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From: MSN NicknameEagle_wng  (Original Message)    Sent: 11/8/2006 12:40 AM
'We live in dangerous times, and that is not changing'
 
Nov 8 2006
 
Rin Simpson, Western Mail
 

VETERAN war correspondent Jeremy Bowen has painted a bleak picture of the future, saying the 21st century could be every bit as bloody as the 20th was.

In the week in which Saddam Hussein was sentenced to hang over the killing of 148 Iraqis in the early '80s, the Cardiff-born BBC reporter spoke about his fears.

He said, "I don't think we're heading down the plug hole but I would say we live in a very dangerous time and there's nothing to me to suggest that it's going to get less dangerous.

"It's a dangerous period we are in, no question about it, and I fear somewhat for the future.

"The 20th century was the most violent century in human history and we have seen nothing to suggest the 21st won't be just as bad

"As for the media, I think that we have got a job to do. We've got an important job to do. And I hope that we are able to continue to do it. It is very important that journalists are prepared to go to the nasty places in the world and try to find out what's going on."

Bowen, 46, who is a Cardiff High School old boy, has this week released his memoirs, which include first-hand accounts of some of the most bloody incidents of the past 20 years.

The worst "blood and thunder" moment, as Bowen describes it, came when he was reporting on the first Chechen war in Grosny, Chechnya

He was in an open square, talking to some of the locals, when cluster bombs began raining down.

He said, "I thought to myself 'if the planes came now, what would I do?' and I saw a low wall and I thought if something happens I'll go there.

"Literally seconds later I heard the scream of engines and I saw two war planes coming over the rooftops.

"I threw myself on to the floor and I just heard bang, bang, bang. I lay there in the snow thinking 'I'm going to die'."

It's one of a number of anecdotes which colour the book but, says Bowen, he didn't write it to tell stories.

He said, "I wrote the book because people I met that weren't in journalism always asked me the same questions: Why do I do what I do? Don't I get scared?

"I'm trying to answer those kind of questions."

He also explains one of the reasons he drew back from such dangerous missions - the death of a close friend in Lebanon in 2000 - a moment he says the book revolves around.

He said, "I got out to do some filming over the border into Israel and, out of nowhere it seemed, the Israelis blew up the car and killed him. It caused me to reassess what I was doing."

In the following days two more friends were killed in Sierra Leone, and when a few weeks later he found out he was going to be a dad for the first time, Jeremy decided it was time to rethink his lifestyle.

Now living in London with his partner, three-year-old son Jack and five-year-old daughter Mattie, Bowen worries about the world in which his children are growing up.

The conviction of Saddam Hussein and his likely execution is unlikely to change things, he says.

"I think that it won't make much difference in Iraq.

"The wars going on there have grown very deep-rooted and the conviction and possible execution - I think it is going to happen - may well deepen the views of people who have strong views, but will it stop the killings? No."
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