Michael Ware On Leave From CNN [View All]

Michael Ware did straight reporting from Iraq, often shooting down erroneous stories being peddled by the anchors stateside. My thoughts and prayers are with Michael as he battles the demons of PTSD.

Michael Ware On Leave From CNN

Huffington Post | Danny Shea First Posted: 04-28-10 11:55 AM | Updated: 04-28-10 12:56 PM

Foreign correspondent Michael Ware, the face of CNN's coverage of Iraq, is on leave from the network.

The network says that Ware, who has been conspicuously absent from CNN, is on leave to write a book.

"Michael is currently on a leave of absence writing a book," a CNN spokesperson told the Huffington Post. "We don't discuss individual contracts."

AllThingsCNN, a blog covering the network, speculates that Ware will not be returning to CNN ever after the network denied his request for more time off to write his book and deal with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Ware was the subject of a haunting, must-read Men's Journal profile in December 2008 that brought readers into his tortured world. Titled "CNN's Prisoner of War," the story by Greg Veis quoted Ware as saying of his return from Iraq, "I am not the same fucking person. I am not the same person. I don't know how to come home."

All Things CNN blogger Cyn writes that CNN has let Ware down:

And exactly how does a news organization justify (to themselves, even!) not giving their war correspondents whatever they need in order to deal with their wounds, whether they are visible ones or not? If ABC had treated Bob Woodruff so callously, there would have been hell to pay. I don't doubt they wanted him back in the field ASAP -- doubly so after losing Christiane Amanpour -- but don't force him to make a choice between getting better and getting paid. That just sucks. Surely it would be better to have him off the air but still yours once he is ready to come back than to have him off the air and someone else's upon his return? So not only has CNN made a callous move here, they have made a stupid one, as well.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/28/michael-ware-on-leave-fro_n_555384.html