Luncheon in Brisbane
LAWeekly story re Michael Hastings
Michael Hastings' Dangerous Mind:
Journalistic Star Was Loved, Feared and Haunted
It is quite long but very good and well worth a read. Mick is quoted in a couple places.
Page 3:
War journalists have begun to try to raise awareness by speaking out about their own mental health. Perhaps the most high-profile example is Michael Ware, a CNN and Time correspondent who spent six straight years in Baghdad.
Ware, who was nearly killed several times over, has been open about his own addiction to combat. In his time in Iraq, he was shot at, kidnapped three times and twice nearly executed.
"I've been through the wringer," he says by Skype from his home in Australia. Now retired from combat coverage, he says it took years to get over his experience.
"I had a very dark few years coming out of Iraq," he says. For a while, he was suicidal. "I know what it's like to battle these things on your own. I went very close to topping myself."
…
Michael Ware did not know Hastings in Baghdad but argues the effects of covering a war should not be underestimated.
"There's gonna be no one answer (to his death), but it would have to have been a massive contributing factor," Ware says. "That could have been me in that car crash at another part of my life."
Page 7:
That said, Hastings likely had reason to be concerned about government surveillance.
"I cannot count the number of times I've had my communications recorded, my computers 'read,' " Michael Ware says. "I've had transcripts read back to me of some of my conversations."
Film title
Gauntlet thrown
Now, wouldn’t THAT be interesting? I know I’d pay to see it… Is Sheen batshit-crazy enough to accept the challenge? (Or foolish enough to think he’d win?)
Lowy Institute interview from June 14
UPDATE: Lowy has also posted a couple photos from the event: