Even as the World Watched III: Getting Hit to Get the Shot

Published: 07 July 2010

Chiang Mai, Thailand

During the Bangkok fighting in May, radio interviewers back America kept asking about the overuse of force by the Thai Army. I answered that’s not happening, and there seem to be hundreds of journalists crawling over the streets, and I see them with cameras on tripods on balconies (like mine was) or peering through windows. How could the Thai government hide a herd of elephants in front of all those cameras?

If there was a slaughter–where are the photos and videos?

There was a curfew at night but many journalists could see the streets from their rooms – I know because many were neighbors — and the Red Shirts had their own phones and radios, and cameras. If the Thai Army were performing a slaughter, we would have caught it.

If the Army committed atrocities with probably hundreds of journalists present, and nobody caught it, then we are all incompetent. This is Pulitzer territory. If a journalist catches the Army on film executing people, or murdering people who are trying to surrender, that journalist is in for some sort of prize. If a journalist is not guided by morality, he definitely would be fired by ambition. Morality, ambition, or both would have demanded exposure.

A huge message can be falsely conveyed with five true words: Thai Army. Protestors. Eighty-eight killed.

What I saw–any journalist who was there who missed this should be labeled incompetent–was a large group of protestors with honest grievances, and a small group of agitators who clearly, unmistakably, were seeking violent confrontation with the government. These agitators were throwing firebombs, committing arson, and shooting grenades and small arms. (The preponderance of evidence was overwhelming–plus I saw them with my own eyes committing some of these acts and photographed agitators in action.)

There are journalists both foreign and Thai who dismiss these agitators and hold the line that the violence was due to the Thai government.

Important note: I make no representation about what happened before or elsewhere, only here and now. Much of the here and now reporting was flatly wrong, bringing question upon previous reporting.

The photo above was taken during actual clearance operations. The Red Shirts were at this point being compressed like a piston. Combat-experienced people know what usually happens when an adversary is compressed like a piston. Either they will begin to surrender or will fire. They fired.

Enormous respect is owed to the courageous journalists who stayed and kept the Army honest. It’s only realistic that with such large numbers around, and bullets flying, journalists are probably going to get hit.

Sometimes you get killed because you willingly went into combat:

CPJ calls for Thailand to investigate journalist killings.

Unidentified photographer: Have seen the New York Times use panoramic cameras like that in Iraq.

Often just a waiting game. This was inside what had just been the Red camp.

One night there was heavy gunfire and also I could see firebombs coming from the Red Shirt camp, and plenty of dangerous fireworks. (The firebombs that I saw were only going into the street.) One firework came straight at my window and hit low on a floor below. These were not gigantic fireworks but if you got hit, at a minimum you were going to the hospital. They were easily as deadly as bullets. If you got hit in the foot, your foot would be mangled. Hit in the head, probably dead or mentally incapacitated from there out. During daytime, I had seen a firework barely miss some journalists, and when the rockets hit buildings they sometimes blew off small pieces of structure. Nothing serious unless you took a hit. Like bullets. Some people argued that protestors only had fireworks. How many people might have been seriously wounded or even killed by those rockets and other projectiles?

That night, I was talking on the phone with a wounded Special Forces veteran living in Bangkok, who has a love for Thailand and so pays close attention to the goings-on. For the last couple months, his advice and predictions had been accurate. Each day he had encouraged me to talk with Seh Daeng, the rogue General, who had joined the Red Shirt camp. After some homework and finally reaching the point where I was ready to ask for a meeting, BANG, Seh Daeng was shot in the head somewhere down the road. The General later died. Later I would ask Prime Minister Abhisit who shot Seh Daeng, and he said he didn’t know.

Meanwhile, I was telling people that Brigadier General Daniel Menard and General Stanley McChrystal both needed to be fired from Afghanistan, which was causing my own bad press. Busy days and nights. People were saying I had seen too much combat in the wars and had gone loony for saying two respected generals should be fired. (Soon they were both fired.)

Several friends had warned me about staying at Dusit Thani. While on the phone with the old Special Forces soldier from my 9th Floor room Dusit Thani hotel, there had been much shooting outside and BOOM. “What the fxxx was that!?” my friend said over the phone. Whooom whoooom whom whoooom whoooom whooom whom whooooom whom whooom. “What the fxxx was THAT?” he said again on the phone. The boom obviously was an explosion, while the whoooom whooom was new to me even after thousands of previous explosions in the wars. It was loud in real life, but you know how things can be even louder on the telephone. “No idea what the whooom whooom was bro! But I think the BOOM probably was 40mm grenade.” I thought it must have hit down in the parking lot. (Actually, it detonated three floors above me and the whoooom whooomm was metal siding hurtling downwards.)

My room was dark and I peered through a crack in a curtain with two fingers while talking to my friend on the cell with the right hand.

The hotel alarm sounded so I called the front desk and someone said to get to the basement, and so I made a quick Facebook entry and headed down the fire escape.

Journalists crowded in the basement and some were kitted up.

Amazing how fast the news travels.

I thought this girl had been hit by a grenade (or something) but later learned she had only passed out from fear and was okay.

The hotel staff was professional and calm. They were part of the solution, not the problem, and were looking out after guests even at the expense of their own safety.

I sneaked back up the staircase to my room and three men came looking, ducking low while entering my room with their own key, but they let me stay with no problems. Fear was painted over their faces.

The grenade strike at Dusit Thani hotel. The closed the hotel the next morning and I was the last to check out.

On 19 May, combat and clearing operations were underway. Journalists were keeping the Army honest and taking their chances. Who was keeping the journalists honest? [Photos in this dispatch are not in chronological or geographical order, but are thematically arranged.]

Clusters of permissive soldiers might make you feel safe, but in fact they are the target of the guys with the grenade launchers and there had been death and casualties. There is a misconception about combat reporting done in Iraq and Afghanistan: many people think it’s safer to be with troops. This is untrue. It’s safer to go unilateral. The journalists were mostly hanging close to the troops but I got back.

There were many dramatic moments and many others like this.

The hotel let journalists recharge batteries.

Before it closed, Dusit Thani kept doors chained and were blacked out at night, but restaurants still were open inside.

Parking lot of Dusit Thani as bullets are snapping by on 14 May. This guy seemed like he had done this before. He didn’t run from bullets, but didn’t smile. Men who have not see much combat often will smile broadly during their first encounters, especially when the bullets are close enough to call it combat but far enough away that you don’t feel like you are actually going to get hit. When you seriously feel like you are going to get hit, you stop smiling. After combat with heavy results you never smile again during combat. You just do your job, if you are still able.

Noppatjak still smiling.

Lots of people were getting in on the action, including former massage parlor king Chuwit Kamolvisit who showed up with a video just before some shooting.

And there was even a cameraman for Chuwit Kamolvisit.

One agitator even said not to film despite that dozens of cameras were around. His efforts were fruitless.

One of the infamous “Men in Black” (wearing “Army” vest) singled out that guy with camera, said something and came back across the street.

I had been under the bridge to the left but sensed that shooting was going to break out (14 May) so crossed the street back to Dusit Thani parking lot. Shooting soon started and bullets began cracking down this road flying from the direction of the traffic arrow.

I was told that a taxi driver was shot and killed. (Much was going on and I don’t know the truth.)

Soon after an ambulance raced away from the scene.

This camera crew walked out onto the street and seemed likely to get hit. The cameraman will have to focus on the gear and linger for a good shot.

Protestors who were holding their ground during a skirmish stopped to warn the film crew to get back under the bridge.

Camera crew heeded the advice.

Most of the journalists were collegial. There were a few snippety cats–mostly foreigners–whose “beat” is Thailand. I’ve only been to Thailand maybe twenty times so can’t claim great cultural understanding, which brought advantages and disadvantages. Some of those who have been here for years have picked up more on the culture and situations but also seem to have lost the advantage of neutrality.

Journalists kept hunkering down behind that box and this is something that must be understood when big fighting starts. Competent enemies know where you are going to take cover.

By now, I’ve switched to the “writing” mode and pulled across the street for more safety. I stayed back from the corners behind the kill radius of the 40mm grenades that were sometimes being launched apparently by “Men in Black.” (None launched at this time.) The Army easily could have killed these protestors but did not.

Journalists in war zones often ask the military for proof. Show me the money. That’s what we need. Journalists who say: Show Me the Money. And now it’s the journalist’s turn: Show Us the Money. There are countless videos and photos out there of people being hit – such as a journalist being hit by gunfire. But where is the footage of soldiers actually massacring unarmed civilians? There are countless videos of protestors using weapons. Arson. Guns. Grenades. The overarching theme remained: Thai Army. Protestors. Almost 90 killed. Some journalists did convey fuller stories of the realities – there are always the good ones – yet the theme remained one of disproportionate force by the Thai government. This was untrue during the fighting I witnessed. The government used far more restraint than Americans ever would have stomached if similar street violence erupted at home. We would have expected shoot to kill orders after weeks of such violence. (Or even hours.)

The photographers who wanted the great shots needed to get closer to the action. By now most photographers were preserving life and limb, but this guy is out there getting the images. Battle is a strange thing; at this moment the Army is hundreds of meters down the road but they could get here literally in seconds in armored vehicles, or in a quick helicopter move, or snipers on the roof, or just maneuvering from multiple directions. As a writer, there is nothing that can be seen there under the bridge that can’t be seen from my safer distance, but the photographer must take the risk if he wants better photos.

Sometimes you have to risk getting shot to get the shot.

It’s a numbers game, as you shall soon see.

The photographer in blue appears to be Canadian Chandler Vandergrift, who would be seriously hit on 19 May.

Mr. Vandergrift stuck it out. His photography is world class, and when you see some of the images he captured it causes one to wonder how he escaped so long without getting hit.

And finally he and others were hit.

WARNING: Graphic images.

(Notice the courageous journalists helping the wounded soldier.)

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Michael Yon

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