Stiletto by Max Kolbe – September, 2006

Published on Sep 15, 2006 by Luke Hunt

Amid the Blackmail, Mayhem and Death, Spare a Thought for Wa Wa In Vietnam police arrested a journalist after he apparently blackmailed a company for 10,000 dollars in return for not to exposing alleged corruption. Nguyen Hung Son, 37, a reporter at Dien Dan Doanh Nghiep was detained after being caught receiving 10,000 dollars in cash from the company’s director in a Hanoi cafe. The journalist had previously visited the headquarters of the private-owned Hai Van transport company, based in northern Hai Duong province, and claimed he had evidence that proved corruption involving the sales of vehicles. He then asked for money to keep silent. State-controlled daily An Ninh Thu Do said Son, who was denounced by the company, admitted....

Stiletto by Max Kolbe – July 2006

Published on Jul 15, 2006 by Luke Hunt

It’s Official, Iraq Really is that Dangerous The International Press Institute (IPI) has again called for the killers of the so-called “Balibo Five” — Australian-based journalists murdered in East Timor in 1975, to be brought to justice. This issue will not go away and has dogged the Indonesian authorities as perhaps the last outstanding blot to be cleaned out of their annexation and occupation of the former Portuguese colony. Press chiefs pushed Australia, East Timor, Indonesia, Britain and the United Nations “to undertake all necessary measures” to find who killers Gary Cunningham, Greg Shackleton, Tony Stewart of Melbourne’s Channel Seven network, and Brian Peters and Malcolm Rennie of Sydney-based Channel Nine network. “Despite numerous attempts by relatives and concerned organisations....

Furtive Franks Misses Out on Kebabs in Palestine Hotel

Published on Apr 21, 2003 by Luke Hunt

Editor’s note: The Posts’s energetic and slightly wary senior Iraq correspondent, Sheikh Ya’erbuti writes in his final missive from Iraq about the post-war preparations, Palestine Airways and Waqil, who has resurfaced after several weeks in the desert. He filed this piece on April 21. BAGHDAD: In one corner, combatants of the self-styled milita known as the Free Iraqi Forces are holding court. A muslim cleric and his entourage sweep past soldiers in full battledress while a middle-aged man hustles whisky out of a plastic bag. A marine yells: “Clear a path” as General James Mattis tries to leave. But the order is ignored by the hundreds who fill the hotel lobby. His bodyguards deploy the butts of their M-16 assault....

Baghdad: The Palestine Hotel

Published on Apr 17, 2003 by Luke Hunt

Shortly after the US Marines entered Baghdad, Luke Hunt filed the following dispatch for Agence France-Press. BAGHDAD, April 17 (AFP) – In one corner combatants of the self-styled Free Iraq Forces hold court, a Muslim cleric and his entourage sweep past marines in full battle dress while a middle-aged man hustles whisky out of a plastic bag. A marine yells: “Clear a path”, as General James Mattis tries to leave. But the order is ignored by the hundreds who fill the hotel’s lobby and bodyguards deploy the butts of their M-16 assault rifles to force an exit. Cameras flash and journalists shove microphones under the noses of military officers in the hope of an elusive quote. Marines remain unsure whether....

Taste of War, Taste of Beer, Taste of Home

Published on Apr 16, 2003 by Luke Hunt

As the dashing War Correspondent Mikey Sprengelmeyer entered Baghdad with 101st Airborne he filed the following yarn from the front lines for the Rocky Mountain News and its affiliates back home. It’s true what my friend Luke told me once when we were back in Kuwait: “There’s beer in Baghdad.” Actually, he didn’t say it once. He said it 400 times amid a gaggle of war correspondents. It became a battle cry for reporters sent to this dusty, alcohol-free region so far from home. “There’s beer in Baghdad.” When we shivered through the night in our sleeping bags, not sure if we were shaking because of the chills or the sound of the mortars exploding in the distance, we’d say....