Michael spoke to journalism students at Queensland
University of Technology about his experiences in
Iraq. This is a news clip they produced about the
event:
TRANSCRIPT
Students at Q-U-T were treated to a guest lecture
from CNN’s Michael Ware today, a welcome home for the
Brisbanite who nearly didn’t make it.
Michael Ware, CNN Correspondent: “I was dragged from
my car by a chap who had a live grenade. He had the
pin in one hand and held it in the other and he held
it to my head.”
Michael’s captors planned to film his execution with
his own camera. But he was saved by a nationalist
insurgent and friend who convinced them to let him
go.
Kidnapped three times, the lucky to be alive
41-year-old says his staff were also abducted and
tortured.
Michael Ware, CNN Correspondent: “They’ve saved my
life several times and risked theirs countless times
and never once did any of them take a backwards
step.”
At least 40 journalists have been killed in Iraq
since the war began in 2003, 13 of those were killed
by US troops.
For the journalists who’d come home, they often don’t
return the way they once were.
Michael is on leave from CNN to finish the book but
to do that he has to revisit the horrors he’s locked
away in his mind.
Michael Ware, CNN Correspondent: “Laughing while a
man gurgles for life is common place. On the front
line you become de-sensitised.”
Since returning home, Michael has helped families he
met in Afghanistan move to Australia, England and the
United States.
The book, titled, “Between Me and the Dead”, will be
published early next year.
Ashlea Tighe, QUT News