Posted on 01/29/2006 5:25:40 AM PST by ARealMothersSonForever
Bob Woodward and photographer injured in IED attack.
NBC just reported that. How very sad. He insisted on coming home for Bloom's funeral.
Is that why they call it a "Colgate smile"?
Hope he's smiling again soon, and his cameraman too.
That seems to be where many of us part company. Arnett and Moyers have allowed themselves to become mouthpieces for the worst kind of evil many have ever seen in their lifetimes. They are (in Arnett's case, "were") powerful enablers of an irreconcilable death cult intent on killing millions.
I am not a ghoul and do not in anyway rejoice in tragic brought to other humans.
You would for someone you knew to be evil. It's just a matter of degree. You certainly would for Usama bin Laden.
People assign different degrees of evil to different acts. Maybe you reserve your rage for the actual doers of evil. Others apply it to the enablers.
Personally, I still subscribe to the "with us or against us" doctrine. That doesn't mean I'm happy about what happened to Woodruff. It just means I'm not using it as an occasion to forget what ABC News has come to represent.
Of course I wish Bob Woodruff a quick and full recovery. The man has four children. But I also wish him, and his ABC News family, a new perspective on this war we're fighting.
I don't see why that sentiment can't co-exist alongside your well-wishes.
Silly, he only stood during the sitting for the portrait. Of course he knew better than that!
The sentiment can co-exist.
That wasn't the point of the initial digression of this thread.
There were many, many on here who were making unnecessary comments about the man and the level of compassion he deserved based on his occupation.
That was my one and only point in my comments here.
You can read them for yourself.
Thanks for posting the article. For the sake of their children I do pray for their recovery!
This I can wholeheartedly agree with. My contention is that we may better persuade these people with compassion. Overcome them with kindness, if you will. The assessment is that emotional liberals react positively to love and kindness. Not to be misunderstood for weakness or apathy. Although some may perceive it as such.
Thank you for writing/thinking that! Since I joined FR I have been amazed at the sympathy and support for soldiers- I appreciate it immensely!
ABC News anchor, cameraman injured by roadside bombBy Nancy A. Youssef, Huda Ahmed and Tony Pugh
Knight Ridder Newspapers
BAGHDAD, Iraq - A roadside bomb seriously wounded ABC News anchor Bob Woodruff and ABC News cameraman Doug Vogt Sunday as they were riding with Iraqi troops near the town of Taji, 25 miles north of Baghdad.
Woodruff and Vogt were standing with their heads outside the hatch of a Russian-made Iraqi military personnel carrier, apparently filming, when the explosion rocked the vehicle. Both men received shrapnel wounds to the head. An Iraqi army officer who was helping them lost four fingers. The vehicle's driver was uninjured.
Bashar Mahmoud Ayoub, commander of the 9th Division of the Iraqi Army based in Taji, said Woodruff and Vogt had been in a Humvee but asked to move to the Iraqi vehicle, which was the lead vehicle in a joint U.S.-Iraqi convoy. Ayoub said roadside bombs, known in military parlance as improvised explosive devices or IEDs, are common in the area.
"We suffer on this road every time we pass it. It is filled with IEDs. They target my men daily," he said. "There are so many, you cannot imagine it."
Woodruff, who was named co-anchor of ABC's nightly news broadcast in December, is the best-known American journalist wounded or killed in Iraq since fighting began there in March 2003. Nearly 9 million Americans watch ABC's "World News Tonight" nightly.
IEDs are the primary killers of U.S. soldiers in Iraq. Roadside bombs have killed 23 U.S. troops so far in January, according to Iraq Casualty Count. There are no official statistics for the number of Iraqi soldiers who have died in similar blasts.
ABC officials in New York said that both Woodruff, 44, and Vogt, 46, were wearing body armor and helmets, but had suffered shrapnel wounds to the head. Both men were taken by helicopter to a U.S. military hospital in Balad, Iraq. Following surgery, both were listed in serious but stable condition, said ABC News President David Westin.
"We take this as good news, but the next few days will be critical," Westin said. "The military plans to evacuate them to their medical facilities in Landstuhl (Germany), probably overnight tonight."
Although largely farmland, Taji was known before the war as a place where ammunitions and military equipment were made. Now filled with old ammunitions parts, it is one of the most violent areas of Iraq. Earlier this month, two U.S. soldiers were killed near there when their AH-64 Apache helicopter crashed. Two insurgent groups claimed responsibility.
On Sunday, Woodruff and Vogt, who were embedded with the 4th Infantry Division, were taking part in a joint U.S.-Iraqi patrol operation. The patrol left the Taji base and was headed out to a nearby munitions dump filled with old weapons, Ayoub said.
Local police and military personnel who had discovered the site three months ago believe that insurgents were using the old weapons to make new IEDs.
Woodruff and Vogt were traveling in a Humvee when they left the base, but asked to be moved to the Iraqi military personnel carrier, Ayoub said. Doing so placed them in the lead vehicle, which is the most dangerous vehicle in any military convoy. Once inside the vehicle, both men apparently stuck their heads out and began filming, Ayoub said. The IED exploded about seven miles from the base at around 12:30 p.m. local time.
"They were in the lead vehicle and they were up in the hatch, so they were exposed," said ABC News White House correspondent Martha Raddatz in an appearance Sunday on "This Week with George Stephanopoulos."
Woodruff had spent much of Saturday interviewing Iraqi troops at the Taji base, Ayoub said. He said he and his colleagues were immediately impressed by Woodruff.
"He never sat down. He was enthusiastic. He was a ball of activity," Ayoub said.
After the blast, the convoy received light arms fire as well, Raddatz said. "This is very common over there now," she said. "These attacks are planned, and this is a secondary attack. Sometimes when medical personnel come in, they'll have small arms fire following up on that."
Woodruff had traveled to Iraq as part of ABC News' plans to cover President Bush's State of the Union speech on Tuesday, said ABC News vice president Jeffrey Schneider.
Both men were experienced war correspondents. Woodruff, who grew up in suburban Detroit, had reported from Iraq previously, including a several-months-long assignment in 2004. He traveled with the First Marine Division, 1st Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, during the initial U.S. invasion, Schneider said. He'd also covered the war in Afghanistan.
Vogt, a Canadian who lives in Aix-en-Provence, France, is a three-time Emmy Award winner who has been with ABC News for 15 years, Schneider said. He has worked previously covering global events for CBC and BBC.
Vogt was recently in another convoy in which someone was killed by an IED but Vogt wasn't injured. Vogt was sitting next to ABC producer David Kaplan when Kaplan was killed in Bosnia in 1992, Schneider said.
Youssef and Knight Ridder Newspapers special correspondent Ahmed reported from Baghdad; Pugh reported from Washington.
An Iraqi army officer who was helping them lost four fingers.Prayers for that Iraqi officer, and his family.
That piece of road is one of the most dangerous it sounds like. Took guts to go through there with the troops. Woodruff's wive must be frantic. This is bad enough, but having it happen so far away makes it even harder on the families.
wive s/b wife
...Woodruff and Vogt were traveling in a Humvee when they left the base, but asked to be moved to the Iraqi military personnel carrier, Ayoub said.Not sure if they were BRAVE, or simply FOOLHARDY -- but God bless them for being out there in the field -- embedded WITH our guys, and their allies.Doing so placed them in the lead vehicle, which is the most dangerous vehicle in any military convoy.
Once inside the vehicle, both men apparently stuck their heads out and began filming, Ayoub said...
I guess they forgot about David Bloom and Michael Kelly.
BTW, I'd like to thank you for your keeping on top of this story.
I feel more sorry for the cameraman - he's just told what to do and where to go - the plastic newsreader (apparently you can't read a teleprompt unless you're an "anchor") didn't HAVE to be there. abc's already GOT 'reporters' there; long term.
Probably he was only there to do headshots and background shots and "anchor" the evening news from Iraq a couple of times. Everything abc needs to crow about how their "anchor" is "in the field".
I hope they both make it out of there but can't think very much about how "brave and noble" they're being made out to be - Soldiers are being killed every day (and abc just treats them as numbers) and these two guys get more 'coverage' on all the networks today than the Soldiers get in a WEEK.
I'm sorry for their injury and hope for their recovery.
But I wonder what the fallout will be. Anyone remember Eason Jordan's claim that the US targeted 12 journalists for killing?
May God protect all our troops from harm.
Boobytrap.
I have just been cut-and-pasting from Google NEWS.
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