Michael is
a guest on Real
Time with Bill Maher. During
the interview segment, he discusses Iraq and the time
he was grabbed by AQI members on Haifa Street. He
then talks with the panel about the situation in
Afghanistan/Pakistan. The third segment is the "New
Rules" portion of the show (which has some great
reaction shots) and then there is the Overtime
segment.
Length: 8:20 / 9:45 / 7:37 /
7:11
Witness
to War is a
documentary from CNN International in which six war
correspondents -- Atia Abawi, Stan Grant, Nic
Robertson, Reza Sayah, Ivan Watson, and Michael --
discuss the war in Afghanistan/Pakistan and the
people and events they have covered there. These are
just the segments Michael contributed; to view the
entire special, go here.
Length: 1:11 / 0:54 / 0:21 / 0:38 / 1:18 / 1:46 /
0:10
Advance / CrocMedia event
Los Angles, 30 July 2009
I
created this transcript
from
a recording of the event.
Any errors are mine.
So if
you had ten minutes to interview Michael Ware, what
would you ask?
Here's the transcript of my chat with him prior to
Thursday's event in LA.
In a
prepared piece, Michael looks at the Afghan Taliban
leader holding PFC Bowe Bergdahl -- he used to be on
the CIA payroll and was Charlie Wilson's contact
inside Afghanistan, so we have some history. Michael
is also on-set with Anderson Cooper and gives a brief
summary afterwards.
Length: 4:08
Michael is
back in New York, and joins a discussion about the
Army private being held by the Taliban. John Roberts
hosts, Chris Lawrence (via video from DC) and Seth
Jones are the other panelists.
Michael gives some good info about the background of
the Afghanistan warlord who now holds the private
(almost certainly now in Pakistan) and points out how
valuable he is to the Taliban as a means of getting
the US to the negotiating table -- which bodes well
for the continued health of the young man.
Length: 7:28
This is
mostly the same clip that aired on International, but
there is one new segment that has been added.
Length: 4:25
In this
pre-recorded piece, Michael visits one of the
churches targeted in last weekend's string of
bombings.
Length: 3:50
"Transcendent"
is how Michael describes the sheer joy evident at the
packed football stadium in Baghdad for the first
international game played there since before the war
began. This piece for BackStory
shows
Michael's eye for capturing the moment even as he
loses his voice while trying to be heard over the
noise. Jim Clancy clearly enjoys presenting the
piece, although his compliment at the end is
sidestepped. (And just in case Michael ever sees
this: Jim is right. Just sayin'.)
Length: 8:12
The former
rugby player gives us a glimpse at football in Iraq
-- the first international match played in Baghdad
since before the war began. For a country that is
football-crazy this is a huge event, and for the
people who came out to watch the home team win the
match 4-0 this was a day to enjoy a glimpse of
normality.
Length: 1:32
A replay
of the report used on International's
World
News, but
with different graphics.
Length: 1:43
John
Roberts and Kiran Chetry each talk to Michael about
the Pakistan exclusive, and we also hear from US
Special Envoy Richard Holbrooke on the
administration's position regarding talking with the
Taliban leadership.
Length: 4:18 / 4:18
Michael
talks to Don Riddell about the church bombings and
the attack on the US ambassador. The timing and
location of the latter attack poses some interesting
questions as to who was behind it.
Length: 3:53
During the
following hour, International aired a pre-recorded
report on the bombings of the Christian churches in
Baghdad and the attack on the US ambassador.
NOTE: the same report aired Monday morning on
Domestic during the first hour of Newsroom
but with
different graphics.
Length: 1:38 / 1:43
Moments
after the Domestic report, Michael is on
International's World
News to report
on the bombing attempt targeting US Ambassador
Christopher Hill and the string of bombings targeting
Christian churches in Baghdad.
What was
planned as another update on the bombings of
Christian churches starts out with some breaking news
of an attempted bombing targeting US Ambassador
Christopher Hill.
Length: 2:47
After an
earlier technical
problem is
resolved, Michael is able to report on the rash of
church bombings in Baghdad today.
Length: 4:15
A second
recording of the update used on Saturday
Morning.
Length: 1:23
Michael
updates the first official reaction from the Obama
administration, as Special Envoy Richard Holbrooke
basically says that while the connections between the
Pakistan Army and the Taliban have long been
suspected it's good to now have the cards on the
table. (Maybe we can now make some progress!)
A note on the clip -- my supplier of International
clips is on vacation and was able to snag this on
borrowed equipment, so the size is not the usual one.
But it's welcome anyway! (Thanks, Delie!)
Length: 4:46
A
pre-recorded clip updating the reaction to the
Pakistan piece, including the response from Special
Envoy Richard Holbrooke.
Length: 1:43
Michael
talks to Hala again about the exclusive from the
Pakistani army spokesman, and this time her crew has
the clip ready to play. He also explains the nature
of the Pashtun culture, which embraced many of the
social restrictions we associate with the Taliban
long before the Taliban actually rose to power. (He
refers to the Pashtun section of the country as the
Koran Belt, a reference to what is commonly referred
to in America as the Bible Belt, the extremely
conservative Christian southeast section of this
country.)
At the end of the segment, he says that there have
been some new developments, but Hala ends the segment
anyway ... and I'm still wondering what else he had
to say! (Yes, he loses his temper a bit, but he's
actually calmer than I was when I first heard it!
"What the ...?!?! What happened? What new
developments? Wait, don't go to commercial now! Come
back!" Alas, they didn't listen to me, either...)
Length: 4:11
Michael
talks to Ali Velshi about the realities of trying to
stop the Taliban in Afghanistan when they can just
drift across the border into Pakistan, where US/NATO
troops cannot follow. He also explains how important
India is to the war in Afghanistan.
Length: 3:47
Hala
Gorani talks to Michael about the exclusive and
although the segment Michael expects to be played is
not ready to roll, he sums up the major points.
Length: 4:13
International
gets a look at
the Pakistan exclusive, followed
by this brief update.
Length: 0:31
Michael
talks to Kiran Chetry about last night's exclusive
regarding the Pakistani military being willing to
bring the Taliban to the table.
Length: 3:01
Prior to
returning to Baghdad last month, Michael spent
several weeks in Pakistan, and tonight we finally get
to see some of reason why he was there -- he
travelled to the Pakistan/Afghanistan border to take
a look at what it will take to win the war in
Afghanistan. He has a spokesman for the Pakistan Army
saying on camera they can bring the Taliban to the
negotiating table with the Americans. He also
interviews the former head of the ISI (a man also
known as "the godfather of the Taliban") who says
that only Mullah Omar can bring this war to an end.
In a live 'footnote' added tonight from Baghdad,
Michael says that the Obama administration is willing
to meet Pakistan's requirements to begin
negotiations, and to meet with the Taliban.
Michael also has an article on
CNN.com about this piece.
And this is not Michael's first time on the hunt for
Mullah Omar; in 2002 he made a
long and dangerous trip in an
attempt to locate him.
Length: 5:18
Michael
talks to Wolf Blitzer about the "covert conflict" and
lays out the timeline.
Length: 3:03
Michael
talks to Hala again about the bombings over the past
24 hours.
Length: 3:12
Domestic
finally gets its first discussion of the multiple
bombings, and Michael starts right out by saying that
it is NOT a "surge" of violence, but just what passes
for normal in Iraq. (But with an emphasis on
Thursdays, for some reason.) Kudos to Ali Velshi for
calling out the banner graphic as being wrong.
Length: 2:32
Fionnuala
Sweeney asks Michael about the "deadliest day" since
the US forces pulled out of the cities as well as
what Iran is playing for these days.
Length: 4:26
Michael
talks to Hala Gorani about today's bombings (and
while there is certainly a special corner of hell
reserved for suicide bombers, I have to think that
there is an even worse corner waiting for those who
do these double-bombings in order to target emergency
personnel and civilians trying to aid the wounded).
He also goes through the timeline of the capture and
release of Iranian and US/Brit personnel which seems
to have had a new chapter added today.
Length: 4:16
Michael
talks with Jim Clancy about the bombings and the
release of the Iranian diplomats/operatives.
Length: 4:11
Another
recap of the bombings and the reality that it doesn't
matter who is in charge of security, the attacks will
continue.
Length: 2:49
The first
look at the bombings that hit several Shia areas of
the country (leaving more than 60 civilians dead in
24 hours) as well as the release of 5 Iranian
"diplomats" that were arrested in January 2007 and
accused of being members of the Quds Force.
Length: 4:07
A
BackStory
clip from
the July 4th softball game at FOB Hammer. Tommy Evans
seems to be the instigator here, but gets the tables
-- and cameras -- turned on him. We also finally get
introduced to the third member of the team, cameraman
Miguel Castro.
Length: 3:45
The
tournament has ended and the troops get ready to head
to the mess hall for some food -- burgers and dogs,
etc. (Too bad about the near-beer, though...)
Length: 3:12
The
sandstorm in Iraq continues, and Michael spends the
day with the troops at Forward Operating Base Hammer.
There is a softball tournament underway and a good
time being had by all.
Happy Independence Day to all the troops, and thank
you for your service!
Length: 3:12
It's 5am
in Baghdad, yet Michael is wide-awake and raring to
go. Anderson Cooper (anchoring from Los Angeles)
talks to him primarily about Afghanistan and the new
push by the Marines into Helmand Province, a place
that Michael knows well from 2002, when he reported
from there for Time
magazine.
They also talk about the Iraqi reaction to the
American pullback from the cities. Personally, I
think all that show of Iraqi nationalism is a good
thing -- if anything will pull the country together,
it is that kind of pride and feeling that they are
one country, not a bunch of warring factions or sects
or tribes.
Length: 5:35
A
mostly-VO piece about the awarding (or lack thereof)
of the oil contracts. Although the on-screen clock
says it is 10pm in Baghdad, Michael is in the bright
sandstorm-enhanced afternoon light, so this was
probably recorded around the same time that the
interview for World
News Asia was done.
Length: 2:01
The sale
of the oil contracts did not go as well as hoped --
Michael discusses the results and some of the
reactions.
Length: 3:34