While the world of journalism mourns the death of journalists Marie Colvin and Anthony Shadid, reports out of France tell the extraordinary tale of a French Doctor, Jacques Beres, the 70-year old co-founder of Medecins Sans Frontieres who has smuggled himself into Homs to ‘witness and to heal.’

Like Colvin and Shadid, Dr. Beres is no stranger to war zones.

He has taken his black bag to Liberia, Bangladesh, Chad, Congo, Chechnya, Rwanda, Iraq, Sierra Leone, Lebanon,  and Palestine.

Although a founder of MSF he quickly ran afoul of management constraints as he preferred the action of the field to the paperwork of running an organization.

 

UPDATE ALERT!

 

Since we published this the New York Times has posted a more recent take on the reasons Dr. Beres was forced to leave Syria.

 

Michael Keating