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Courage under fire

6 comments on Courage under fire

Courage under fire
: Glenn Reynolds points to the story of the selfless courage of Time correspondent Michael Weisskopf, who grabbed the grenade thrown into his humvee and threw it out, saving the lives of the others in the vehicle but costing him his hand.

Whenever you dismiss the importance of reporters out in the field, whenever you impugn their motives, whenever you think this whole news thing can happen without them, think of Weisskopf and of Danny Pearl and of the other reporters who have been killed and injured reporting this war and the many more who put themselves at risk every day.

They are doing it for you and me.

: Tom Mangan sends us to remarkable photos by the James Nachtwey, the photographer injured in this incident.

6 responses to “Courage under fire”

  1. Cameron Watters Avatar
    Cameron Watters

    Let’s also not forget the ones that sit idly by as the “bad guys” try to shoot down our planes:
    “This week the magazine published photos by French photographer Jerome Sessini who was with the insurgents when they summoned him for a “demonstration” of their firepower.”
    Gotta wonder how he might have acted differently if one of his family/friends were on that plane?

  2. lk Avatar
    lk

    Mr. Weisskopf showed extraordinary bravery and courage, and should receive a civilian award for his actions. Is he part of the big media conspiracy (the Bad News Bears) that gets mentioned a lot?

  3. Adam Avatar
    Adam

    What Weisskopf did was certainly brave and quick thinking, but you make it sound a bit as if he did something heroic in the service of others. While he did save others lives at cost to himself, I’d suspect that his instinct was self-perservation, not helping others.
    That said, he and other reporters trying to let us know what things are like in Iraq are doing an important and ditry job.

  4. JP Avatar
    JP

    I’m with Adam on this. It’s not the fact that he was a journalist that made him through the granade out. Granted – I’d not have the guts to be there in the first place to report about what’s going down.
    So don’t get me wrong. I’ve met a person who’s been in Badad for the 6 weeks that we all think about. I wonder how he did it. What’s so gripping is to think about the fact that the trouble has not stopped although we’d like to put it out of our minds.
    J

  5. tom mangan Avatar
    tom mangan

    To me the uncanny thing is how the photograher seems to have had somebody between him and the live grenade. Guys like him have an amazing knack for getting out of these terrible scrapes alive.

  6. Marcel Perez Avatar
    Marcel Perez

    Adam and JP:
    By your own description of Mr.Weisskopf’s action being brave and quick thinking, you have conceded his heroism. In a situation where instantaneous action is called for, no one thinks about whether his/her action is out of self preservation, except for the coward who seeks cover at the expense of others. Another man might have dived for cover or been frozen into inaction, wherein everyone might have died.
    If this incident had involved a man in uniform performing this act of saving himself and his compatriots, he would be cited for heroism and presented a Silver Star, or at least a Bronze Star (or other service equivalent).
    A man in civilian staus can also be heroic, especially in a time when we use the term so loosely that we have sports “heroes” who do absolutely nothing even remotely heroic.
    This man was heroic in my book. I’ll bet his comrades think he is, and that’s more important than yours or my opinion.