Brent Renaud’s Death Reminds Us of the High Costs of Pursuing the Truth

Almost exactly eleven years ago, the landline rang in my New York City apartment, and I answered it and found out that my dear friend and colleague, Tim Hetherington, had been killed in Libya. The Arab Spring was in full swing, and Tim had gone to the besieged city of Misrata, where he was hit by shrapnel from a mortar round fired by the Libyan Army. He bled to death in the back of a rebel pickup truck looking up at the blue Mediterranean sky.