Megan Stack started life as a war correspondent almost accidentally. She was 25 years old, a National Correspondent for the Los Angeles Times, and holidaying in Paris when the 2001 September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center occurred. Her vacation was cut short, she flew in to Afghanistan, and from there Stack officially became a war correspondent.
Since then, Stack has been a foreign correspondent in over 22 countries and has covered war in Iraq, Afghanistan, Israel and Lebanon. It's an experience she recounts in her book, Every Man In This Village Is A Liar: An Education In War.
In this talk at the Byron Bay Writers Festival, Megan Stack discusses her career as a war correspondent. She gives insights into the wars she has covered, many of which still rage on today explaining why in war "You can survive and not survive, both at the same time."
She is joined by journalist Mungo MacCallum who replaces the intended compare for the event Kerry O'Brien (whose plane was delayed). O'Brien rushes in halfway through the talk, takes up his post and continues the conversation with Stack.
Bio
Mungo MacCallum
Mungo MacCallum is a political journalist, broadcaster and commentator.
Since the 1970s and 1980s, he has covered Australian federal politics from the Canberra Press Gallery for The Australian, The National Times, The Sydney Morning Herald, Nation Review and radio station 2JJ/Triple J.
Currently he writes a column for The Byron Shire Echo, The Northern Star, and frequently writes for the magazine The Monthly and www.crikey.com.au. He also contributes political commentary to Australia's national Community Radio Network.
As an author, he has written several books, including Run, Johnny, Run, written after the Australian federal election in 2004. His autobiographical narrative of the Australian political scene, Mungo: the man who laughs is currently in its fourth reprint. How To Be A Megalomaniac or, Advice to a Young Politician was published in 2002 and Political Anecdotes was published in 2003. In December 2004, Duffy & Snellgrove published War and Pieces: John Howard's last election.
Kerry O'Brien
Kerry O'Brien is one of the most prominent and respected names in Australian journalism. He has won many accolades, including the top award in journalism, the Gold Walkley.
Born in Queensland, O'Brien started as a news cadet in 1966. He has worked in newspapers, wire service and television news and current affairs, as a general reporter, feature writer, political and foreign correspondent, interviewer and compere. O'Brien came to The 7.30 Report, after six years as compere/interviewer of the ABC's highly respected Lateline program. Since December 1995, O'Brien has been editor and compere of the national 7.30 Report. He also anchors and moderates the ABC's election telecasts.
Megan Stack
Megan Stack has covered the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and Lebanon, as well as the Palestinian intifada. She joined the Times' national desk in 2001 as Houston bureau chief. She was posted to Jerusalem in 2003 and, later that year, was named Cairo bureau chief. In 2007, with her colleagues in the Baghdad bureau, she was named a Pulitzer finalist for Iraq coverage and won an Overseas Press Club award.
A native of Glastonbury, CT, Stack studied Spanish literature at the Universidad de Buenos Aires and graduated from George Washington University in 1998. She worked as a reporter for the El Paso Times and covered Texas and the Mexican border for the Associated Press.
Palestinian revolt (1987–93, 2000– ) against the Israeli occupation in the Gaza Strip and West Bank. Initially a spontaneous reaction to 20 years of occupation and worsening economic conditions, it was soon taken over by the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). Its tactics included strikes, boycotts, and confrontations with Israeli troops. The International Red Cross estimated that some 800 Palestinians, more than 200 under the age of 16, had been killed by Israeli security forces by 1990. Several dozen Israelis were killed during the same period. Intifadah pressure is credited with helping make possible the 1993 Israeli-PLO agreement on Palestinian self-rule. A breakdown in further negotiations in late 2000 led to another outburst of violence, which quickly became known as the Aqsa intifadah, named for the Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, where the fighting began. See alsoYasir 'Arafat; Fatah; Hamas.
IF you are a suicide bomber, with no respect for human life or unarmed civilians, (even IF you feel you are right and your actions justified) then you have no rights after you are dead (by your own hand) after murdering innocent men, women, and children... IF the bombers felt they needed their bodies to be whole and buried buy sundown to ascend to Heaven and be surrounded by 72 virgins(you should think about these things before you blow yourself up in a foreign country)... and you should not expect your victims nor your enemies to respect your remains as you did not respect their lives or their families... the body parts that remain should be "unceremoniously" cremated and the ashes dumped in the ocean... Yes, civilians die in war... but you should not "target" them as an act of terror... and yes, all countries are guilty of that, however, it still does NOT make it correct...
End of Story...
or do you feel we should set up "humane" guidelines saying that if you act like an animal we will still honor your life and send you off to collect your 72 virgins so you can have righteous sex for the rest of eternity while our dead our mourned... yeah right... dream on... as in real life they will only mistreat those 72 virgins and keep them subjugated and enslave like they do now... why would you wish that on beings who are already in Heaven? and how did all those virgins get there?... they were probably stoned to death for some Islamic indiscretion when they were young girls.
Think about it... and don't despise me for stating some "obvious" considerations... and NO, I am not Jewish...
I'm just about finished with her book. What a delightful conversation, and insights on this significant writer. Thanks to ABC for presenting, and great respect and appreciation for Ms Stack, for her work and talents.
member. 
