Kabul
Saturday September 27, 2008
Last May I left Afghanistan with the words of the outgoing commander of International forces here assuring us that by 2011 all foreign troops will be out of here and a stable democracy would have been restored.
Driving around the capital of Kabul in the last two days reveals a city that is effectively underseige. New checkpoints dominate virtually every road that leads to any Govt building or embassy.
For the more than 5 million residents of this city, the greatest problem they face is corruption. It is a cancer that has pervaded every aspect of life here, and by all reports it goes to the almost top of Govt, and even the President has a close family member that are regularly linked to the drug trade and corruption.
The figures are beyond belief; according to the US Government Accountability Office recent report the US Govt has spent close to $16 Billion on Military and Police training since 2002. And yet out of 105 Army Units only 2 are capable of conducting their primary missions, as for the Police. The figure is zero not one unit is capable of conducting effective enforcement.
I spent some time this afternoon filming Kabul Police conducting searches of cars, and again it is a matter of what is not being done that is more damming that what is being achieved. They would not stop a car with more than one male in it, cars with more than one male regularly waved off the Police requests to pull over and continued with immunity, not one car with a woman was stopped at any stage.
I filmed for a while for a feature we are working on, then getting back into our car I asked our fixer could we go to the outskirts of Kabul and film the checkpoints as the forces checked trucks coming into the city. He said he would try but a problem would be that when we were filming the authorities would not be able to collect their bribes. I jokingly mentioned that we would pay them for the lost revenue and he thought for a moment and did not answer.
A reality check for everyone is that Afghanistan is now officially the fifth most corrupt country in the world according to the latest report issued by Transparency International. Only Haiti, Iraq, Myanmar and bottom of the list Somalia are more open to corruption.
During an interview yesterday with an ex member of the Cabinet he told us that there were reports of Govt Officials who had assets in excess of $20 million dollars and yet they were paid only a few hundred dollars a month for their services to the administration here.
You can feel the frustration of everyone in this city as they are powerless to stop this cancer as the International Community continues to pour money in here with the hope that things will get better. For a select few the benefits are astronomical and the disease of corruption filters down till there is nothing left.
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Friday, August 22, 2008
Reflections from 36,000ft
En route Tbilisi – London
You never leave a war zone, in my work I depart one conflict and prepare for another.
In fact between live shots the other day, I went down to the hotel gym to find Correspondent Steve Harrigan working out as well.
“Here we find ourselves in a war zone, training for the next one”
The next one being Afghanistan, in a few weeks time where I have a three to four week assignment coming up, to coincide with the US Elections.
The last two weeks in Georgia have been physically draining, long hours , little sleep and the constant threat of danger. It is the danger you do not see that worried me the most. Isolated roads and ethnic tensions, add to that alcohol and guns and a lethal cocktail is created.
Who started the war in Georgia will be debated, Why Russia invaded can be argued from many viewpoints. I have no doubts that they had been planning this invasion for a long time.
I have learnt that you should never take sides and you cannot hate one side or the other. The secret is to simply despise both sides equally and be nice to the man with the gun or tank you are standing next to at the time. It is somewhat hard to explain what it feels like to drive across frontlines, one minute you are with one army the next with the other side with guns and artillery pointed at where you have just been and where you will be going too.
War is often not a constant Rambo’esque blaze of gunfire from the hip, but a slow calculated chess game, where moves are often made when the pieces are in place. And then the secret is not to be in the no man’s land
The one thing I dread about going home is the fact that I know that in the next few days, I will go thru, what I call the “wakes in the night”. Where I will suddenly wake up and not know where I am in the dark, and it will take a few seconds to register where I am and the fact that I am not in a conflict zone. That is never pleasant and will take a week to get over.
The Afghanistan trip next month will be hard, and already not two hours out of Georgian War. My planning has begun already.
Finally after two weeks my beard is at the stage that the itching is beginning to drive me crazy, what is worse though is the amount of less than dark hairs that seem to populate my natural color.
You never leave a war zone, in my work I depart one conflict and prepare for another.
In fact between live shots the other day, I went down to the hotel gym to find Correspondent Steve Harrigan working out as well.
“Here we find ourselves in a war zone, training for the next one”
The next one being Afghanistan, in a few weeks time where I have a three to four week assignment coming up, to coincide with the US Elections.
The last two weeks in Georgia have been physically draining, long hours , little sleep and the constant threat of danger. It is the danger you do not see that worried me the most. Isolated roads and ethnic tensions, add to that alcohol and guns and a lethal cocktail is created.
Who started the war in Georgia will be debated, Why Russia invaded can be argued from many viewpoints. I have no doubts that they had been planning this invasion for a long time.
I have learnt that you should never take sides and you cannot hate one side or the other. The secret is to simply despise both sides equally and be nice to the man with the gun or tank you are standing next to at the time. It is somewhat hard to explain what it feels like to drive across frontlines, one minute you are with one army the next with the other side with guns and artillery pointed at where you have just been and where you will be going too.
War is often not a constant Rambo’esque blaze of gunfire from the hip, but a slow calculated chess game, where moves are often made when the pieces are in place. And then the secret is not to be in the no man’s land
The one thing I dread about going home is the fact that I know that in the next few days, I will go thru, what I call the “wakes in the night”. Where I will suddenly wake up and not know where I am in the dark, and it will take a few seconds to register where I am and the fact that I am not in a conflict zone. That is never pleasant and will take a week to get over.
The Afghanistan trip next month will be hard, and already not two hours out of Georgian War. My planning has begun already.
Finally after two weeks my beard is at the stage that the itching is beginning to drive me crazy, what is worse though is the amount of less than dark hairs that seem to populate my natural color.
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Perhaps it is the Hours
Tbilisi
Georgia
Perhaps one the hardest things to come to personal grips with on assignments of this length is the toll working hours in two time zones, and then having to work them twice or more in a day.
Time zones are probably my greatest enemy in many respects, here in Tbilisi we are eight hours ahead of Fox News Headquarters in New York. The affects of this after twelve days on assignment probably really hit home last night or afternoon depending on where you are reading this.
The day seems to begin the night before, as if we have to do a live shot for the Prime Time News Show"Fox Report" that means we are still working at 3 am , you do the shot, then have to break down. So as far as New York is aware we have finished just after 7pm, by the time you get to bed it can be 4:30 local and then to get up and gather the news for the day I have to be awake again no later than 9 am, to get the kit ready from Sat gear to Computers, power, cameras, first aid kit checks and the body armor.
Out of the hotel around 10 am (which remember is in fact according to New York 2 am, and the day has begun)
We head up the road to the frontline, film for a few hours, then head back to Tbilisi, I try to feed some of the material we have shot on the road so that the Channel has material for us to run during the day.
And this is before we start our rostered shift of live shots , our block of lives yesterday was from 3 pm to the 7pm shows, New York Time, which meant we were going locally from 10 pm to 3 am.
Then figure on getting up again and doing it again, sometimes the live shift good fall in your favor and we can wrap up by midnight. But you know that all things end, and at some stage life will be back to normal.
As far as what has happened here today, the reality is nothing, but my conspiracy theory for the future has no silver lining.
Tomorrow is another day, that is after we finish at 3 am.
Georgia
Perhaps one the hardest things to come to personal grips with on assignments of this length is the toll working hours in two time zones, and then having to work them twice or more in a day.
Time zones are probably my greatest enemy in many respects, here in Tbilisi we are eight hours ahead of Fox News Headquarters in New York. The affects of this after twelve days on assignment probably really hit home last night or afternoon depending on where you are reading this.
The day seems to begin the night before, as if we have to do a live shot for the Prime Time News Show"Fox Report" that means we are still working at 3 am , you do the shot, then have to break down. So as far as New York is aware we have finished just after 7pm, by the time you get to bed it can be 4:30 local and then to get up and gather the news for the day I have to be awake again no later than 9 am, to get the kit ready from Sat gear to Computers, power, cameras, first aid kit checks and the body armor.
Out of the hotel around 10 am (which remember is in fact according to New York 2 am, and the day has begun)
We head up the road to the frontline, film for a few hours, then head back to Tbilisi, I try to feed some of the material we have shot on the road so that the Channel has material for us to run during the day.
And this is before we start our rostered shift of live shots , our block of lives yesterday was from 3 pm to the 7pm shows, New York Time, which meant we were going locally from 10 pm to 3 am.
Then figure on getting up again and doing it again, sometimes the live shift good fall in your favor and we can wrap up by midnight. But you know that all things end, and at some stage life will be back to normal.
As far as what has happened here today, the reality is nothing, but my conspiracy theory for the future has no silver lining.
Tomorrow is another day, that is after we finish at 3 am.
Monday, August 18, 2008
What's the time Mr Wolf
Outside Gori , Georgia
Well according to all The Russian troops were of supposed to be pulling out of positions at noon (that is when the big hand and the little hand on the watch, are together and pointing to the top) Now as they say try to stay fashionable and explain to me how come when we approached Gori, after the big hand little hand scenario whilst still in the sovereign nation of Georgia.
We approached and past thru a Russian Military checkpoint some ten km's outside Gori on the road to the capital Tbilisi.
Only to drive on and come to a complete stop to be turned around by guess who ?
There on the highway leading into Gori, in the country of Georgia was a Russian Officer who said that unless we had Russian Media Accreditation approved by the Kremlin or Russian Authorities we may not proceed along a Georgian road into a Georgian city that was supposed to of been clear of Russian troops at midday.
Then again the artillery still on the hills dug in, plus the APC's on the road, ohh and the camp of Russian soldiers.
Call me cynical, but I laugh when I got back to the hotel in Tbilisi an hour later and there on an opposition Cable Network was a running headline banner on the bottom of the screen "Russian Troops begin pullout". If they bothered to leave the Presidential Suite they occupy on the sixth floor and drive up the road rather than rely on wires from Agencies that have been so inaccurate and propaganda tools for both Governments in this conflict, then perhaps they could report the news.
So where does this leave us, the bottom line is I do not believe anything that I have not seen with my own eyes.
And from behind these hazel irises, the Russian troops remain in Georgia.
The next time someone comes up with a time, just double check which day, week, month and year they mean
Well according to all The Russian troops were of supposed to be pulling out of positions at noon (that is when the big hand and the little hand on the watch, are together and pointing to the top) Now as they say try to stay fashionable and explain to me how come when we approached Gori, after the big hand little hand scenario whilst still in the sovereign nation of Georgia.
We approached and past thru a Russian Military checkpoint some ten km's outside Gori on the road to the capital Tbilisi.
Only to drive on and come to a complete stop to be turned around by guess who ?
There on the highway leading into Gori, in the country of Georgia was a Russian Officer who said that unless we had Russian Media Accreditation approved by the Kremlin or Russian Authorities we may not proceed along a Georgian road into a Georgian city that was supposed to of been clear of Russian troops at midday.
Then again the artillery still on the hills dug in, plus the APC's on the road, ohh and the camp of Russian soldiers.
Call me cynical, but I laugh when I got back to the hotel in Tbilisi an hour later and there on an opposition Cable Network was a running headline banner on the bottom of the screen "Russian Troops begin pullout". If they bothered to leave the Presidential Suite they occupy on the sixth floor and drive up the road rather than rely on wires from Agencies that have been so inaccurate and propaganda tools for both Governments in this conflict, then perhaps they could report the news.
So where does this leave us, the bottom line is I do not believe anything that I have not seen with my own eyes.
And from behind these hazel irises, the Russian troops remain in Georgia.
The next time someone comes up with a time, just double check which day, week, month and year they mean
Sunday, August 17, 2008
It is too Quiet - Igoeti Georgia
ASSOCIATED PRESS REPORT
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
IGOETI, Georgia (AP) - Russian soldiers dug foxholes Saturday on a hillside near the capital of war-battered Georgia as a cease-fire went into effect, setting the stage for a Russian troop withdrawal after more than a week of fighting.
The Russian seizure of territory, including the strategic city of Gori about 20 miles from Igoeti, raised fears that Russia was aiming for a permanent occupation of the country that once was part of its empire.
As both sides waited for the truce to come into effect, Russian troops' intentions were hard to read.
The shallow foxholes being gouged out of the earth at Igoeti by a small contingent of Russian soldiers on Saturday could indicate intentions to stay awhile. They could be intended as defensive positions for the Russians to guard their comrades as they withdraw
If you Google "IGOETI" thousands of hits will come up, all reflecting one thing, as the Associated Press Report above indicates the Russians have control of this vital city or town, every newspaper in the world will have a story almost indentical, and around the globe the world holds it breath fearing for the fate of "Igoetians".
Prior to the war, here. Googling "Igoeti" would of revealed a couple of hits relating to vineyards in the area.
We drove up to Igoeti yesterday, Saturday and filmed the Russian Tanks, APC's and Soldiers digging foxholes overlooking the road. At the frontline yesterday it was a matter of Georgian troops and Russian troops literally 50 yards apart, sometimes soldiers would walk back and forwards crossing the line. No one caring or really bothered. Fighting is no longer a real factor here. Everyone knows who has won and that at any stage the Russians can move where and when they want.
We drove up today towards Igoeti, which is about half way between Tbilisi and Gori. The highway i virtually closed to all traffic and for the first time in this conflict we pasted with tape on our car the word "TV" on the windscreen, bonnet and rear window.
So that when we approach checkpoints the risks are reduced of being an unidentified vehicle.
Our main concern today was not the threat of coming into contact, but the real danger of being robbed and having our vehicle stolen at gunpoint by roaming militants, or as Cher might say "Gypsies Tramps and Thieves". In a new 4X4 Toyota, TV on the windscreen driving on a road with no law and no order we were an ATM on wheels to anyone with an AK47, of which there are no shortage of here.
The Russian have pulled back a few km's from Igoeti, and there is always the professional desire to check facts as true. But leaving the last Georgian Army checkpoint and heading towards Gori the silence in the car reflected that knowledge that it was a risk not worth taking. Around a corner and a Georgian Police car with a few people milling around gave a sense of safety so we pulled in to talk with the police, the trouble as Rez our driver explained that the police themselves cannot be trusted they can just easily tell you that all is ok on the road ahead, watch you drive off and call their friends to steal your car and everything in it.
It was the first time in the week plus that we have been here that our driver Rez has expressed any concern in regard to this and Steve and him talked in Russian for a while. Basically it could be done but the risk was just to high. So without saying anything to the police we turned back towards Tbilisi . We had not gone more than half a mile when we passed a Red Cross Aid convoy heading towards Gori, being a convoy we turned and started to follow them past the police we had just left.
One minute past the Police we came upon another checkpoint manned by uniforms that made no sense and this was a major worry. It took two seconds for us to make a fast very fast U turn and head back.
We try everyday to cover the war and tell a story, the last thing we want to do is become the story ourselves.
It was a day as they say that everyone's sixth sense, became a little seventh. Sometimes the scariest sound is the sound of silence at a checkpoint.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
IGOETI, Georgia (AP) - Russian soldiers dug foxholes Saturday on a hillside near the capital of war-battered Georgia as a cease-fire went into effect, setting the stage for a Russian troop withdrawal after more than a week of fighting.
The Russian seizure of territory, including the strategic city of Gori about 20 miles from Igoeti, raised fears that Russia was aiming for a permanent occupation of the country that once was part of its empire.
As both sides waited for the truce to come into effect, Russian troops' intentions were hard to read.
The shallow foxholes being gouged out of the earth at Igoeti by a small contingent of Russian soldiers on Saturday could indicate intentions to stay awhile. They could be intended as defensive positions for the Russians to guard their comrades as they withdraw
If you Google "IGOETI" thousands of hits will come up, all reflecting one thing, as the Associated Press Report above indicates the Russians have control of this vital city or town, every newspaper in the world will have a story almost indentical, and around the globe the world holds it breath fearing for the fate of "Igoetians".
Prior to the war, here. Googling "Igoeti" would of revealed a couple of hits relating to vineyards in the area.
We drove up to Igoeti yesterday, Saturday and filmed the Russian Tanks, APC's and Soldiers digging foxholes overlooking the road. At the frontline yesterday it was a matter of Georgian troops and Russian troops literally 50 yards apart, sometimes soldiers would walk back and forwards crossing the line. No one caring or really bothered. Fighting is no longer a real factor here. Everyone knows who has won and that at any stage the Russians can move where and when they want.
We drove up today towards Igoeti, which is about half way between Tbilisi and Gori. The highway i virtually closed to all traffic and for the first time in this conflict we pasted with tape on our car the word "TV" on the windscreen, bonnet and rear window.
So that when we approach checkpoints the risks are reduced of being an unidentified vehicle.
Our main concern today was not the threat of coming into contact, but the real danger of being robbed and having our vehicle stolen at gunpoint by roaming militants, or as Cher might say "Gypsies Tramps and Thieves". In a new 4X4 Toyota, TV on the windscreen driving on a road with no law and no order we were an ATM on wheels to anyone with an AK47, of which there are no shortage of here.
The Russian have pulled back a few km's from Igoeti, and there is always the professional desire to check facts as true. But leaving the last Georgian Army checkpoint and heading towards Gori the silence in the car reflected that knowledge that it was a risk not worth taking. Around a corner and a Georgian Police car with a few people milling around gave a sense of safety so we pulled in to talk with the police, the trouble as Rez our driver explained that the police themselves cannot be trusted they can just easily tell you that all is ok on the road ahead, watch you drive off and call their friends to steal your car and everything in it.
It was the first time in the week plus that we have been here that our driver Rez has expressed any concern in regard to this and Steve and him talked in Russian for a while. Basically it could be done but the risk was just to high. So without saying anything to the police we turned back towards Tbilisi . We had not gone more than half a mile when we passed a Red Cross Aid convoy heading towards Gori, being a convoy we turned and started to follow them past the police we had just left.
One minute past the Police we came upon another checkpoint manned by uniforms that made no sense and this was a major worry. It took two seconds for us to make a fast very fast U turn and head back.
We try everyday to cover the war and tell a story, the last thing we want to do is become the story ourselves.
It was a day as they say that everyone's sixth sense, became a little seventh. Sometimes the scariest sound is the sound of silence at a checkpoint.
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Superstition and Lucky Charms
We all have them , and for whatever reasons you try not to break them just in case it brings bad luck. Friends often are amazed as to what superstitions I have when in a war zone and I do have a few so in no particular order here are some of the things that I believe bring me luck.
I never shave when covering combat, I can trim my beard under my chin as it gets too itchy otherwise, and if it goes on for too long I may trim my beard but never shave it completely. The exception is in the event that I have to wear a gas mask against a chemical attack, as was the case in the Iraq War, a beard is more likely to kill me than save me as the gas mask will not fit.
I always return home with one piece of clothing that I have not worn, nothing in particular but one piece and on this trip it will be a black t shirt.
I always carry a red hankerchief, have done for years and tucked away somewhere the last thing someone gave me before I leave for assignment. This time it is a coin that the London Producer Tadek Markowski, picked up from the bureau floor and said
“Here you are mate a lucky penny”.
Well a 2p coin is close to a penny.
We head out in an hour or so back to Gori, 40 miles away and the frontline.
With my coin, hankerchief and a stubble of a beard.
And most importantly photos of my two daughters, Louise and Brittany in my wallet.
I never shave when covering combat, I can trim my beard under my chin as it gets too itchy otherwise, and if it goes on for too long I may trim my beard but never shave it completely. The exception is in the event that I have to wear a gas mask against a chemical attack, as was the case in the Iraq War, a beard is more likely to kill me than save me as the gas mask will not fit.
I always return home with one piece of clothing that I have not worn, nothing in particular but one piece and on this trip it will be a black t shirt.
I always carry a red hankerchief, have done for years and tucked away somewhere the last thing someone gave me before I leave for assignment. This time it is a coin that the London Producer Tadek Markowski, picked up from the bureau floor and said
“Here you are mate a lucky penny”.
Well a 2p coin is close to a penny.
We head out in an hour or so back to Gori, 40 miles away and the frontline.
With my coin, hankerchief and a stubble of a beard.
And most importantly photos of my two daughters, Louise and Brittany in my wallet.
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Running from the Law
Gori
Georgia
Law today on the outskirts of Gori, involved a crazed Ossestian wielding a pistol firing a journalists, this directly in front of a Russian tank flanked by Armored Personal Carriers, the fact that the Russian soldiers did nothing is not surprising as reports of all sides in this conflict are committing atrocities. In the spirit of the Olympics car jacking and robbery are now national sports, and as journalists we are being targeted to new heights.
You can get that sense of calm and normality sitting around an army only to have it destroyed in seconds.
We managed to get through all the road blocks and arrived on the outskirts of Gori, to find the Russians taking up positions and for the first time a tank barrel was pointing down the road. The soldiers seemed calm enough and after thirty minutes of media mayhem most of us along with the Russian Soldiers were sitting under trees chatting as they asked us to make calls home for them, and let their families know that they are OK. Unlike the US and coalition forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, few have cell phones and the concept of Internet Cafes and AT&T phone centers, these guys have nothing. A young Kazach soldier lay on the ground playing with a puppy.
After the melee of the first half hour, we had let our guard down, doubting that any trouble could happen surrounded by the Army.
It was the crack of a single round that made me look up as Steve and I walked back up the road towards the tank and up ahead our car. Anya, our Producer was still getting beseiged by soldiers giving her numbers of families to call. I thought it was strange to hear a small arm sound. But the smell of cordite drifted down to us and I commented to Steve.
"Smells like cordite!"
Another ten steps and it was revealed, the entire media pack was running away back up the road, cars with tires squealing were bearing away, and between us and our car was "the law". A middle aged man with a pistol was screaming as he wrestled with a cameraman trying to get his camera. The pistol was swinging wildly and he was between us and our car.
More shots sounded, a gun swinging around in the air.
Steve and i were running to the side as he continued to wrestle with the cameraman yelling in Russian
"Give me your camera, you jerk or I will shoot you"
You do not stop or try to establish eye contact, you simply run, as fast as you can in a flak jacket. Each step seems to get slower. The distance to safety seems to become an eternity.
Now with fifty yards between us and the gunman I yelled for Steve to start talking, the drama and tension as I ran on with the camera pointing back at Steve, at this moment in time framing and lighting even exposure takes second place. It is a matter of capturing the impact.
With a few hundred yards between us and the crazed militiaman, we slowed to a walk and for the first time I stopped and turned back , wondering where our Producer Anya was in this mayhem. I could not see her so I started walking back towards the scene. It seemed to have cooled down.
Back fifty yards, and all of a sudden everyone is running back past me at full speed away. It was going to hell again.
Cars with doors open full of media hanging out screamed off, shouts were drowned out by the sound of engines reving and horns blaring.
And I could not find my car, I could not even see it. So I ran around cars as they took off wondering if I should just jump into a half open door. This was not one of the times when life flashes past your eyes or everything goes into slo motion.
This was full body contact effort, only my own effort was going to get me out and safe.
It seemed an eternity and the sound of cars became less as they were just about all gone, when I saw our car ahead. The mere sight of perceived safety gave me a boost. This is no armored car, but as we call them "soft skins" but it is "sanctuary".
I remember my arm finally touching the handle and opening the door to scramble in and I turned the camera still rolling to my face, my eyes shot with blood, my breathing and heart rate pulsing to the maximum.
Lifting the camera I turned to Steve and said go, rolling ...
"it's a good thing Mal James is a triathlete, he just had to run
about a mile in a vest. That's how quickly things
change here. One minute you are sitting down with
Russian forces, next minute - car loads of Georgian
forces drive up, they are furious, and they seem to
take out that fury and humiliation on the people they
can, which is the journalists. We saw one Georgian,
irregular force, pointing a gun and then another
fired.I don't know the result, but I saw a pistol fat
guy pointed our way and we just had to run by that
pistol and keep running. This is an irregular,
undisciplined, chaotic, angry, humiliated Georgian
force. They don't listen to orders, they fire on
civilians from what we've just seen."
It is called Law and Un Order
Georgia
Law today on the outskirts of Gori, involved a crazed Ossestian wielding a pistol firing a journalists, this directly in front of a Russian tank flanked by Armored Personal Carriers, the fact that the Russian soldiers did nothing is not surprising as reports of all sides in this conflict are committing atrocities. In the spirit of the Olympics car jacking and robbery are now national sports, and as journalists we are being targeted to new heights.
You can get that sense of calm and normality sitting around an army only to have it destroyed in seconds.
We managed to get through all the road blocks and arrived on the outskirts of Gori, to find the Russians taking up positions and for the first time a tank barrel was pointing down the road. The soldiers seemed calm enough and after thirty minutes of media mayhem most of us along with the Russian Soldiers were sitting under trees chatting as they asked us to make calls home for them, and let their families know that they are OK. Unlike the US and coalition forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, few have cell phones and the concept of Internet Cafes and AT&T phone centers, these guys have nothing. A young Kazach soldier lay on the ground playing with a puppy.
After the melee of the first half hour, we had let our guard down, doubting that any trouble could happen surrounded by the Army.
It was the crack of a single round that made me look up as Steve and I walked back up the road towards the tank and up ahead our car. Anya, our Producer was still getting beseiged by soldiers giving her numbers of families to call. I thought it was strange to hear a small arm sound. But the smell of cordite drifted down to us and I commented to Steve.
"Smells like cordite!"
Another ten steps and it was revealed, the entire media pack was running away back up the road, cars with tires squealing were bearing away, and between us and our car was "the law". A middle aged man with a pistol was screaming as he wrestled with a cameraman trying to get his camera. The pistol was swinging wildly and he was between us and our car.
More shots sounded, a gun swinging around in the air.
Steve and i were running to the side as he continued to wrestle with the cameraman yelling in Russian
"Give me your camera, you jerk or I will shoot you"
You do not stop or try to establish eye contact, you simply run, as fast as you can in a flak jacket. Each step seems to get slower. The distance to safety seems to become an eternity.
Now with fifty yards between us and the gunman I yelled for Steve to start talking, the drama and tension as I ran on with the camera pointing back at Steve, at this moment in time framing and lighting even exposure takes second place. It is a matter of capturing the impact.
With a few hundred yards between us and the crazed militiaman, we slowed to a walk and for the first time I stopped and turned back , wondering where our Producer Anya was in this mayhem. I could not see her so I started walking back towards the scene. It seemed to have cooled down.
Back fifty yards, and all of a sudden everyone is running back past me at full speed away. It was going to hell again.
Cars with doors open full of media hanging out screamed off, shouts were drowned out by the sound of engines reving and horns blaring.
And I could not find my car, I could not even see it. So I ran around cars as they took off wondering if I should just jump into a half open door. This was not one of the times when life flashes past your eyes or everything goes into slo motion.
This was full body contact effort, only my own effort was going to get me out and safe.
It seemed an eternity and the sound of cars became less as they were just about all gone, when I saw our car ahead. The mere sight of perceived safety gave me a boost. This is no armored car, but as we call them "soft skins" but it is "sanctuary".
I remember my arm finally touching the handle and opening the door to scramble in and I turned the camera still rolling to my face, my eyes shot with blood, my breathing and heart rate pulsing to the maximum.
Lifting the camera I turned to Steve and said go, rolling ...
"it's a good thing Mal James is a triathlete, he just had to run
about a mile in a vest. That's how quickly things
change here. One minute you are sitting down with
Russian forces, next minute - car loads of Georgian
forces drive up, they are furious, and they seem to
take out that fury and humiliation on the people they
can, which is the journalists. We saw one Georgian,
irregular force, pointing a gun and then another
fired.I don't know the result, but I saw a pistol fat
guy pointed our way and we just had to run by that
pistol and keep running. This is an irregular,
undisciplined, chaotic, angry, humiliated Georgian
force. They don't listen to orders, they fire on
civilians from what we've just seen."
It is called Law and Un Order
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