comes into your custody, you’re obliged by the Geneva Conventions to render that wounded prisoner all aid. Even I — with my rudimentary medical training, I don’t think his life could’ve been saved — but even I could’ve eased his passing.
“Instead a towel was laid over his face, making his breathing much more labored and painful, the taunts continued, and we just sat around and watched him die.
“And for some bizarre reason, it was just me and this platoon of soldiers, and I was able to see the dispassion of these kids in the way they just watched his life slip away. I was filming and worrying about the best composition of the shot, and I realized that I too was watching just as dispassionately. There’s no blame to be laid here. That guy was a legitimate target who was rightfully shot in the head. But it made me realize, just once more, that this kind of dehumanization is what happens when we send our children to war.”
This article originally appeared in the January 2009 issue of Men’s Journal.
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December 11th, 2008 at 1:13 pm
How George Dufus Bush fucked up by attacking Iraq.
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December 11th, 2008 at 1:49 pm
I can relate considerably with Ware.
I was in Central America during the Cold War. I’ve never really “come home” but live in a sort of constant reverse culture shock, a sort of continual low-grade Stockholm Syndrome.
But it is has become one of my defining strengths and I’d not trade it for anything in the world. Anything.
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December 11th, 2008 at 1:49 pm
Micheal Ware is doing more than just a little posturing here. He’s trying to revive the spirit of counter culture war journalism out of Vietnam in the 1960’s. Micheal Herr and Rory Flynn et al..
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December 11th, 2008 at 1:56 pm
Talk about something that would fuck up anyone. God’s speed, Michael.
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December 11th, 2008 at 2:06 pm
The price paid for truth is very high. Thank you, Michael, for giving us the truth.
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December 11th, 2008 at 3:49 pm
oh, boo hoo. You feel bad about being a soulless human being who could dispassionately watch another person die an agonizing death in front of you while you looked for the best lighting for your film shot?
You are nothing more than a loser war junkie who is too chicken to enlist and pick up a weapon.
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mads Reply:
August 12th, 2009 at 10:07 am
whatever happened to the pen being mightier than the sword? it takes far more balls to do what he does than to just ‘pick up a weapon’
that’s why we have so few journalists actually doing their job: no guts
if only you knew how ignorant your comment is. but that’s the rub with all ignorami
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boval Reply:
September 8th, 2009 at 8:50 pm
I agree wholeheartedly with mads, the ‘cynic’ is an idiot , think before you speak
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December 11th, 2008 at 3:50 pm
Cry me a freakin river. Ware was not drafted, not forced to do this. He’s a star f#%&er every bit as much as if he were hanging out just off a red carpet in Hollywood. He went there to get famous, and shoot dangerous video. Congratulations, Michael, you’re no longer an extra or a bit player or a supporting actor. You’re a star. Now do you mind if I worry about my own problems instead of sympathizing with your problems of choice? If you don’t like it, you know what you can do. Things are tough every over.
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December 11th, 2008 at 3:53 pm
I was a young Airman in Vietnam in 1967. I was there for only 60 days on temporary duty and not in combat. I worked with Civilian airlines/crews bringing in the fresh troops (I tell my shrink they are/were the “walking dead”) to fight that godforsaken war, and with the USAF Cargo crews taking out the pallets of coffins in which were the real war dead. Yes, Michael, one truly never comes home. PEACE
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December 11th, 2008 at 6:55 pm
Mr. Ware is not the point so much as the evil we have done to our young by putting them in this place and forcing them to live such a life.
It takes a chicken hawk or many to send people off to fight wars that never needed to be fought.
Men who learned about war from movies should never be allowed to send others into war.
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December 11th, 2008 at 7:13 pm
I found everything about this article self-serving and indulgent. Even that photo is drenched in artifice. If the photo was shot in NYC why was it made to look like he’s standing in front of some sort of smoldering ruin? Why not shoot him in front of CNN’s headquarters? He’s a reporter, right?
I’d like to echo one of the comments here: Michael Ware is a war reporter, not a soldier. He doesn’t HAVE to endure the pain of watching a man slowly die in front of him. But I guess if he didn’t put himself through this “ordeal” then he wouldn’t be able to tell us how difficult that experience was for him, now would he?
This is war-porn at it’s worst, overlaid with the standard, narcissistic macho posturing that Ware seems to have appropriated wholesale from pop culture’s conception of the beer-soaked, cigarette-smoking stereotype of the hard-bitten foreign-correspondent.
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December 11th, 2008 at 7:17 pm
I hope that Ware and all the folks over there - in whatever capacity - come home - all the way. And I hope that this country will wake the fuck up and take care of them.
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December 11th, 2008 at 7:18 pm
Powerful stuff; I’m grateful for the article as well.
Where do I watch the movie. If Michael’s right, I owe it to him and all the others doing the heavy lifting for my liberty.
Larry in Colorado
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December 11th, 2008 at 7:26 pm
Am I willing to “mortgsge American foreign policy future” in the ME, walk away from a stronger Iran, have diminished influence in the ME? Sounds like a Republican cold warrior talking about the effects of leaving Vietnam, although they also added as did a lot of Dems another goodie, the domino effect. All southeast Asia would go Commie. You’ve been where the rubber meets the road, but the important parts are who is driving, where are we going, and how much fuel is in the tank. Leaving Iraq is akin to leaving Vietnam. Such an investment surely must be salvaged. But it won’t be. To equate leaving with some abhorrent effect on US policy in the ME is absurd as is fear of Iran and less influence. Less influence to do what? Could there possibly be a worse foreign policy than now exists? The big questions are the simplest and those are the ones that need to be answered there as in Afghanistan. What is the purpose of being there? What is the cost to us and others by being there? If we arent there, what difference will it make realistically to anybody? Other than the people we will kill and the money we will spend? What is our national interest, not Iraq’s and not Afghanistan’s? These are ancient, tribal societies, do we really believe that we can do anything other than delay the inevitable, and if we can, should we? What right do we have to meddle in the civil wars of two countries? Answer those Mr. Ware before you pontificate more, and while you are at it, ask the really biggie, how can one miserable little Weasel single-handedly start a useless war and nobody really gave a shit.
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December 11th, 2008 at 7:29 pm
My guess (and only a guess) is thast Michael is experiencing PTSD as a result of long years covering this bloody war. We now know that working in the Emergency Room or even living in the “hood” when it is full of shootings and danger takes it’s toll on people who work and live there. Therefore, anyone who works directly in a war zone is at risk for the same war responses our fighting men and women get.
Michael, stay even longer at home and get some PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) treatment or you will turn into a nut case forever. Look it up on the military blogs and health resources to see what might ber going on here. You deserve every bit of help that is out there. They’ve got some interesting new stuff that helps short cut the process now! Folks got PTSD just by pulling the dead out of the building in Oaklahoma and that event lasted a much shorter time.
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December 11th, 2008 at 7:40 pm
I have watched Michael Ware cover the war in Iraq from the start. He is the only journalist I have seen that really seems to understand what is going on there. Yes, it has apparently taken a toll on him, but if he hadn’t covered it like he did, we would only be hearing the b.s that Bush and Co. would want us to hear. I watched Ware a couple of weeks ago on CNN with Anderson Cooper and it was painfully obvious he is suffering some kind of emotional stress, but he still has the deep insight into this war that others don’t. Thanks Michael for giving it to us straight.
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December 11th, 2008 at 7:41 pm
Thank You Bush May We Have Another!
C’mon Dubyah, you still have 30some-odd days.
F*** the world harder. This is your going away chance.
You’ve weakened all the checks-and-balances that made this nation great and now slowly allow our future, our youth, to be sacrificed on your altar of deception and cronyism.
Please steal another 4 years and complete the job.
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December 11th, 2008 at 7:42 pm
Maybe the USA should stay indefinitely in Iraq to prevent a covert takeover by Iran and other horrors mentioned but on whose dime with a pending collapsed economy, Mr Ware?
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December 11th, 2008 at 8:07 pm
As I read over the comments I’m taken back by those who feel the article is self serving. So what if it is? So what if he chose to report from Iraq and march with OUR SOLDIERS? He volunteered and so did our soldiers volunteer. I don’t think the point in the article is about his role so much as it is about the profound effects that war has had on everyone….he’s a journalist but what about the shop keeper or the cooks in the mess halls that feed our soldiers? They’re also private volunteers who deserve the decency of respect afforded everyone in a war zone.
As the wife of an officer in the NG who has deployed twice, I GET what Ware is saying - how hard it is to find your way back (regardless of what role he plays in the war). Even journalists suffer from Post Combat Stress and no soldier comes home to normal….it’s just a new normal. The families are left to pick up the pieces of the man who left behind his civilian job, his civilian life and after living for 400 days with war, figure out how to come home.
I just hope Mr. Ware can learn to live with Peace. War may not be the hard part, it’s bringing our soldiers home that will be the real test of whether Americans can survive PEACE.
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December 11th, 2008 at 8:09 pm
Ware is a self centered, self serving, “give me the glory journalist” who will argue to the death with any point that is not in line with his.
Such pity on him that he’s not the same person — HOW ABOUT THE SOLDIERS WHO ARE ACTUALLY FIGHTING THAT WAR? This article is nothing but one mate (Veis), blowing smoke up another mates ass.
Next time you watch or read his words count the number of times he says “I” or “me”. His stories always end up with him as a central figure. He’s extremely biased on his political views as well …
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December 11th, 2008 at 8:10 pm
seems like ware’s a pretty sucky boyfriend, too.
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December 11th, 2008 at 8:21 pm
At 67 it still astounds me how inhumanly others can treat one another. Whether you assign an agenda to Mr. Ware or not, the reality of the situation he experienced demands empathy. If those so callous as to demean him are so self-assured. let them go to Iraq and put themselves in harm’s way.
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December 11th, 2008 at 8:36 pm
Dear Michael,
You’ve been giving us the straight dope for so many years now. God Bless you for that. You’re been one of the Only voices of reason I have heard….since this nightmare started. I live in New York. and although 9-11 will remain a major nightmare in my life..I have to say, that this idiot looser, poor excuse of a president created a nightmare that the entire world will be adversely affected by, surely for generations to come. The only good thing Bush did was destroy the judgemental, cruel, war-mongering, anti-worker, anti-poor, Republican Party….and sad old McCain Still doesn’t understand what America did wrong! He doesn’t even understand the error of Vietnam!
Michael, I consider you one of the real heroes of this whole debacle, if one can be found. For years, you gave me the Only satisfaction there was to have…truth! Bush managed to open up a Major can of worms, and we’re only beginning to feel the repercussions. I don’t want to be led by stupid zealots..Please, Never Again! Obama gave us back Hope, and the security of listening to an intelligent person again. What a relief
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December 11th, 2008 at 8:45 pm
Ware so effectively illustrates the damage we’ve done in this war.
There are wars that must be fought but this wasn’t one of them.
This is Bush’s war and he has squandered the hearts, minds, souls and bodies of so many soldiers.
Now he can go live in his house in Dallas and enjoy the good life while those he destroyed try to put their lives back together.
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December 11th, 2008 at 8:47 pm
Michael,
I feel for you, “You’re a true Brother of the Bright Night”
As a four time wounded Marine I will share with you the path that I and countless others have wandered for years. Initially we tried alcohol & drugs hoping to numb the mind so that it won’t recognize that our spirit has been wounded. Tried driving at speeds that aren’t forgiving if you make a mistake; looking for that feeling that only we know exist.
Numerous relationships, taking pieces from each one to put the puzzle together.
Yes we are all scarred for life. Now knowing, there is a front and back to all issues, you must come to an understanding that you have earned the gift to communicate the truth about all things.
To be in the moment, for that is all that we ever have. (There is no such thing as a permanent resident.) We are all marked for death, knowing this, embracing this, gives us an immeasurable power. You have been a beacon of light for those of us who take the time to stay abreast of what America is doing around the world. You need to recognize that you are in a very insecure position; you cannot see the effect that your reporting is having on the world. You must trust in the infinite universe, your efforts are having a positive effect and allowing many to have resolution. The mind always needs resolution and you have placed yourself in a void that has little.
You may only hear over time bits and pieces of the positive effect that your “Truth to Power” is having!
Believe me you’re a beacon in the night for many who have thought about what is happening on the dark side, and there is no one to confirm these thoughts in the political arena or the media; YOU STAND ALONE!!! You are a pillar of hope for so many… Be strong and go within yourself, for there is where you will find the answer.
The Samurai used the technique of Zen Meditation; it is the short cut to understanding peace in the internal life. It’s about detachment.
It truly is preparation for death.
Zazen is the most severe form of this type of meditation.
Running to keep you exhausted is also a friend. You get too tired to think and hopefully you get deep REM’s when you nod out.
You need to keep your operating frequency low; the less stimulants the better. Drink organic Japanese teas. Chew your food, because with chewing comes understanding.
I often will buy birds and animals to set them free. The feeling of the interconnection is heart warming. Helping those that cannot help themselves is a way of balancing out your karma.
We need you Brother! Get your act together and realize that few Pack the salt to do what you do.
Don’t allow your strength to become your weakness…
James
Never hesitate
zazen@nets.com
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December 11th, 2008 at 8:51 pm
Thank you Mr. Ware for exposing us to the truth of what is going on in Iraq. These days at most we hear a 20 sec update about the number of casualties or a bomb in between stories about Sarah Palin’s clothes and Jennifer Aniston on a magazine. It’s shameful that people argue on either side about this war and we know nothing of it. No, I am not fighting in the war, but it is important that I know the truth about it because it is the people we elect that put them in harms way.
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December 11th, 2008 at 9:15 pm
Ware was the only one I could believe reporting from Iraq. He didn’t have a liberal view, he had a real view, and so he taught me things I could never get from Hersch or green zonies.
He has sensitivities and is vulnerable to what he experienced. So what. The carping comments here only point to the lack of humanity that is shown on the net these days–punks talking tough. He demonstrated ample enough mettle for me to get the story, that war is pure madness that tears at the soul.
Thanks Michael.
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December 11th, 2008 at 10:05 pm
I’ve seen Ware’s reports on CNN. IMO, he does a service for all in reporting things not otherwise covered in the mainstream media. Yet, and maybe this is just me being jaded, but he does come across as sensationalistic and overly dramatic. News is meant to be reported, not interpreted.
As for what he’s seen and the whole coming home, there’s no doubt that he must have witnessed some horrible things, course watching SAW and Hostel horror movies are somewhat numbing experiences as well. Truth is, living in the present, not the past, is key to moving forward. Sadly, it appears Ware is moving forward to more of the same. I believe he is a war junkie…who gets off on the next war high. He should be honored and pitied at the same time.
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December 11th, 2008 at 10:39 pm
Is Mr Ware suggesting that we have a more legitimate interest in Mesopotamia than nearby Persia or Assyria? We need to step back and develop some perspective.
Meanwhile war is like Mr Michael Ware’s crystal meth. It will take him just as surely if he does not humble down and seek help. War is a bad bad thing and I am not going there deliberately, and if it comes to me unbidden, I would run away if I could. Call me coward. I will smile.
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Wolfgang Reply:
August 5th, 2009 at 10:42 pm
I agree. Michael is on meth. No doubt, unless he comes out that the has Parkinson’s disease.
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December 11th, 2008 at 11:04 pm
Interesting variety in these comments. I’m old enough to have spent 14 months in SEA, and now, as then, those who have chosen not to fight are content to sit at home and criticize the messenger who brings them a reality they don’t want to believe.
I have no criticism for those who serve or for those who report, but I have trouble accepting those who “support” the war by choosing not to enlist but to stay at home and criticize anything that goes against the administration’s line.
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December 11th, 2008 at 11:47 pm
Michael Ware has courage, but that doesn’t make him right. George Bush and his gang, with the permission of the stupid and gullible majority of Americans, attacked a nation that was at peace with us and at peace with the World. Bush killed more than 250,000 people including more than 5,000 Americans. The insurgents didn’t do it. It was Bush.
Bush intentionally bombed apertnment buildings in Baghdad in the first month of the war, killing thousands of civilians who, seconds before had been trying to sleep in their own beds. Our press never mentions these war crimes.
Under international law, and common sense, anyone in a country that is invaded has a legal right to defend his country. American soldiers under Bush were obeying illegal orders, because the war was entirely based on lies. Bush and his gang KNEW there was zero threat from Iraq. Yet Bush and his forces slaughtered 80,000 to 90,000 people in the first 30 days of the war. AND BUSH EXPECTED GRATITUDE FROM IRAQIS.
Before the war, the CIA told Bush it had NO evidence of WMDs. The International Atomic Energy Agency said the same. It had inspected hundreds of sites in Iraq. Yet our media STILL in 2008 repeats the Bush lies that there were no weapons inspectors in Iraq (there were, they told Bush they found nothing.) Our media still repeats the Bush lie that Iraq would bomb us with a nuclear weapon if we did not attack first. (Our satellite photos proved they had no nuclear bomb plant.)
Now Michael Ware says we should stay there forever? No, we will leave, and when we leave the phony Iraqi democracy will end, and another dictator will take over. Iraq is not, and won’t be a democracy. They need a dictator to tightly control everything to prevent bombings and snipers and kidnappings and rapes.
Due to Bush, almost all of the Christians and Jews who lived safely in Iraq until 2003 and who were protected completely by Saddam Hussein have been forced to flee Iraq because they were all slated for death. Our press won’t report this story either. This is the weak “democratic” government that Bush champions in Iraq, one that won’t protect either the majority Muslims or minorities like Christians.
George Bush is a traitor. War and death and depression is his legacy.
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December 11th, 2008 at 11:56 pm
Very good story and very telling.
WAY TO GO DUBYA!
But I see some of Bush’s –17% approval rating — are in here in force lol
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December 12th, 2008 at 1:16 am
Mr. Ware, I appreciate your insight and commentary but I disagree with your final analysis that we should stay ad infinitum. America (and not just it’s leadership but it’s citizens, as well) has long ago diminished it’s passion for victory in this war. Pakistan poses a greater risk (for they already have nuclear weapons and precarious new leadership) and at some point there WILL be a Sunni/Shia reckoning in the Islamic world and the best thing the US and the West can do by then is to wean ourselves from their oil and let them have it. In the end, the moderates of the region (who currently hold very little power and whose voice is being drowned out due to lack of attention even by news sources such as CNN) will stand up and be the ones who either make the decision to use something other than violence (economic parity, political inclusiveness) to get their points across and make peace or they will die trying.
Leave it, Michael. America has been unsuccessful at wars over the last 50 years because we refuse to even make an attempt to understand our enemy. In the end, that is the message of No Country for Old Men (not to be trite). Your enemy has a moral compass but it isn’t exactly the one shared by you. You can try to outwit him using your own devices, you can begrudge his existence, avoid him and stay alive, or you can do what the father in the dream did, gun right straight toward him, delve into the darkness with the lightness of knowledge and empathy for your enemy’s cause. All the training and armaments in the world cannot protect us from our own willful ignorance. Even the leaders who execute this war, have very little empathy for the rationale of the insurgency and seems clueless as to why this region is taking advantage of a power vacuum that isn’t well-served or preserved by our presence. That is the story you need to be telling. How they value life differently than us, what their ultimate goals are, and what are more practical ways of achieving them than by military means. That should be your story and the solution to those questions will bring the war to an end so that you can come home with as much of a clear conscious as is humanly possible for someone in your position.
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EB Reply:
July 24th, 2009 at 10:08 pm
Incorrect punctuation on the possessive ‘its’. Please research and learn.
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Karen Reply:
July 26th, 2009 at 9:16 pm
No need to be a bitch to a complete stranger!
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December 12th, 2008 at 2:12 am
Michael Ware is and has been the only journalist that I have trusted since this Bush/Cheney/Neocon fiasco began. Whether he is suffering from PTSD or just years of brutality and waste, he calls it like it is. The desensitizing of our soldiers and the foolish American populace, the glee with which so many support this needless human slaughter and the waste of trillions of dollars is by far the worst criminal act since Hitler and Tojo. We created this based on lies, lies and more lies…and no one will ever be held responsible. I continue to be sickened by the deification of “our” military and the unnecessary killing of thousands of innocent. We have not killed for a purpose…we have murdered..and there is no other word for it. I continue to be sickened by the whole mess as I buy a University of Texas jersey for my grandson which was manufactured in Vietnam, where another similar murderous folly occurred over three decades ago. Our nationalism and flag waving has become a sick mantra based on hate and ignorance. I grieve for the men and women who have died and for their families, but even many of them lie about the “mission” and the “cause.” There has never been a mission or a cause..except to bolster the bank accounts of the war profiteers. I am impotent and hopeless. Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and their cohorts should be sent to Iraq, without security as soon as this evil and hapless administration finally comes to an end. They should all hang from the gallows like Saddam Hussein…that would not bring back the innocents and the soldiers who have died for nothing but it might provide at least a small measure of justice. It will not happen of course, they all will write books and make more of their prevaricated speeches and get richer. Perhaps if there truly is something beyond this world there will be a special reservation in HELL for all of them…and I pray and hope they suffer as much or more as the children of Iraq. Maybe then their lies and their flag lapel pins won’t save them. I must go now…”Homeland Security is at my door and I believe they have prepared a “constitutional” enema for me.
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December 12th, 2008 at 3:09 am
Michael Ware is palpably freaked-out. He reminds me of the Dennis Hopper character in Coppola’s film Apocalypse Now, which was loosely based on Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. Ware’s been up the river too long and seen too much.
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December 12th, 2008 at 4:56 am
Michael, go hang with Herr for awhile. Until then…..
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December 12th, 2008 at 4:57 am
Mike, go hang with Herr for awhile. That might help.
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December 12th, 2008 at 7:59 am
That bw photo of him up there really says it all. This emotional bunk is so contrived and insincere. Is there anything real anymore, anywhere? Or is everyone a movie star…
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December 12th, 2008 at 8:34 am
So many nasty comments it’s unbelievable. Ware is living with these soldiers to help tell their story. In doing so he has walk with them in their shoes. Why? So we all know how horrific it really is. Mothers, fathers, wives, etc. can understand even a little why their loved one is different, just not the same. Sergeant Bellavia who hates the media says, “I would go through hell with a bucked og gasoline for Michael ware” well that pretty much says it all, he’s not just “posturing”. Ready to enlist anyone, or send your kid off to Iraq, or just sit back and slam others… Hopfully, this will help bring peace through understanding! God speed to Mr. Ware and all our soldiers…
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December 12th, 2008 at 9:07 am
Wow, a very cynical, self-adulation, puff piece about reporter who shared the horrors of war with US military. It’s funny that this one man gets this amount of attention, yet the hundreds of thousands of American men and women who served in Iraq and Afghanistan are virtually ignored by the media. I feel deep shame if an article like this was printed about me, even the picture at the top of this piece is an affected-metrosexual-emo pose. Be a man, Michael Ware, and suck it up. You went to Iraq voluntarily, cry me a river.
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December 12th, 2008 at 10:03 am
To Cynic, Rick, and Disgusted:
What then do you say to this:
“I can’t stand the media,” Sergeant Bellavia says, “but I would go through hell with a bucket of gasoline for Michael Ware.”
Ware’s not a soldier, he’s a reporter. Since part of his story is what war does to people, he’s reporting it in the best way, but talking about what it’s done to him. I’ve seen plenty of pseudo-war dog journalists in flak jackets playing brave and I know when I read about the real thing, and he’s the real meal deal, kids.
I’ll also bet he’s shown more balls than any of you have, so I suggest you STFU and look in a mirror instead of talking out of your asses.
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December 12th, 2008 at 10:14 am
SOOOOOOO easy to sit in a comfortable chair and sling arrows! For those of you who say he could just walk away, you don’t know s***. The Horror never leaves you. It doesn’t matter whether he drinks too much or is self centered or uses “I” too much. We desperately need him. If we had had five more like him, and less censorship of images by the US military, the war might not have dragged on.
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December 12th, 2008 at 11:26 am
Granted the photo illustrating this piece is somewhat pretentious. Nonetheless, Michael Ware’s reports from Iraq did not seem sanitized and you got the sense that he was one of the few if not the only one who was dishing it as it was and knew what the hell he was talking about. You cannot come away from that carnage where human life is meaningless with your own sanity intact. I particularly appreciated his point of view on programs with political talking who obviously had no bleeping clue as to what was really going on in that hell hole or Bush’s creation. You could tell Ware does not suffers fools gladly. Say what you will, the guy also has balls!
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December 12th, 2008 at 12:36 pm
I’ll also bet he’s shown more balls than any of you have, so I suggest you STFU and look in a mirror instead of talking out of your asses.
Sure thing, tough guy.
You keyboard warriors and bootlickers crack me up. Why don’t you sign up, do your tour, and then make a point? Because you’d rather sit there and eat twinkies and drink diet coke and foam at the mouth getting all hot over the latest bit of war porn and pissed off at those who challenge the self-serving people like Ware.
LOL.
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December 12th, 2008 at 1:38 pm
Get real. This stuff (CNN, Men’s Journal, Michael Ware, Lara Logan) It’s all become breathless drama for someone to sell something. It’s about the green. Period.
John Burns is a war corrrespondent. Allen Pizzey is the real war correspondent. No grandstanding, no crying in their beer over their lot in life. And not just in Iraq.
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December 12th, 2008 at 1:52 pm
Michael Ware brings to life the true meaning of war and journalism. I watch CNN just to hear what he has to say about Iraq. The network is very fortunate to have him on its team.
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December 12th, 2008 at 2:11 pm
First of all some of you fucking people really need to look into this you say enlist and pick up a fucking weapon why don’t you put you money where your mouth is ALL of OUR Soldiers volunteered So did HE so all you people leaving nasty comments why don’t you just shut the fuck up. What has he ever done to you. His story is great did you go through something like that? i don’t think so, so i really think you need to re-think your fucking comments about this man doing great things to tell OUR soldiers stories. Cynic that means shut the fuck up you dumb ass piece of shit…
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December 12th, 2008 at 2:14 pm
A lot of commenters seem to be missing the point of the article…yes it talks a lot about Michael Ware…because it is about Michael Ware.
We can disagree with his views all we want, but he doesn’t seemed to have been dishonest about what he saw in the war or how he felt about it.
That counts for something in my book.
While I think we should bring the troops home, and disagree with him about what would happen to the middle east if we left, I still think his on the ground reports are worth considering.
If there is a reporter out there who doesn’t have an opinion or pretends not to have one about the situation in Iraq, I don’t think I want to hear what they have to say.
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December 12th, 2008 at 2:48 pm
I find it quite remarkable that the media sees the need to report on the media reporting on the war…it is as though the actual war and the experience of the solders and Iraqis is secondary to the “journalists” who covered the war…Michael Ware says that he is not the same fucking person. Who cares. He was sent over there to report. He also did it as a job which made him some money. He is also still alive, enough to provide us with this crap while on reuperating R&R in Amsterdam of all places…The real story is how many actual participants in Iraq are no longer the same people they were before the war. How many soldiers and civilians lost their lives in the war.
Please…enough of this crap about journalists becoming media stars because of their experiences convering the war and more about the real life problems of the victims, including obviously the soldiers.
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bimo Reply:
January 8th, 2009 at 3:30 pm
ah yes, the media echo-chamber…
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December 12th, 2008 at 3:00 pm
Lot of angry people out there. I’m a military mom whose son has served a total of 2 years in Iraq. While I was home holding my breath, (yeah, Moms suffer too), my son changed to the point where I don’t really recognize him anymore. I am sad beyond belief that he thinks I’m a pig just because I’m a peace activist AND work for vet rights and military families. Does Ware have PTSD? Yeah, no doubt. We all need to hear about the realities of war. It needs to be IN OUR FACES EVERY DAY. Everybody is suffering from Bush’s cowtowing to The Project for a New American Century writers as well as the military industrial complex. Notice who’s NOT going down financially. I disagree with Ware about staying in Iraq. It was Dubya who went on tv, and like some playground bully, got his smug face on and challenged the “terrorists” by saying, “Bring ‘em on.” Then he went in the White House and let our kids fight his fight. Still can’t wrap my brain around some people and their greed and need to be in control. To all the men and women who are in the military and the journalists as well, I’d like to say that I honor the path you’ve chosen. It could never be mine, but it takes courage to do what you do. Let’s not forget about the rest of the people in America who put their lives and sanity on the line every day too to keep the infrastructure of this country intact. If not for them, the military wouldn’t have a country to defend. We all need to come together as ONE and honor each person’s contribution to this country. As a nurse, I can tell you that PTSD often comes with my job and that it can be life-threatening as well. Can I go home every day? Yeah…and the day comes home with me too sometimes, just like it does with police officers and firefighters and, well, there are hazards, both personal and professional in everyone’s job. If we’d spend more time finding peaceful ways to live rather than whipping up unjustified wars and occupations, then maybe we’d all get a little R&R. But, um, that would take people who had a conscience and some kind of moral compass.
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December 12th, 2008 at 3:18 pm
We appreciate the comments (and thank everyone who has read the article). But in the interests of keeping this a truly open forum where we don’t censor posts, we just ask everyone to please refrain from personal attacks on other posters. Disagree with each other all you want, but please avoid the vitriolic name-calling so we don’t have to delete anyone’s comments.
And again, most importantly, thanks for reading.
Charles Coxe
Men’s Journal
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December 12th, 2008 at 3:26 pm
I am a veteran who had the honor of working with Michael and other members of CNN in Iraq. It was just that - an honor. They are one of the few - if not the only major broadcast network focusing on both sides of the story. Not only that, they are passionate about telling the soldiers’ stories and will until the end.
War changes everyone - EVERYONE who faces it. And as Michael states, it never leaves and home is never the same. This is his story, not to focus on himself, but to share how the evils of war have touched each and everyone one of us - military or civilian - who have been a part of it. Guilt, anger, sadness, fear and other overwhelming emotions seem to be haunting; yet the gift of perspective remains.
To Michael, and all my friends at CNN in Iraq, thank you for sharing the story.
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December 12th, 2008 at 3:48 pm
I have always admire Michael Ware reports on the Iraq war. I know he is an expert in what is going on in Iraq moreso than many of other members of the media and government.
I fully understand the way he feels and having read what he has been going through has confirmed my opinion that he is not only an excellent journalist but also a human being who cares so much about the lives of the people he has been in contact with over the years.
He has enough courage to overcome whatever obstacles he may be facing. He should write a book about his experiences and I am positive it WILL BE A BEST SELLER1
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December 12th, 2008 at 3:58 pm
Michael Ware is the gold standard now. I’m pretty shocked at some of the comments here- saying that he’s whiney and whatnot. Obviously some people have not seen a second of his work, or understand enough of the war to understand how insane it is that Ware was a step ahead in all the terminology and consequences. He’s got the kind of insight other reporters will never have, in living in the region.
It’s awful reading how much of a toll this has taken on him, and of course on the soldiers. I remember having only seen his face light up when he was in France covering the Rugby matches. Otherwise, he always looks so weathered and sad.
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December 12th, 2008 at 5:19 pm
Lets see, arrived back from Vietnam Feb 16th 1971. Still haven’t come home.
War changes you.
Doc Sutter
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December 12th, 2008 at 6:36 pm
Anyone whether soldier,journalist, or victim never comes home. As for the individuals who say he volunteered - well, someone has to tell us the truth. The current administration brought this on us and it’s totally unforgiveable. Thank you, Michael, and thank you Greg for the story.
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December 12th, 2008 at 8:11 pm
Hey Cynic
If you are so supportive of this war why are you not serving? I suggest you sign up, and also do everything you can to ensure that any offspring you may have also will enlist. Don’t you know how short of troops your military is? So get off the computer, grab a gun and go kill some people for the good of corporate America. oh, and how brave of you shooting your mouth off behind a pseudonym. You seem so supportive of the killing I think you must be Christian.
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December 12th, 2008 at 8:49 pm
To the commenters saying “chicken, no sympathy etc”…
He did not ask for your sympathy. And perhaps you should head off to Iraq, so you can call him a chicken to his face.
I care little about his motivation at this point, this article serves to highlight the destruction of humanity that war brings. The warmongers of the world would perpetuate this crap as much as they can, to make us all as inhuman as themselves.
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December 12th, 2008 at 9:09 pm
This war is so screwed up. So many profiteers enriching themselves then hiding behind some illusion they are doing something noble and important.
No sympathy for anyone on this crusade. Reap what you sow. Our military is pathetic. Just a bunch of worthless mercenaries whoring themselves out for the corporations and I’m sick of being guilt tripped into showing “support” for these fucking murderers. Leave the military in Iraq forever. Eventually the Iraqis will give them what they have coming to them.
And Mr. Ware…WAH WAH WAH. You made your bed, lie in it alone and quit crying to us.
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December 13th, 2008 at 12:15 am
You know the whole Ware thing is tough caus it’s like, “He’s so hot and cool,” but then also, “god he’s such a vain blowhard.” And then it’s like “how long has his nose been that way?”
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December 13th, 2008 at 12:31 am
I don’t understand those people bashing Michael Ware. I really admire people like Ware, Lara Logan, and Richard Engel who get stories others just do not.
People like Bill O’Reilly used to bash the networks, especially NBC, for having news stories about the “bomb du jour.” He claimed there was too much of that going on.
Well, fact is, if there was a “bomb du jour” here in this country, we’d be hearing about it nonstop. Fact is, war is hell, and people have short memories.
My point is that reporters like Michael Ware tell us what war is really like…it’s hell. We need to be constantly reminded of the consequences of war so that we think twice, three times, many more times the next time we actually consider going to war. Otherwise, we’d just get the nonsense from people like those in the Bush administration and from Fox News that “all is well” and we’re “making progress.” We all know how wrong Bush was when he almost daily said that we’re “making progress.”
Michael Ware has made us see that Bush was not telling the truth about the “progress” being made in Iraq.
Take care of yourself, Michael.
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December 13th, 2008 at 12:51 am
A lot of comments critical of Michael Ware. Yes, critics, he’s responsible for the choices he’s made.
I don’t see that I can make any judgments because his experiences are so far outside anything I could even imagine.
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December 13th, 2008 at 4:53 am
Ware isn’t telling us anything new. In fact, Chris Hedges wrote all about the exact syndrome Ware has back in 2003 (when Ware was first going to Iraq). The book is “War is a Force That Gives Us Meaning”. Hedges has been at this game a lot longer than Ware and has dug a lot deeper as to the motivations and agendas. Ware is just a desperate opportunist looking for a “unique” angle at the expense of the poor Iraqis and the US taxpayers (who are being royally screwed by this debacle).
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December 13th, 2008 at 5:12 am
I totally disagree with those who are critical of Michael Ware. Unless you have seen people blown up right in front of you, you have no idea of the trauma. I had the privilege of being in Iraq in 2004-2006. You people have no idea how lucky you are to be all fat an happy in the safety of your homes.
Just like our heroic US soldiers, Ware has been through it all. When I got back to the States, I was full of anger and rage from what I had seen in Iraq. I was busted for domestic violence and still felt the pull to return to the war. The cops and the corrections officers have no idea what our servicemembers have been through. Like Ware, the average guy needs to drink a lot of beer to dull the pain. I turned to whiskey.
Just like Ware says, the war never leaves you. All of us who have seen the violence and death in Iraq, deserve the respect and accolades from those back home sitting fat and happy. It is our noble soldiers and brave reporters like Ware who have fought for the very freedoms you have. Ware is not part of the liberal media, but a fearless truthseeker like Rush or even Michael Savage. Give him some respect folks. Jesus suffered so that we might find peace, and so has Michael Ware. God bless him.
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December 13th, 2008 at 5:42 am
Chinese made American flag flying. Yellow ribbon magnet on an SUV that says “Support Our Troops.”
This guy goes into the sh!t to find the truth, but if he speaks of the experience he’s self-serving. He’s been there for SEVEN YEARS! Even if this was self-servicing, I’d say he paid his f#cking dues.
And if you haven’t been there or enlisted and remain pro-Iraq War, STFU about Ware. Now go and listen to the combat veterans of the War on Christmas whine about someone saying “Happy Holidays” to them. Ware gave up a part of himself to get the truth out. If he was self-serving, he could have been Katie Couric or Bill O’Reilly.
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December 13th, 2008 at 6:29 am
While the story does seem a little over the top and derivative (”Farewell To Arms,” and so on), I’ll give Michael the benefit of the doubt and lay it at the feet of the author. I can’t imagine Michael Ware reading this and not cringing. And face it, he has done some great reporting.
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December 13th, 2008 at 6:54 am
i won’t comment about Michael Ware. he is what he is. what i do want to say is:
1. one multiple-poster thinks that anybody who is in favor of Ware’s point of view must have no experience of what the Iraq War is like. she is apparently ignoring the Vets who have spoken up in favor of Ware. the said multiple-poster knows how to stay on message but she doesn’t show any awareness so i’m not inclined to give her opinion much respect or consideration.
2. the Iraq War has definitely become America’s 21st century Viet Nam. Americans will most likely never agree on this war. it will continue to divide us for decades. the Iraq War is a festering wound in the body of America. the evil of this war will not go away. it will not go away if American soldiers are all brought home, and it will not go away, surely, if we continue to stay.
Americans want happy endings. They like something which is conclusive, in which they can find some justification for all of the death and destruction, the violence and upheaval, but there is none, it’s not going to happen.
We have thoroughly brutalized and devastated another country, divided our own, trashed our constitution and the rule of law, and, pretty much wrecked our economy. And then there’s the matter of our war dead and their grieving families, and the physically and emotionally wounded veterans who must try to find some meaning to life and a place in their world. Sorting out this deplorable state of affairs won’t happen unless, somehow, we recognize what we have wrought, acknowledge our responsibility for it and find a way to make amends. Considering our divisions and disagreements, I’m not optimistic.
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December 13th, 2008 at 8:34 am
All the while Bill Kristol, Krauthammer, Podhoretz and all the other neocon warmongers who promoted this war as a “cakewalk” spend happy days with their families. F them!
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December 13th, 2008 at 9:30 am
“That guy was a legitimate target who was rightfully shot in the head” That might be true if the invasion and occupation of Iraq were legal under US law and/or international law. But they aren’t legal at all under our laws so NO the guy was NOT “a legitimate target” and was NOT “rightfully shot in the head”. I’m sorry but I’m a veteran and I know the rules of war well. Technicly even agreeing to deploy to Iraq was an illegal act and a violation of the Military Oath of Office of every soldier who went. But don’t mistake me I don’t hold those enlisted persons who did so liable. The high ranking officers are the ones that belong in a war crimes trial dock.
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December 13th, 2008 at 12:44 pm
We need reporters like Ware who are willing get up close to war and tell us first-hand what is being done under our flag. But that doesn’t make him a hero, and it doesn’t make him an expert on foreign policy. In some ways, it is his very proximity to the horrors of Iraq which diminish the weight of his policy prescriptions. He’s too close to see the big picture clearly. His views deserve consideration as one (up close) perspective on the situation, but those views cannot be dispositive.
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December 13th, 2008 at 1:10 pm
Hey, Ware is telling a personal story because he has had personal experience of the Iraq War and other wars. A personal account that any feeling person would have a similar response to. The point is not his occupation, his volunteering to be there, etc. that critics are commenting on. The point is that any person in that situation would lose touch with humanity. It is a devastating experience for all involved and it is sad that humankind has not matured enough to stop warring. Bush and his “friends” started this war and they are each an evil excuse for a human being. These past 8 years have been the darkest in human history - because of how many lives have been adversely affected by war and greed. Barack Obama is hope and has a huge challenge ahead of him that we all need to cooperate with. The world must find a way to have peace and to cooperate with one another and stop thinking that anyone that is not us is them.
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December 13th, 2008 at 1:29 pm
This war has done more damage to my country than any terrorist could ever have hoped to accomplish. Our leaders are some of the most inept politicians to ever lead a country and millions of people, including our soldiers and this guy, are paying the price.
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December 13th, 2008 at 2:13 pm
folks: it’s NOT “the war in Iraq” or the “Iraq war”
it is “the George W. Bush war of CHOICE in Iraq”
it in an immoral, illegal war - started by both
WAR PROFITEERS and WAR CRIMINALS.
if you disagree with me, then enlist and go fight.
if you agree with me then speak up, speak out,
and never let anybody silence you.
“there are none so blind as those who will not see”
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December 13th, 2008 at 2:57 pm
I am a journalist myself. I have not been in a war zone, but I have been involved in war coverage. Unfortunately, at some point it does become another news story. You don’t feel the pain. You don’t think about lives affected. You don’t feel for the mothers who lost their sons. The war dehumanizes people. You see and write updates about the casualties but it is not personal and you move on. It’s really sad and heartbreaking. I have a lot of respect for Ware. I think media sensors the wars. We are very sensitive on what we show. I think people need to see the real picture and all the brutality that takes place. Ware is one of the rare journalists who gets to the point and tells you about the things the way he sees them. He is honest as much as CNN allows him to be.
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December 13th, 2008 at 3:31 pm
This war in Iraq was lost years ago. It’s now just a matter of time before all of the atrocities play out.
While I don’t think he’s insincere in believing the troops need to stay, I do think he’s blinded. America’s economic dominance is dying just like that wheezing head shot laying on the ground. Iran’s economy is mostly untouched, or at the very least not nearly as hampered as the West’s. The game is up: the neo-con gamble to rule supreme over all of the world has been lost. It’s time to accept that horrible things will now inevitably occur, and nobody has the power to stop them any longer.
As Mugabe kills off his own population through strangulation, as Israel kills off a people on its own land, as Iraq descends ever deeper into sectarian violence, and who knows, genocide as he implies, we need to remember: “any man’s death diminishes me”.
It’s easy to blame bush for this, but the hubris that bred neo-conservatism has been around for a long time. It is finally coming home to roost.
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December 13th, 2008 at 5:44 pm
Whether you like Michael Ware or not, do yourself a favour and try and find Neil Davis’ documentary “Front Line”.It was banned in the U.S. when it was released but with the internet I would think it’s out there somewhere.Neil Davis did an amazing job, and as you read, was shot in the head while filming during a 4 hour coup in Thailand.If Ware’s situation interests you I would also highly recomend, “My War Gone By, I Miss It So” by Anthony Loyd, on the Bosnian War.
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December 13th, 2008 at 5:54 pm
For all of you guys going after Ware, come on. Are you guys fucking serious? Sometimes I think humanity is at an all-time low, but I realize it’s always been like this. Emotionless fucks with nothing but senseless non-informed opinions spouting off at the mouth in order to look tough. From the beginning of time until now.
To sum up, fuck you guys.
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December 13th, 2008 at 6:00 pm
It’s Michael who showed up in these pages, but there will be thousands and thousands of these kids and grown men coming home with PTSD. I hope to God that there’s help for them when they get back home.
Talk about chicken hawks. These fuckers (the Neo-Con Cabal, more like the guest list at a Bar-Mitzvah), who never held a weapon (even at the NRA’s local range!), killed an animal for food whose Policy was/remains dictated by AIPAC and dedicated to ensuring Israel’s benefit above our Nation’s interest have caused all of this.
A single drop of blood, shed by any of our soldiers in a conflict conjured up by these Chicken-shit assholes must be exhaustively vetted by us citizens and it had better be justifiable - not only to the soldier’s family/kin but to us citizens of the United States. Talk about “Never Again”, never again shall we be duped by the likes of this Cabal.
Patriotism equates NOT being a dual-citizen of any nation (including Israel), especially for high-ranking cabinet members and officials (check on Feith and other Neo-cock-suckers). If they still love Israel more than the USA, then I suggest they leave immediately and become a Knesset or Mossad member - we’ve paid too much in blood, sweat and tears for a piss-ant nation that never gave two-shits about us!
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December 13th, 2008 at 6:33 pm
I found this story/article very interesting. It made me respect Michael Ware even more than I already had. But … it brought to mind the comment made by Ernest Hemingway regarding war and I paraphrase: There is something wrong with anyone who intentionally goes to war.
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December 13th, 2008 at 7:02 pm
Those critical of Ware or our soldiers need to STFU. Some of our military heroes have come home to abuse their wives, batter kids, or even rape women. Yet who are we to question their nobility or patriotism? They have been through hell and we need to understand their urge to act out. Ware has every right to abuse alcohol or whatever other sins. The mere fact of wearing our sacred military uniform or being a courageous patriot in Iraq, washes away any sins (even murdering innocent Iraqis). We need to spend billions more in order to bow down to our amazing war vets. They are miraculous heroes by definition, just as all the occupants of the World Trade Towers were (even those who were thieves or child molesters - and don’t tell me there weren’t any among the 3000 who died that day).
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December 13th, 2008 at 7:19 pm
Insurgent?
More like Freedom Fighters attempting to kick an invading foreign army out. An army that steals it’s rescources, antiquities and lives.
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December 13th, 2008 at 9:59 pm
I always take in what Michael Ware says. We need more reporters. We have no idea what goes on in our overseas conflicts.
We have hardly any reporters of the wars now. There were about 8,000 reporters along for the Iraq invasion.
We need a draft so the public will care what we do. The Roman empire fell when they stopped conscription.
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December 13th, 2008 at 11:27 pm
I just love all the folks who come here to bash Michael Ware. I have never seen a minute of war, and I’m guessing most of the bashers haven’t, either.
Ware took his job seriously, for a country that wants its war pictures sanitized and its war nicely prepackaged. No one could do that job and not be changed. Dedicated to the job is not the same as seeking “war-porn”. Does he look like he’s enjoying it?
And he’s been right far more than the chickenhawk chickens–ts who sent an entire generation of American men and women into this godforsaken screwup.
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December 14th, 2008 at 12:17 am
Those who have slagged off Ware in this thread haven’t been there. Seen it. Or felt the visceral need to TELL it. He didn’t go there intending for “this” to happen. It just did. And he’s the result. I’ve been there, too. I don’t like what it did to me, and I don’t feel some Hollywood entitlement because of it.
But thank God the Wares of the world have told the story. He has spoken power to truth. Spoken without the filters of so many correspondents. And you know what? He’s usually spot on right.
And it’s fucked him up. Me too.
Those who taunt or berate or seek to belittle him from their NYC sofas: Screw you.
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December 14th, 2008 at 2:45 am
Michael Ware deserves tremendous respect. The American people voted overwhelmingly to liberate the Iraqis yet refused to go over and support our brave soldiers. Mr. Ware was one of the few with enough courage to face the same terrorists in Iraq who piloted those evil planes in NYC.
Our soldiers and patriotic war reporters will come back and may even act out violence, crimes, or god forbid rapes and molestations. But we must try to understand the pain they have been through. Whatever a soldiers does, or whomever he kills, he deserves respect and honor when he returns to the USA.
I predict that some day there will be a statue of Michael Ware as well as George Bush in a town square in Iraq. In the future, the Iraqis will come to see that our brave warriors as well as gutsy journalists brought tremendous peace and prosperity to their land which had been previously tormented by Al Qaeda. God bless true red-blooded journalists like Michale Ware and Matt Sanchez.
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December 14th, 2008 at 8:01 am
I find it extremely interesting that those who have commented negatively, and mastily! don’t seem to get what a great point they make for the real point of the article.
Ware did not HAVE to go. Ware was not drafted. He chose to go & stay so he could tell the story of those who HAD to go & had no voice. He chose to go through everything they went through, saw, participated in so someone could tell the true & real & ugly story that our young boys can’t or won’t tell.
If it takes a fragmented human being to do this, so be it. It must be told. I don’t think he’s whining, I don’t think he has any desire to become a “star”. I don’t even think he’s just altruistic. I think he feels everyone’s pain.
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December 14th, 2008 at 3:43 pm
Michael Ware is the only person I listen to when it comes to reports out of Iraq. He has consistently debunked on air without intention any previous propaganda by MSM concerning recent incidents and attacks in the war. Michael Ware is the voice of reality. As the pundits and TV New Ent. hosts sit safe in their chairs rambling on passing of Murdoch’s propaganda machine, Ware is proving real hardcore reporting is left to the authentic Journalists!
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December 15th, 2008 at 4:25 pm
Micheal,
You are the present day Ernie Pile- post Vietnam. Keep up the good work. Take it easy my friend.
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December 17th, 2008 at 8:07 pm
This: “Yet he was also in love with the war, he said. Addicted to it. Felt that he had stumbled upon the story he was born to tell.”
Is *exactly* how I feel about my work as a paramedic. I can relate to Michael Ware, always look forward to his reports.
As a woman, I must say he’s smokin hot.
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December 25th, 2008 at 4:42 pm
Jesus, ANYONE who can ” volunteer” and garner “blood oath” support on both sides of the line, damn. To his detractors , yah , fame whore , pretty dicey way to get it. If he came home sober and emotionally stable that’s when you worry.
Heartbreaking and raw, I will never look at war the same way again. Vietnam brat , with
Dad’s Nam tour turned into “Platoon”. Had an MIA bracelet for Johnny Bowlings Dad who never made it back . My step Dad served with McCain. Balls to heckle , wow!!
This guy needs a medal , and to be heard by those in Command and every high school / college kid should see his movie. Reality sucks when it reaches out of the pages and scorches you . Makes your 401k worries look a little pussy doesn’t it??
Here’s to you man . Jewels
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December 30th, 2008 at 6:44 am
I am currently in Afghanistan, do boring as work right now, trying to get out into the shit and get some dam combat, but I got fucked over. Just to tell all the critics here, if you have never served overseas, you should just bite your dam tongue. Michael Ware is out in the midst of battle reporting back to America so all the liberals can bitch and moan about the conflicts we’re in. Mr. Ware keep up the good work and take care of yourself.
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January 15th, 2009 at 12:46 pm
SSG Dave Bellavia was in the United States Army, not United States Marine Corps. For those interested, you can read David Bellavia’s book, House to House. It’s a great read and a must.
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March 11th, 2009 at 10:46 pm
Having recently read Dexter Filkins book, The Forever War, I have nothing but the utmost admiration for Ware and his fellow war correspondents. Their sacrifice, in an effort to tell us what’s going on, is immeasurable.
I wrote more on this here: http://seidlweb.com/public/item/228420
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March 20th, 2009 at 3:43 am
The guy is an incredible journalist. Thank God for people like you Michael that do the job that very very few of us could or would be willing to.
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April 1st, 2009 at 1:16 pm
often, i search for reports from michael ware. i can think of no other journalist who has informed us to the actual events as he has. he has my utmost respect.
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Johnny Reply:
July 15th, 2009 at 8:05 pm
http://www.mickware.info is the best site of compiled clips and articles from Michael Ware.
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muymalgal Reply:
July 16th, 2009 at 1:48 pm
i agree, that site rocks!! :p
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August 22nd, 2009 at 8:38 pm
My fear is, what will these kids be like mentally when they do finally all come home? Will they be capable of carrying on a normal life, or will they be dysfunctional for life..
Will they have contagious diseases, etc etc the list is to numerous to list…
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August 30th, 2009 at 10:38 pm
Durka Durka Durka! Mohammad Jihad! Sherpa Durka Durka, Durka Duuurr!!!
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August 30th, 2009 at 10:44 pm
TIMMY! Livin’ a lie, Timmy! On the…f-f-…f-irst day of chr-…ch…chri….christmas my true l-love gave to m…meee. A paah-, a paiiah,…
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August 30th, 2009 at 10:48 pm
“My fear is, what will these kids be like mentally when they do finally all come home?” They will be either emotionally destroyed, or sociopaths, or both. Look at me, I didn’t even go to Iraq, I just obsessed over it and I still went insane!
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August 31st, 2009 at 1:27 pm
Good on ya mate. Michael, I have the utmost admiration for you and your reporting. Thanks for telling it as it is.
Come home soon son and we’ll down a few schooners.
Come home, write your story tell the whole World. I was going to say get some normality back nto your life but what is normality? Its all so subjective isn’t it.
I send you my love mate. From a pommie bastard.
Take care.
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December 1st, 2009 at 5:56 pm
Nice blog, I was doing a little net browsing and stumbled onto your website, I used to be wondering if you knew your blog is rendering unusually within the K-mellon internet browser. I will see most of it however the graphics are somehow out of wallop. Probably not a big issue since hardly nobody utilizes it anymore however I am old school and still run it.
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