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Why I told the editor: just get me out of this hell...
Irish Independent ^ | April 12 2003 | Chris Ayres

Posted on 04/12/2003 9:01:33 AM PDT by Happygal

I became a war correspondent through an act of gross cowardice. It was 6.30am and I was at home in Los Angeles when my editor called and asked if I wanted to "go to war". Still half asleep - but mindful that foreign correspondents are supposed to want to cover wars - I mumbled something vaguely positive. How bad could it be? A few months later, I found out.

It was approaching 35 degrees and I was dressed in baggy chemical suit, flak jacket and helmet, digging a coffin-shaped fox hole in the mud of an Iraqi marsh. All around me, there were explosions: bombs dropped from F15s, artillery rounds fired from howitzers and, worst of all, incoming Iraqi mortars. As the sunscreen and sweat ran down my mud-encrusted forehead and into my eyes, I wondered why I hadn't just admitted that all I wanted to do was drink cappuccinos and cover the Oscars. But it was too late. I was embedded.

The US Marines were baffled by my decision to join them. "Did you volunteer for this?" one black American teenager kept asking me.

"Erm, kind of," I replied.

"So you get paid, like, extra for this, right?"

"Erm, not really."

Underneath his mask of desert filth, I detected a raised eyebrow.

The Marines, I soon discovered, were nowhere near as gung-ho as some of my fellow war correspondents. I noticed that some of the US press corps had brought along their own American flags (complete with poles) to stick in the Iraqi mud. So much for objectivity.

For me, the war began about two hours before President Bush's final 48-hour ultimatum to Saddam. It was the early hours at Camp Grizzly in northern Kuwait and we were woken by someone throwing on the tent's fluorescent lights. We packed our bags and got ready to CSMO: Marine jargon for "Clear shit and move out".

Even at this stage, we were at "MOPP level two". This meant we were wearing our baggy chemical suits and chemical-resistant welly boots. For journalists, wearing the chemical suits, patterned like standard Marine desert fatigues, posed an ethical problem. We looked like Marines. To the Iraqis, we were Marines. It seemed like yet another blow to our objectivity. I came to the conclusion, however, that I would rather lose what little chance of objectivity I had left than die from an Iraqi blister agent attack.

The first night of the war was probably the worst. The artillery battery to which I had been attached was positioned within sight of the Iraqi border. Fires from the oil fields made the horizon glow orange and the air was thick with a terrible oily black smoke.

Before the artillery barrage began, a sergeant asked if I wanted to see one of the howitzer guns up close. I was still fumbling for my ear plugs in the dark when it went off. The flash of light was so intense it bleached my eyes. I blinked furiously. Then the gun went off again. The back-blast of pressure from the howitzer felt like being punched in the face. There was a terrible smell of cordite. The sound echoed for miles in every direction. On the radio, we listened to the tank commanders as they passed through the breach into Iraq. I thanked the God I didn't believe in that I wasn't with the infantry. Already, my assignment seemed stupidly dangerous and I felt like a sucker for having accepted it.

The first few hours in Iraq were terrifying. Minefields were everywhere but, miraculously, no one seemed to hit any. It came as no surprise when I later learnt that a BBC journalist had been killed in a similar situation.

Most of the time, I had no idea where I was or what our unit was doing, adding to the difficulty of filing stories. For security reasons, I was rarely allowed to use my satellite phone.

The worst way to relax was to listen to the BBC World Service on short-wave radio. As one senior Marine said: "If you listen to the BBC, we lost the war four days ago." My objectivity was shot to bits. All I wanted was for the Americans to win quickly: for my own safety. I was sure this was not how John Simpson would feel. By the second week, we had reached al-Diwaniyah, a smallish town on Highway 1, about 90 miles south of Baghdad. On the way, we had become lost in a blizzard of mud: we were sitting helpless on the side of the road as 12 Republican Guard tanks approached. We were saved by two US F15 jets, but only after an excruciating half-hour wait. The next morning there were piles of Iraqi bodies on the road, still in their uniforms.

My account of the attempted ambush later made the front page. When I heard, I realised why some journalists choose to become full-time war correspondents: the thrill of writing an I-nearly-died-a-gruesome-death story is almost unbeatable. It requires, however, that you nearly die a gruesome death. To get another story on a similar scale, I thought, I would have to go through the whole nearly-dying thing all over again. And what if I did actually die? Surely only a disturbed person would put themselves in mortal danger simply for front-page bragging rights?

Day by day, I saw the Americans become more brutalised. It was sad to see the Marines - many of them intelligent and sensitive men behind the defensive bravado - lose their innocence. They had become killers, and talented ones at that. Incidents of friendly fire did not help. I was as likely to die at the hands of my protectors, I thought, as I was at the hands of Iraqi soldiers.

By this time, reports of dead journalists were coming through on the World Service. The biggest blow to my own morale was hearing about ITN's Terry Lloyd, who died amid fighting in Basra. I wondered if my own death would even make a headline. I discovered my commanding officer had a booklet with a section entitled 'How to deal with a dead media representative'. My second - and final - act of cowardice came about 10 days into the war, as we prepared for yet another night bombardment.

I had had enough. I asked my commanding officer if he could find me a way back. A few hours later, orders came through that all journalists were to stop using their Thuraya satellite phones, because the French had sold the codes to the Iraqis. It was a ludicrous explanation, but it at least meant I couldn't have stayed anyway. Or at least I could have stayed, but I couldn't have filed any more stories.

In the end, it took six days to get back, hitching lifts on endless slow-moving supply convoys and, finally, on a series of helicopters.

A week later, I was safe in a British country hotel with my girlfriend, watching war coverage on Sky News and CNN. I thought about the Marines I had left behind at al-Diwaniyah. None of them had questioned my decision to leave: they told me they would have done the same, but part of me felt I should have stuck it out with them.

And if my editor asked me to become a war correspondent again, my response this time would be clear: absolutely probably not.


TOPICS: Extended News; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: aldiwaniyah; chrisayres; embeddedreport; embeddedreports; iraq; iraqifreedom; journalist; march20th2003; marines; usmc; war; warcorrespondents
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To: Only1choice____Freedom
He wrote it because he owed his editor a couple of hundred words to justify the hotel expense report. LOL!

I dunno - I can't say you're wrong. The guy is, in fact, a self-absorbed hothouse flower who blew his chance to learn something that might have changed his life, even if it were only humility. I don't sense that he even learned that. Your point is well taken.

81 posted on 04/12/2003 12:47:14 PM PDT by Billthedrill
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To: dark_lord
>>"I, on the other hand, am amazed at the number of rough, tough, real men types commenting on this thread about what a wuss this reporter was --- and I bet the vast majority of them never served a day of service in the armed forces in their lifes. Talk is cheap. The armed forces are currently accepting applications from all rough, tough, manly types right now (assuming you are 35 years old or under.) Have at it."

I can tell you I have been in the military. I was a Sergent when I got out just before Clinton came in. I am 42, I would love to go in the place of this guy. Ft. Sill was where I took my Basic and AIT. I would like to be there because I know I was amoung the best. I was not the biggest, but I knew my job and did it the best I could.

In Basic I fought with the idea of killing somebody but by the time it was over I came to the conclusion that some things are more expensive than money and there are some things worth killing or dying for.

Freedom is one of them.

82 posted on 04/12/2003 12:47:32 PM PDT by Only1choice____Freedom (Again, protestors have NO RIGHT TO BE HEARD, only a freedom to speak)
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To: Hildy
>>"Somehow I DOUBT the Marines said they wish they could have left."

He left out a part, What the really said was:

"Somehow I DOUBT the Marines said they wish they could have left ME."
83 posted on 04/12/2003 12:51:30 PM PDT by Only1choice____Freedom (Again, protestors have NO RIGHT TO BE HEARD, only a freedom to speak)
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To: Only1choice____Freedom
Did you go see 'Atomic Annie' at the base museum?
I drooled over it, having one o fthose rumored 'artilleryman obsessions' with the thing.
I remember thinking and feeling that it looked powerful and mean.

My training barracks was right across from the old quarry.
I was a crewmember on a M119A1 light towed howitzer.
(I was at Sill during 1996, during X42's re-election.)
Some of my fondest memories of being in uniform come from Fort Sill.
84 posted on 04/12/2003 12:53:47 PM PDT by Darksheare (Nox aeternus en pax.)
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To: Dog Gone
I'm still trying to figure out why he thought putting on some gear made him lose his objectivity. It didn't, of course. He remained a coward opposed to the war throughout the ordeal.

"Objectivity" is a code word which means that journalists are a seperate, protected, and elite class that sit above the fray and attempt to shape the correct opinions of the rest of humanity.

85 posted on 04/12/2003 1:01:23 PM PDT by Dan Cooper
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To: Happygal
Article summary:

Me, I, Me, Myself, I, Me, I, I,....

oh yes: the Marines were there too, and risked their lives.

Me, Me, Me, Me, Me.

86 posted on 04/12/2003 1:05:12 PM PDT by LadyDoc (liberals only love politically correct poor people)
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To: Darksheare
My favorite place there was the Medicine Bluffs.
Where Geranamo was said to go over the cliff. That took a LOT of courage.

They named Cache road for a good reason. I haven't been there in 25 years but it holds a cherished place in my heart. That place and Sgt. Hasberry turned me into something I was not before. - A soldier-

That is an experience every young man should have.
87 posted on 04/12/2003 1:08:44 PM PDT by Only1choice____Freedom (Again, protestors have NO RIGHT TO BE HEARD, only a freedom to speak)
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To: Darksheare
I also remember seeing a prototype Predator drone when I was there too.
88 posted on 04/12/2003 1:09:54 PM PDT by Only1choice____Freedom (Again, protestors have NO RIGHT TO BE HEARD, only a freedom to speak)
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To: Happygal
bump
89 posted on 04/12/2003 1:25:56 PM PDT by RippleFire
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To: Petronski
I don't know what everyone else is complaining about, I thought the article was hilarious: unintentionally hilarious, but hilarious nonetheless.

Well, it is self satirical Irish humor. It is funny. However this is what Michael Moore uses too in his "documentaries" against corporations.

90 posted on 04/12/2003 3:30:33 PM PDT by JudgemAll
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To: JudgemAll
JudgemAll, I thought that this was the funniest article I've read in a month. He admits he didn't have any idea what he was in for and when he found out just what was being served each morning he didn't like it.

I have never met a grunt who said that he enjoyed being shot at, tip toeing thru minefields or looking at hundreds of corpses.

This guy hadn't evevn been thru boot camp and you guys are rippin him a new arsehole for being unaware of the lifestyle in combat. Fer chrissakes back off and see that he is denigrating himself not the Marines that he was with.

Remember your first time in combat? Did you want the fun to continue all day and night or were you so thankful when the bullets quit whizzing by your head? I sure was and I could have finished the rest of my service with never hearing another one or finding out that the jarhead in that other tent was dead. Back off!

91 posted on 04/13/2003 9:46:13 AM PDT by B4Ranch ( "It's too late to work within the system, but too early to shoot the bastards".Claire Wolfe)
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To: UCFRoadWarrior
I suspect the "significant other" is named Benji.
92 posted on 04/13/2003 9:51:40 AM PDT by AEMILIUS PAULUS (Further, the statement assumed)
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To: Only1choice____Freedom
I didn't get to see such a thing there, but I DID get to see an old shed in a newly annexed section of impact zone get vaped.

As well as seeing an M119A1 belly up wheels skyward while still hooked to the prime mover.
I'm still trying to figure out how that particular crew flipped their howitzer like that.

My fave hangout during pass was the old quarry.
Had to be careful not to sit down on the short cactus (I'm told it was chollo cactus.) or bother the spiders.
But other than that, it was a pretty quiet place to collect one's thoughts.
That, and no-one would hunt you for detail duty there.
Unless one's drill sar was also hiding there...
93 posted on 04/14/2003 7:52:50 AM PDT by Darksheare (Nox aeternus en pax.)
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To: 11th Earl of Mar
Don't know if this dopey reporter intended to be funny. Probably not. But some of his lines are hilarious. He's sort of the UK media's version of Baghdad Bob.
94 posted on 04/23/2003 10:44:51 AM PDT by Wolfstar (Bush-Cheney: four more years!)
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To: Hildy
"Somehow I DOUBT the Marines said they wish they could have left. He's a freaking coward so he wants to take others down with him so he could face his "girlfriend." How old is this guy anyway"

Yellow as a sunny side up! I agree with you.
95 posted on 04/23/2003 10:50:58 AM PDT by Minty
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To: Shooter 2.5
...he'll be writing about how he won the war...

Private Gripweed bump...

96 posted on 04/23/2003 11:12:57 AM PDT by martin gibson
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To: tet68
What a waste of human flesh


Bump.

My level of respect for the US military went up a notch.

Notice how magnanimous and generous were the Marines with this twerp

97 posted on 04/23/2003 1:03:38 PM PDT by george wythe
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To: Happygal
The worst way to relax was to listen to the BBC World Service on short-wave radio. As one senior Marine said: "If you listen to the BBC, we lost the war four days ago."

Seems like this dude learned a number of things while covering the war

I have to give him credit .. at least he can admit his is a big chicken ... LOL

98 posted on 04/23/2003 4:58:29 PM PDT by Mo1 (I'm a monthly Donor .. You can be one too!)
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To: expatpat
I discovered my commanding officer had a booklet with a section entitled 'How to deal with a dead media representative'.

I would hope so.
It's part of being prepared for contingencies.

So9

99 posted on 04/23/2003 7:47:37 PM PDT by Servant of the Nine (Think of it as Evolution In Action)
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To: Happygal
The next morning there were piles of Iraqi bodies on the road, still in their uniforms.

What kind of psycho would be surprised or even note that they were still in their uniforms?
What did he expect, that the dead body fairies would wash them and put them in their jammies for the long night to come?

So9

100 posted on 04/23/2003 7:51:07 PM PDT by Servant of the Nine (Think of it as Evolution In Action)
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