Scary Ware-y

The Huffington Post runs a long piece about the prescience of Mick Ware, the outspoken Australian war reporter who jumped from Time magazine's Baghdad bureau to CNN news.

For an Antepodian hack in a flakjacket, he's about as good as they come. The guy challenges spin (and ridiculed John McCain's protected shopping spree at a Baghdad souk). He has consistently reported tight action with flare, and has never sugarcoated complicated outcomes. Ware's insurgent sources around Baghdad keep him pessimistic, which is out of synch with the cheerleaders of this occupation. Mike Drudge attempted to smear him as a drunk.

Still, the Feral Beast did a doubletake at Huffington's headline. At first glance,it seemed to read "The Scary Presence of Mick Ware"...which, given Ware's oft-broken nose and maniacal expressions which are less than telegenic, did not come as a surprise.It seemed a tad mean, however. It's crucial to cut out the lip-glossed understatements repeated from government press conferences, and get the grit on the war from guys like Mick.

Beast of Baghdad

The Jerusalem press corps notes the departure of a familiar Farrell Beast, specifically Stephen Farrell, former Middle East correspondent for the London Times, who has just joined the New York Times as a veteran reinforcement for their Baghdad bureau. It recently underwent a major overhaul, with Dexter Filkins and John Burns back to civilization of sorts (although with car bombs planted in the UK, Burns' new patch of Londonistan is none too calm.)

This alpha male was famously kidnapped at gunpoint by bandits near Fallujah, then re-kidnapped by Baathist insurgents, interrogated as a suspected CIA spy and released after 8 hours. The kidnappers discovered that both their captives had been based in Israel, and things looked pretty hairy for awhile.

"See, not soldier. Just bald," the shaved-headed Farrell joked to the second lot of gunmen, to convince them there was no threat. Dinner then was served to Farrell and his petite female colleague, freelancer and fluent Arabic speaker Orly Halpern, before they were blindfolded and driven to Baghdad.

Steve manages to keep his head down a bit more these days, but has a great nose for news and a knack for danger.

Well, Farrell is back for more Iraq hi-jinks, full-on. He did not exactly slink away from the Holy Land hotspot. The send-off party at his Jerusalem apartment, for which he donned his ratty Iraq t-shirt, was classic. Sushi was served and the press corps was roasted with "Golden Bollocks" awards for ace blunders. The winner was a strapping Scandinavian hack who, when grilled by agents at the Ben Gurion airport, had managed to leave them sputtering and speechless. "Did you have contact with any Arabs?" they had asked, attempting to assess whether he was a threat to the Nation of Israel. "Well,Arabs, Jews, whatever... I can't really tell you guys apart," he had replied. Doh! They must have been rough with him.
James Hider, who is assuming Farrell's old beat at the London Times, is also an old Baghdad hand. It's a beastly business.