Monday, December 31, 2007
2007 was a
year of incredible reporting from Michael, his first full
year with CNN. There are 225 posts in the 'Iraq 2007'
section, another 52 from the RWC in October. I compiled
313 total video clips this year.
Here is a list of some highlights... and it's a long
list!
Read
More...
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
With Michael
out of Iraq for his holiday break, it will be quiet for
the next couple of weeks. I have some old material (radio
interviews, mostly) that I will try to convert and post
while he's away. As it happens, I am off work for a
couple weeks following a minor but painful injury, so
depending on how well the pain meds work, hope to get
some additional work done on the site.
In the meantime, wherever you are and however you
celebrate, I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season
and a joyous 2008. (And if anybody has the opportunity,
please buy Michael a drink for me!) Cheers!
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Sharon finally
tracked down a print copy of the magazine, and the online
photo was cropped. So here is the full version. (The
washed-out color is due to the article being printed on
recycled paper. Good for the environment, not so great
for photographs.)
Read
More...
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
As
you can see, I've made a few changes to the site. Some
are just cosmetic, others are in hopes of making site
navigation easier. There are still a few additions to be
made, but I wanted to unveil this today since it is the
two-year anniversary of the
first time I heard Michael on TV.
To say that this site had very humble beginnings is an
understatement -- at first I was just sharing his clips
with friends, because his reports were so unlike what we
were hearing from the rest of the media. Within a couple
months I put up a very small site to hold all of the ones
I had been able to copy, and then he started making more
and more appearances on CNN, and my collection got
bigger. Eventually I had to move to a larger host
company, and then he signed with CNN, and there are some
days when I can barely keep up with him!
Along the way I bought a TiVo, several software upgrades,
a second TiVo, even more webspace... I've heard from
people all around the world who consider his reports a
vital resource in understanding what happened (and is
still happening) in Iraq and thanking me for making his
work readily available. More importantly, the rest of the
media, and the world, has caught up with him and now
understands what he was saying two long years ago.
One thing that hasn't changed: the honesty and courage
that was so absolutely stunning to me that first night
remains so today. We are extremely fortunate that a man
like Michael Ware cares so very much about learning the
truth and passing it on to us.
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Many thanks to
Maxie (a Monocle subscriber) for sending along the full
interview...
Read
More...
Friday, November 23, 2007
Another
magazine interview done in Paris is coming out next week,
and here is the photo that will run in it: Michael at the
"Asian" Thai restaurant, looks to have been taken October
13th:
Also, this
week's blurb for This Week at War:
The
Battle for Iraq: Violence is down but can the downward
trend be sustained?
Michael Gordon, The New York Times; Author, "Cobra II"
(DC)
Michael Ware, CNN International Correspondent
(Baghdad)
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
A terrific interview with Michael was posted today on
the website of Asharq Alawsat newspaper.
The interview was conducted while he was in Paris last
month.
Q
& A with CNN's Michael Ware
14/11/2007
By Enaam Kajjah Ji in Paris
Q: How did the idea of going to Iraq emerge?
A: I went to Kurdistan at the beginning of 2003 before
the military attack [on Iraq]. I got to Baghdad after the
fall of Tikrit in April 2003. I’ve been there for four
and a half years.
Read
More...
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
I
have now added transcripts for the
audio clips from the MEI
conference.
They are in the Audio section, and the four transcripts
are available either on the main page or when you click
through to each audio clip.
(I did these myself, so the good stuff all belongs to
Michael, any errors are mine, etc. I used to do this for
a living, so hopefully there aren't too many
errors...)
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
A
photograph from yesterday's MEI has been added to
Michael's Wikipedia
page. The
photographer is listed by the name Aude, and it is
an absolutely stunning photo...
(Also available
in 655px and 1093px versions.)
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
The audio from
Michael's panel at the Middle East Institute conference
from yesterday was posted last night. I have excerpted
Michael's portions: an opening 20-minute address (which
is right up there with Hidden Wars
as an
amazing encapsulation of events) and then three
answers to questions.
Clip 1, 19:29
"I'm nothing more than a witness."
Clip 2, 1:53
"It ain't gonna be Rwanda, but it's gonna be Bosnia."
Clip 3, 1:56
"This is America
turning on the
government it created."
Clip 4, 3:13
"Under the guidelines of every insurgent or militia
group...
journalists fit fairly and squarely as legitimate
targets."
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Sharon has dug
up more gems from the vault -- two clips that aired on
CBS Evening News. In the first, Lara Logan interviews
Michael about the "bullets and ballots"
strategy
employed by the insurgents for the election in
December of 2005; the second is a prepared piece
about the on-going "is it a civil war or not"
debate in March of
2006. (And both make me very glad that CNN just lets
Michael be Michael rather than turning him into
another Reporter 101 clone!)
Also, Sharon mentioned that David Bellavia will be
featured on CSPAN-2's BookTV this Sunday, 10pm ET. Check
your local listings, etc.
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Well, the 2007
Rugby World Cup is over, with the South African
Springboks having been crowned champions. It has been an
incredible tournament, and an incredible joy to watch
Michael having so much fun. While covering sports is
certainly not his forte and it will be wonderful to have
him back to doing what he does best, these past three
weeks have shown us a side that we usually never get to
see on television, so I have to send out a big cyber
thank-you out to The Powers That Be at CNN for sending
him on this assignment, even though the Wallabies lost
and he was freezing his... well, he was really cold on
Friday!
I don't know whether we will see him at all for the next
couple of weeks. He has that MEI conference at the end of
the month, so hopefully between now and then he will get
to do some actual off-the-clock relaxing before heading
back to his rooftop "office." (But no worries, the TiVos
are still running, just in case! Poor little things never
get a vacation!)
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
CNN held a big
event for advertisers in NYC today, focused around its
planned coverage of the presidential election. There were
panel discussions and much promotion of all their new
technological innovations, etc. One of the photos from
the event, posted at mediabistro.com:
CNN's
Michael Ware talking about
the impact
of the Iraq war on the Presidential election.
Sunday, October 07, 2007
More of the
rugby coverage is available now.
Also, here is another official photo from CNN:

Friday, October 05, 2007
Michael is
currently in France, where he will be covering the Rugby
World Cup for CNN/International for the next three weeks.
I have some low-tech screengrabs -- also known as having
someone snap photos from a TV screen -- to show off what
fun he's having. Many thanks to Mavis for these!
Read
More...
Sunday, September 30, 2007
Liz tipped me
off that there was a commercial on CNN this morning about
Michael:
Large version --
Small version
Friday, September 28, 2007
And another
stellar find by Sharon! A report
done for
Chris Matthews during "Operation Swarmer" in March of
last year. I absolutely adore this photo -- I've never
seen him wearing a keffiyeh before...

Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Last night I
received a heads-up from regular contributor Sharon that
the publication of Michael's book has now been pushed an
additional year, to September 2009. I just received
confirmation of that date from the Australian publisher.
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
I've finally
added an off-site blog, so that from now on if news
breaks while I'm at work, I can at least post something.
(Of course, it will also give you guys a chance to put up
comments and get to know one another, if you wish. There
are some really great people who are regulars on the
site.) The link is in the sidebar.
Also, on Sunday's "Reliable Sources," Arianna Huffington
had some nice things to say about Michael, and during the
third hour of TheSitRoom on Monday, Jack and one of his
e-mailers did, as well. Just thought I'd share them...
Read
More...
Sunday, September 16, 2007
I've had
several very sweet e-mails from people wanting to help
with the dead DVD drive problem, which just blew me away.
So my friends have talked me into setting up a link on
the Site Info page to
make it possible to donate to the site via PayPal.
Thanks to all of you who wrote and commiserated, too...
Definitely makes the all-nighters worth while!
Monday, September 10, 2007
I
apologize that the clips are getting up more slowly these
days -- the DVD drive on my poor old PowerBook died last
week and quite honestly I don't have the money to replace
it. I have come up with another way to get the clips
converted and posted, but it is adding a couple more
hours onto the whole process. But I promise I will keep
them coming!
Saturday, September 08, 2007
* * * * *
View the photographs
taken by Yuri Kozyrev
during the battle of Fallujah
* * * * *
These photos
are copyright
Time magazine
and Yuri Kozyrev. I have archived them here simply for
easier access.
Thanks to Sharon for sending the link.
Wednesday, September 05, 2007

House to House: An Epic Memoir
of War
by SSG David Bellavia with John R. Bruning
I have read a lot of books about the Iraq war. Literally
an entire bookshelf worth. Many of them are Very
Important Books, the kind that will make their way into
course curriculums of the future, that are cited as
reference material for other books, that hit the NYTimes
best-seller list.
But I have never pressed my friends to read them, never
choked up trying to explain why a particular book was so
important, never said that they would never forget this
book.
Not until House to House.
Read
More...
Tuesday, September 04, 2007
Today on The Situation
Room, Wolf interviewed David Bellavia about his new book,
the current state of al-Anbar province, and Michael.
Read
More...
Saturday, September 01, 2007
If you've read
Michael's article about the 2nd Battle of Fallujah in
November of 2004, you will remember SSG David Bellavia as
the crazy/brave leader of the Army squad with whom he was
embedded. Bellavia has just released a book about that
battle, House to
House: An Epic Memoir of War, and will be doing some media
appearances this week to promote it, including The
Situation Room on Monday and Glenn Beck's show on
Tuesday.
For more information about the book, check out the
publisher's website.
For information on appearances, check out
www.davidbellavia.com.
I picked up my copy of the book today and it is
incredible. If the standard for war memoirs is "gritty,"
then reading this is like being sandblasted... Yes, there
is stuff in there about Michael, and I will write up some
of that in the next couple of days, but you can't read
this book without being deeply, deeply moved by what
these guys went through.
More to come once I've finished reading it...
Saturday, September 01, 2007
Yesterday I received a
terrific suggestion for the site, one I am sorry I didn't
think of myself -- since not everyone has a fast internet
connection, I am going to start offering a smaller
version of the video clips. So for anything posted as of
today the photos will no longer link directly to the
video clips. Instead, there will be options on the main
page (where the transcripts are) for either a Large or
Small version of the clip. The Large will be the one I am
currently posting (iPod standard). The Small one will be
about one-tenth of the file size, with a very small
screen, but should allow for a much faster download and
provide easier access to anyone with a slow connection.
I will go back and re-convert older clips as I have time
-- my poor little PowerBook will be working overtime for
quite a while to tackle this project, but I think it will
be a worthwhile addition to the site. (Thanks again,
Sean!)
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Sharon dug up two more
audio interviews, these from Air America radio network.
The first is from January 2006, when Michael was in NYC
and was interviewed on "The Mark
Riley Show."
The second is from November 2005, when he was
interviewed by phone for "The
Randi Rhodes Show." Thanks again, Sharon!
Sunday, August 19, 2007
This is another entry that
has nothing to do with Michael... but I have been
hearing/reading so many impressive reviews about this new
documentary "No End in Sight," which chronicles the ways
in which we screwed up the invasion/occupation, that I
thought I would post the trailer. I'm definitely looking
forward to seeing this... no matter how much it will
hurt.
Read
More...
Thursday, August 16, 2007
The Huffington Post has
another article about Michael.
(Although what they call "prescience" I would term "lots
of smarts and a willingness
to be honest about the situation" ... but I guess that's
too long for a headline.)
The Scary Prescience of Michael Ware
Huffington Post | Rachel Sklar
| August 16, 2007 02:23 PM
CNN's Michael Ware, formerly Time's Baghdad
correspondent, rarely has good news. Not really
surprising, since he's one of the few — very few —
journalists who has been in Baghdad since before the U.S.
invasion. His reports are often bluntly pessimistic and
contradictory of the official version, and all too often,
right.
Read
More...
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Since I added
this morning's clip to the Video area I have also added a
short clip that aired during the second hour of American
Morning. It was about the current offensive in Diyala
province, but I believe some of the footage may have come
from Michael's camera. I can't be sure, of course, but
that seemingly telltale from-the-ground-up angle makes me
think so...so I uploaded it.
Thursday, August 09, 2007
Sharon strikes
again! She found a terrific interview that Michael did
for ABC Radio in Australia back in December of 2004,
regarding the future of journalism. He discusses his own
methods and what he has to do to get to the truth in the
midst of a war zone. Both the audio clip and print
transcript can be found
here.
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Sharon sent me a
link to a radio
interview that Michael did last week
when the Iraqi soccer team won the semi-final game.
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Suzanne let me
know that Michael was on an Australian TV show last night
and sent the link for the show's website. I was able to
get video and transcript off the site, so you can check
out the interview
here.
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
I was invited to
write up a bio of Michael for the excellent "All Things
Anderson" blog, and it was posted today. You can check
out the original posting on ATA here and it is now
available here on this site, as well.
Sunday, July 15, 2007
Sharon dug up
another great old clip... this time a video clip from
NBC, from the Battle of Fallujah
in early November
2004. The clip is the same size as the source material.
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Sharon has sent a
couple NPR clips she dug up -- one is from three years
ago today, July 12, 2004, and features Michael discussing
the huge upgrade in quality of insurgent
propaganda
films once Zarqawi started doing
them. (Fascinating point -- "They have combat camera
units and they have been pre-positioned to document
these operations for months and
we didn't know.")
The second clip was recorded December 15, 2005, the day
after election
day, in which he describes
the large turnouts in different neighborhoods.
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
CNN has finally
posted an official photo of Michael, and it's a beauty:
To read the official bio,
check out his page on CNN.
Saturday, June 30, 2007
I've done a new
edit of the Frontline
episode that
Michael was in last year. It takes advantage of the
new QT standards. (Translation: it's a whole lot
bigger and sharper!)
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
I have completed
uploading all of Michael's bylined TIME articles into the
Print section. There are about 75 new entries, going all
the way back to the Sydney Olympics in 2000 (although
most are from Afghanistan and Iraq.)
Sunday, June 24, 2007
Another item that
has nothing to do with Michael, but Lara Logan was on
Reliable Sources this morning talking about the story she
did for CBS regarding the children found in terrible
conditions in an orphanage in Baghdad. Her description of
tracking the story was extremely interesting and gives a
fascinating glimpse of the incredible amount of
behind-the-scenes work that goes into the reports we see
on the air.
The clip is available here.
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Multichannel News
(published by
Variety) reports that Michael will be part of CNN's
World Refugee Day reporting tomorrow:
Read
More...
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Thanks to a
heads-up from Sharon in San Francisco, I have added two
short
audio podcast interviews with Michael and his
producer, Thomas Evans.
UPDATE: Some people were having problems with the files,
so I have converted them. If you were unable to play them
before, you should be able to now.
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Today is the
one-year anniversary of the announcement
of Michael
joining CNN. It has certainly been an extraordinary
twelve months of reportage from Beirut and Baghdad. As an
indication, the number of video pages on this site
"pre-CNN" is 20; since he signed there have been 337.
I think that calls for a drink! Somebody buy that man a
beer and put it on my tab!
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Big thanks to Suzanne, one
of the site's Aussie friends, for sending
this link to a television interview Michael
did in Brisbane last week.
Read
More...
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Some more of Michael's
articles from The Courier-Mail. No more "personal" info,
just some examples of his writing. These are the longest
articles available in the archives.
Read
More...
Monday, May 21, 2007
All right, I know everyone
is bored while Michael is away, so I'm posting some old
articles for your enjoyment...
Read
More...
Sunday, May 13, 2007
This was shown during Michael Holmes'
"Month of Mayhem" SIU special.
Thursday, May 03, 2007
Arianna Huffington posted a
blog entry about Michael's interview on
AC360 Tuesday night, when he and David Gergen discussed
the latest call for benchmarks.
Thank
goodness for Michael Ware, CNN's Baghdad-based war
correspondent. Amid the hot air, his reporting is like a
bracing splash of ice cold water to the face. A jolt of
from-the-belly-of-the-beast reality. A wake-up call
delivered via jackhammer. With an Australian accent.
Read
More...
Monday, April 16, 2007
I was tipped off by Dannie
(a regular visitor from Canada) that the Australian
publication date for Michael's book has been pushed to
April '08. She got the info from a book supplier; I will
try to contact the publisher on Monday to get a
confirmation.
UPDATE: According to information the publisher provided
me with, the release date is now August of '08.
Read
More...
Sunday, April 01, 2007
I have no idea
whether what Drudge posted was just a bad joke or what,
but as it happens, I recorded nearly the whole press
conference.
Read
More...
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Steven Colbert
discusses McCain, Michael, and the location of Neverland,
as only he can. (And unlike McCain, he also specifies
which areas in Baghdad are safe for those casual
strolls...)
Read
More...
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
When I saw Andrew
Sullivan talking with AC last night, my first thought
was, I wish I could be a fly on the wall for the
off-camera conversation between Sullivan and Mick.
Read
More...
Friday, January 12, 2007
Yes, he's writing
a book! It won't be out until the end of the year and
there's no word yet as to an American publisher, but at
least it's coming! Here's the write-up from
The
Australian:
Read
More...
Thursday, January 11, 2007
Eric
Campbell is an Australian journalist who has spent years
in some of the craziest war zones on the
planet. Absurdistan
is the
memoir of his work.
On March 18, 2003, Campbell arrived in Kurdistan to cover
the opening days of the Iraq war for ABC (Australian
Broadcasting Corporation). At the border, he met Paul
Moran, sent to be his cameraman. Two American journalists
were also at the border:
Read
More...