caliginouspyxidion: Among many others over the...

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Among many others over the past eighteen days, American Sunday Times war reporter Marie Colvin and French photographer Remi Ochlik were killed earlier today during further shelling in Homs, Syria.

Covering a war means going to places torn by chaos, destruction and death, and trying to bear witness. It means trying to find the truth in a sandstorm of propaganda when armies, tribes or terrorists clash. And yes, it means taking risks, not just for yourself but often for the people who work closely with you.

Despite all the videos you see from the Ministry of Defence or the Pentagon, and all the sanitised language describing smart bombs and pinpoint strikes, the scene on the ground has remained remarkably the same for hundreds of years. Craters. Burned houses. Mutilated bodies. Women weeping for children and husbands. Men for their wives, mothers, children.

Our mission is to report these horrors of war with accuracy and without prejudice. We always have to ask ourselves whether the level of risk is worth the story. What is bravery, and what is bravado?

— Colvin, speaking at a service for the war-wounded in 2010.

(via bbook)

COGITO ERGO SUM.

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