Michael Ware - Life and Career

Life and Career

Michael Ware is a native of Brisbane (Queensland), Australia. He is a graduate of Brisbane Grammar School, and he earned a Bachelor of Laws and a degree in Political Science from the University of Queensland. He spent a year as Associate to then-President of the Supreme Court of Queensland Tony Fitzgerald before moving into journalism. He worked for the Courier-Mail in Brisbane (1995–2000) and gained local notice after a series of articles led to a formal investigation into police handling (or lack thereof) of a pedophile ring. Ware declined to name sources who had provided him with internal police documents in the matter.

His earliest assignments for Time magazine took him to East Timor in 2000; and, in December 2001, he went into Afghanistan to cover the U.S. search for al-Qaeda. As preparations for the invasion of Iraq began in early 2003, Ware relocated to the Kurdistan area. Although he has gone into battles embedded with U.S. forces, he also traveled to insurgent camps and reported on their perspective of the war. His Time bylines include reports from Kabul, Kandahar, Fallujah, Tikrit, Tal Afar, Mosul, Samarra, Ramadi, and Baghdad.

In September 2004, while investigating reports that Abu Mousab al-Zarqawi's nascent "al-Qaeda in Iraq" group was openly claiming control of the Haifa Street area of Baghdad, Ware was briefly held at gunpoint by fighters loyal to Zarqawi who had pulled pins from live grenades and forced his car to stop. The men dragged him from the car and stood him beneath one of the banners, intending to film his execution with his own video camera. By threatening them with immediate and violent retaliation, his local guides, including members of the Ba'ath Party, were able to win his release. Ware has stated that, had this happened only a few months later, when Zarqawi's group had grown stronger, he would have been killed.

In October 2004, he was named Time magazine's Baghdad Bureau Chief.

He was embedded for the September 2005 assault on Tal Afar, and his harrowing video of the battle has been included in a Frontline documentary and a 60 Minutes report.

Since joining CNN, he has been partnered with Thomas Evans, who produced for Anderson Cooper.

Additional career information:

• August 2006, spent three weeks in Beirut and the Bekaa Valley as part of CNN's team covering the Israeli invasion of Lebanon before returning to Iraq.
• October 2007, covered the quadrennial Rugby World Cup for CNN Sports, reporting from Marseilles and Paris.
• February 2008, covered the parliamentary elections in Pakistan for CNN and hosted Pakistan's Vital Vote.
• April 2008, hosted 30-minute special for CNN, Iraq: Inside the Surge.
• August 2008, covered the South Ossetia War between the Russian Federation and the Republic of Georgia, reporting at various times from the towns of Tbilisi, Gori, and Poti.
• Beginning in early 2009, began covering the Mexican drug cartels, reporting from Juarez and Mexico City.
• Currently working on a book about the Iraq war, titled Between Me and the Dead, which will be published by Hachette (Australia) and Random House (U.S.). The title comes from a conversation he had with a friend in the Marines; when asked how he deals with civilians asking how many people he's killed, the Marine said he replies, "That's between me and the dead."
• In May 2010, began a one-year leave of absence from CNN to be treated for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
• In September 2010, the program Australian Story on ABC network in Australia ran a two-part special on Ware's career.
• In February 2011, confirmed that he would not be returning to CNN. He later told an Australian newspaper that he has formed a film company and is working on a documentary about his time in Iraq.
• In April 2011, added to the list of contributors to The Daily Beast and also wrote a column for Newsweek.