Jim Frederick, who has died suddenly aged 42, wrote a perceptive and influential book about the Iraq war. In Black Hearts: One Platoon's Descent Into Madness in Iraq's Triangle of Death (2010), he made something incomprehensible understandable: the brutal rape and murder of an Iraqi girl and slaughter of her family by US servicemen who were themselves little more than boys. It came to feature on army reading lists in Britain, Canada and the US, and brought him invitations to lecture on leadership at the West Point military and Annapolis naval academies.
Jim cared about people enough to see the world through their eyes, however difficult that view proved. This ability enhanced his reporting and editing, and made him an extraordinary friend and colleague to many, and a mentor to ranks of aspiring young journalists.
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