CBS NEWS Crew Attacked in Baghdad - 2 Killed

[HeartofTexas]

Deadly Attack On CBS News Crew

Two Team Members Killed, Correspondent Seriously Injured By Roadside Bomb In Baghdad

Two members of a CBS News team, veteran cameraman Paul Douglas, 48, and soundman James Brolan, 42, were killed and correspondent Kimberly Dozier, 39, was seriously injured Monday when the Baghdad military unit in which they were embedded was attacked.

They were reporting on patrol with the 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, when their convoy was struck by a roadside bomb.

The attack was among a slew of car and roadside bombs left about three dozen people dead before noon Monday, including one explosion that killed 10 people on a bus. Nearly all the attacks occurred in Baghdad.

Here is the official dispatch from CBS News "A CBS News television crew embedded with the 4th Infantry Division of the U.S. Army came under attack today in central Baghdad. The journalists were reporting from outside their humvee and are believed to have been wearing their protective gear. Cameraman Paul Douglas and soundman James Brolan, both London-based, were killed. Douglas, 48, had worked for CBS News in many countries, including Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Rwanda and Bosnia, since the early 1990s. Brolan, 42, was a freelancer who had worked with CBS News in Baghdad and Afghanistan over the past year. He was part of the CBS News team that had received a 2006 Overseas Press Club Award for its reporting on the Pakistan earthquake.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/02/24/iraq/main541815.shtml

 

[HeartofTexas]

A little more info on Kimberly Dozier, the CBS news correspondent...

Dozier spoke of dangers

She is in critical condition, but doctors are cautiously optimistic about her prognosis, the network said.

Douglas had risked his life covering international conflicts for CBS since the early 1990s, including Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Rwanda and Bosnia, according to CBS News. He is survived by his wife, two daughters and three grandchildren.

Brolan was a freelancer who worked with CBS News in Baghdad and Afghanistan in the past year. He also shared an award with the network for its coverage of last year's deadly earthquake in Pakistan. He leaves a wife and two children.

Dozier has reported from Baghdad since 2003. She is based in Jerusalem.

"This is a devastating loss for CBS News," said Sean McManus, president of CBS News and Sports, in a statement on the network's Web site. "Kimberly, Paul and James were veterans of war coverage who proved their bravery and dedication every single day. They always volunteered for dangerous assignments and were invaluable in our attempt to report the news to the American public."

Speaking on CNN's "Reliable Sources" in November 2004, Dozier described the dangers of trying to talk to ordinary Iraqis in Baghdad.

"The last time I tried to do that, to go to someone's home and sit down with that man and say, 'Are you thinking about leaving Iraq or staying?' the moment he saw me, blonde hair and my two armored vehicles ... he turned white," Dozier said.

"It means I can't go out and hunt a story. I'm having to wait for it to come to me, or I'm having to train Iraqi translators to go out and be my eyes, be my ears, ask the questions that I would ask if I could."

Earlier this year, ABC News anchor Bob Woodruff and cameraman Doug Vogt were seriously wounded when the U.S.-Iraqi military convoy in which they were embedded was hit by a roadside bomb near Taji, north of Baghdad.

Between 94 and 120 journalists and media support staff -- including drivers and translators -- have been killed in Iraq since the war began in 2003, according to journalists' organizations and watchdog groups.

http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/05/29/iraq.cbs/