And Then All Hell Broke Loose: Two Decades in the Middle East (26 page)

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CAIRO | AUGUST 2013

Islamist supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood chose the location for their protest badly. Many of the locals who lived around the Rabaa al-Adiwya mosque supported the coup against the Brotherhood. Here several residents hang a photograph of the coup leader, General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, on the gate of the mosque where the protest was based.

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CAIRO | AUGUST 2013

Egyptian security forces claimed they were shot at by Islamist protesters and returned fire, killing many in the side streets around the Rabaa al-Adiwya mosque at the edge of Cairo.

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CAIRO | AUGUST 2013

In reporting on wars and uprisings, like here during the crackdown on Islamist protesters in Cairo, we are often confronted with images too graphic to show on American broadcast television, like this man shot in the torso. We try to take images that evoke what happened without being offensive to our viewers, like pictures of feet or even bloody clothing.

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CAIRO | AUGUST 2013

The aftermath of the Rabaa crackdown. Bodies of Islamist protesters were gathered in mosques. Volunteers put blocks of ice on top of the bodies, which melted into the carpet under everyone’s bare feet.

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CAIRO | AUGUST 2013

After the Egyptian military overthrew the Muslim Brotherhood in a coup, Islamists set up a protest camp around the Rabaa al-Adiwya mosque on the edge of Cairo. They hoped it be would be like the Tahrir Square protests and that the world would back them. They were mistaken. Estimates of the death toll when Egyptian security forces broke up the protests range from 800 to several thousand.

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GAZA | JULY 2014

Israel flattened Gaza City’s al-Tufah neighborhood, claiming it was a Hamas stronghold. Palestinians called it collective punishment.

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GAZA | JULY 2014

Gaza City’s Shifa hospital was packed with children injured by Israeli bombs. The UN claimed its refugee shelters were repeatedly attacked despite having informed Israeli authorities of their locations.

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IRAQ | 2014

Television crews were a conspicuous presence during elections in Iraq. These moments were hailed by Washington of proof that democracy was spreading in Iraq, but ended up establishing a system of Shiite dominance that Sunnis resented, fueling civil war.

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YEMEN | OCTOBER 2012

The old city of Sana’a in Yemen is a cultural and architectural gem, one of my favorite places in the Middle East. Unfortunately, I was there on this trip to interview Gregory Johnsen, an author and expert on Islamic radicals who explained how the militants were digging in as Yemen lurched from unrest to civil war.

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LIBYA | AUGUST 2011

The Libyan rebels closing on Tripoli were overwhelmingly supportive of western journalists, believing our coverage had helped protesters topple President Hosni Mubarak in Egypt and would also help them overthrow Col. Mu’ammar Gadhafi. Crowds sometimes gathered when I did live television broadcasts.

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LIBYA | AUGUST 2011

As anti-government rebels, backed by NATO air strikes, moved across Libya, the front lines shifted by the day, sometimes great distances. Reporters moved with them, moving on or retreating as the battles ebbed and flowed. Here we stopped for a live report.