Michael Yon

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Michael Yon

Born	1964
Occupation	Author, blogger

Michael Yon (born 1964^{[citation needed]}) is an American author, independent reporter, and blogger. He has been embedded on numerous occasions with American and British troops in Iraq, most prominently with the 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment (Deuce Four) of the 25th Infantry Division in Mosul, Iraq, a deployment that ended in September 2005. He continues to blog from Iraqi towns and battlefields.

His writing is marked by fondness and admiration for American service personnel and Iraqis who he sees as engaging bravely in nation-building.^{[citation needed]} It is also marked by candor about what he regards as U.S. and Iraqi failures.^{[citation needed]} Because of this candor,^{[citation needed]} particularly Yon's criticism of U.S. leadership during the early days of the Iraqi insurgency, the U.S. military twice banned Yon from Iraq. Among Yon's targets for criticism are military officials who, in his view, hamper independent reporting from the theater. In particular, Yon has accused LTC Barry A. Johnson of US Central Command of "a subtle but all too real censorship" and "ineptitude in handling the press".^[1]

In April, 2008, Yon's book Moment of Truth in Iraq was published by Richard Vigilante Books. The book describes how U.S. counterinsurgency methods are creating what Yon sees as a foundation of success in Iraq. Within two weeks of its release date, Moment of Truth entered into Amazon.com's list of Top 10 bestsellers.^[2]

Yon's dispatches have been excerpted by several American newspapers, including the Northwest Guardian, the Boston Herald, The Seattle Times, the Star Tribune, and The Weekly Standard. Although his venture initially relied on reader donations, Yon gained the praise of some well known and respected journalists, including Brian Williams,^[3] war correspondent Joe Galloway, and Michael Barone, a writer for US News and World Report.^[4] Barone has referred to Yon's work in his column.^[5]

Yon is a Special Forces veteran. He was charged with killing a man in a barroom fight, but the charges were subsequently dismissed when it was determined that he had acted in self-defense. His book, Danger Close, details this event and tells the story of his life up to the age of about 20, after he had completed the selection and training process for the Special Forces.^[6]

Bruce Willis has stated his intention to produce a movie about Deuce Four's deployment in Iraq, to be largely based on Yon's experiences with the unit.^[7]

In 2007 Yon was present in Basra with 2 RIFLES during the British withdrawal from the city, and he subsequently visited England, meeting the Duchess of Cornwall, whom he praised for her unstinting support for her troops.^[8]

1 Battle with Shock magazine
2 Reporting of alleged Al-Qaeda in Iraq atrocities
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Battle with Shock magazine

On May 2, 2005, Yon took a picture of U.S. Army Major Mark Bieger cradling an Iraqi girl wounded by shrapnel from a car bomb.^[9] Major Bieger tried to bring the girl to an American hospital to receive treatment but she died on the helicopter ride. The photo was submitted to TIME magazine; it was subsequently selected by TIME website viewers as the top photo of 2005, receiving 66% of the vote.

In 2006, the image was the center of a controversy[^[10] when it was used by a Hachette Filipacchi Médias’ publication, Shock magazine, in a context that was critical of the war in Iraq. Yon felt this usage of the photo both dishonored US troops and breached his copyright.^[10] He contacted his lawyers and agreed with Hachette Filipacchi that he would be paid a licensing fee, with the majority of proceeds going to a charity supporting US military families.^[10]

On June 9, 2006, the agreement appears to have collapsed, with Yon alleging further misuse of the image by Hachette Filipacchi at its Shock web site.^[10]

[edit] Reporting of alleged Al-Qaeda in Iraq atrocities

In July 2007, Yon reported that an unnamed Iraqi official, speaking through an American military translator, had said that Al-Qaeda elements in Baqubah had, among other atrocities, baked a young boy and served him to his parents.^[11] Yon himself "offer[ed] no opinion about the veracity of [the official's] words".^[12]