In Extremis: The Life and Death of the War Correspondent Marie Colvin

by Lindsey Hilsum

The Rajapaksa regime prevailed because it allowed no witnesses to its ruthless actions. The Sri Lankan counterinsurgency strategy, as it became known, was studied in war colleges and defense ministries across the world. Its tenets were clear: To bring a swift end to an insurgency, the military must be allowed to do whatever it wants, with no regard for civilian life or international law, in utter secrecy, and in defiance of international opinion. The victorious government can then impose a political solution. This doctrine was not dissimilar to the Russian strategy in Chechnya. If Western journalists were barred, there was less pressure from Western governments

The best journalism was being carried out not by on-the-ground reporters like Marie, but by people far away piecing together video they had found online or that had been shared among those who thought brutality fun. In the years to come, the new counterinsurgency doctrine developed in Sri Lanka and alternative forms of journalism used there would affect Marie more than she could imagine.

Her life as a journalist coincided with the era of Western humanitarian intervention, but as she knew well, any lingering idealism from Bosnia or Kosovo had died in Iraq.