Her take

SO, having been on the frontlines reporting on the toppling of dictatorships and the unleashing of civil wars, what lessons has photojournalist Tracey Shelton learnt and what opinions does she hold?

“That nothing is black and white. There is no good and bad. War is ugly no matter what side you are on,” she asserts.

What does she make of the countries she has reported on so far?

In her honest journalistic judgement, Shelton describes Iraq – where she covered the US presence and withdrawal – as rather messy and complicated, with a lot of terrorist activity.

“Libya, meanwhile, was an amazing place to work in. The people are hard but loyal.

“The revolution was won (she covered Muammar Gaddafi’s overthrown regime and his eventual death) but they are still struggling to rebuild a country with no grounding in democracy or human rights,” she says.

“Syria, on the other hand, is very complex. What began as a revolution against the government has turned into a messy civil war. As the government kills its own people, the opposition is diverse with many different agendas. I feel the fighting will continue even long after Bashar (Syria President Bashar al-Assad) is gone.”

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