Where war lives

In his new book – War lives here – Canadian foreign correspondent and Pulitzer prize winner Paul Watson is haunted by a split second decision he made in Mogadishu on October 4, 1993,

“The crowd parted, forming a manic horseshoe around the corpse. My eyes panned the frenzy like a camera guided by invisible hands. I looked to the ground. And that is how I came to know Staff-Sgt. William David Cleveland. In less than the time it took to breathe, I had to decide whether to steal a dead man’s last shred of dignity. The moment of choice, in the swirl of dust and sweat, hatred and fear, is still trapped in my mind, denying me peace: just as I was about to press the shutter on my camera, the world went quiet, everything around me melted into a slow-motion blur, and I heard the voice: ‘If you do this, I will own you forever.'” link

The book covers Watson’s time at the Toronto Star and as SE Asia bureau chief for the LA Times. It takes us from Mogadishu to Rwanda, Kosovo, Iraq, Afghanistan and the Boxing Day tsunami of 2002. NPR has a radio interview with Watson about the book.