"Michael Ware scares the shit out of me - and I love it."

Imagine a chat with a guy who spent seven years covering the worst of human hate-driven brutality.

Contemplate chewing the fat with the a bloke befriended by the Taliban, entrusted by ISIS and on the payroll of CNN.

Envisage the jagged twists and turns of a conversation with a boy from Brisbane who chased himself down a rabbit-hole of ideological insanity.

Okay. Now you might be ready for my podcast with Michael Ware.

Listen to Ware talking about escaping ISIS kidnap when all around him were being slaughtered, here (Post continues after audio): 

He’s a proper war correspondent, the kind they make movies about. In a life that reads like a blockbuster, Michael was the one chosen to alert the world to the new breed of fundamentalist Islamic fighters who were rallying in Iraq.  Those fighters would become known as the Islamic State, or ISIS.

In 2004, the leader of those fighters, Abu Musab al-Zaqawi chose Michael to receive a video tape, outlining the aims and objectives of the new breed. I believe that was the defining moment of Michael’s life.

Watch the trailer to Michael’s documentary here:

A messenger trusted by both sides, used by both sides, exhilarated, terrified, both crazed and lucid as hell, Michael Ware has faced depths of humanity from which most of us would run a mile.  And something kept him there, in Iraq, for seven  years.

This conversation is quite a ride. It’s content is brutal at times, at others it’s playful, fascinating, combative and unhinged, but to be honest, it’s exactly what I expected from a man who’s pushed himself to the limit and survived.

It’s definitely not for the faint-hearted, or for children’s ears. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Subscribe to the Nitty Gritty Committee in itunes. It’s the podcast about the guts and glory of life.

Listen to the full episode here: