CBS News Crew Killed in Baghdad Attack; Iraq Too Dangerous For Journalists?
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening. And welcome to a special edition of A.C. 360. I'm Carol Costello, in for Anderson Cooper tonight on this Memorial Day -- as we honor the sacrifices made by our men and women in uniform, a terrible outbreak of violence in Baghdad. A wave of car bombings killed dozens of people -- among the dead, a U.S. soldier, and two members of a CBS News crew, cameraman Paul Douglas and sound technician James Brolan. CBS correspondent Kimberly Dozier was seriously injured and is now in a U.S. military hospital. Ryan Chilcote has been following the story from Baghdad. He joins me now live. Hello, Ryan.</s>RYAN CHILCOTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, it has been an -- yes, Carol, it has been an exceptionally violent 24 hours here in Iraq. More than 50 people have been killed, more than 80 wounded, in attacks around the country. Right here, in Baghdad, there were at least seven bombings, one of those bombings hitting a U.S. military patrol that CBS News had a team embedded with.</s>CHILCOTE (voice-over): If you look closely at the 4th Infantry Division's Humvee that was the target of the attack, you get a sense of the power of the blast. As far as we know, they never saw their attackers. That's the way it usually is for U.S. forces in Iraq, and the journalists who cover this war. CBS News reporter Kimberly Dozier, cameraman Paul Douglas and soundman James Brolan had just gotten out of their armored vehicle when a nearby car packed with explosives detonated. Dozier was seriously wounded. Cameraman Douglas and soundman Brolan were killed. So was an American soldier. So was an Iraqi contractor who was helping the U.S. military. Correspondent Dozier is an experienced hand in Iraq. A year and a half ago, she appeared on CNN's "RELIABLE SOURCES," describing how dangerous it was to go out, and, in her words, hunt a story, forced to rely on others to gather the news. (</s>BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "RELIABLE SOURCES") KIMBERLY DOZIER, CBS NEWS: Well, I feel like I do everything by remote, whereas, when I first got here, say, a year ago, I could drive into the streets, go into a neighborhood, talk to Iraqis, ask what they thought about something.</s>CHILCOTE: At least six other bombs went off in the Iraqi capital Monday, most of the victims, Iraqi civilians. These people were killed by a bomb that went off near their bus in one of Baghdad's Shiite neighborhoods. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, CBS cameraman Douglas and soundman Brolan became the 70th and 71st journalists killed by hostile action since the war began.</s>CHILCOTE: Six U.S. soldiers wounded in that same attack are still recovering in combat hospitals here in Iraq. As for CBS's correspondent, she has been in and out of surgery, but doctors are cautiously optimistic she will recover -- Carol.</s>COSTELLO: Ryan, I have a question for you. Kimberly Dozier and her crew were embedded with U.S. troops. They were a mile from the Green Zone, supposedly the safest place in all of Iraq. When does it become too dangerous for journalists to venture out of the Green Zone at all?</s>CHILCOTE: Well, it becomes too dangerous, I think, when we feel like there really isn't something to add to the story by personally being there, by adding something, in terms of being able to add something, in terms of the level of reporting we can provide, by the level of feeling that we can provide. It certainly has been becoming more dangerous recently. Remember, back in January, Bob Woodruff and Doug Vogt from ABC News got hit when they were out with Iraqi security forces. And it really has gotten more dangerous since then, in particular since February, when you had that Shiite bombing here and a lot more of the sectarian violence. It's got in particularly more dangerous for Iraqi journalists, who make up about a third of the more than 70 journalists killed here in Iraq since -- since March 2003 -- Carol.</s>COSTELLO: Ryan Chilcote in Baghdad, thank you. This afternoon, the president of CBS News issued this statement on the deadly attack. He said: "This is a devastating loss for CBS News. 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." Tonight, Kimberly Dozier's brother is also speaking out about the risks his sister was willing to take to cover a story and the advice he would often give her.</s>MICHAEL DOZIER, BROTHER OF KIMBERLY DOZIER: Every time Kimberly comes, we -- we remind her, stay out of harm's way. But we know that she won't. She will go after the story, wherever it is and whatever risks she has to expose herself to.</s>COSTELLO: It was a difficult day across the region. Just a short time ago, I spoke with senior Pentagon correspondent Jamie McIntyre about today's violence in Baghdad and the outbreak of anti-U.S. riots in Afghanistan. I asked him if the media should now rethink the way it covers the war.</s>JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SENIOR MILITARY AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, one of the things that's interesting about is from, time to time, a Pentagon official or someone else will criticize the media for not getting out enough and covering the so-called good news in Iraq. The truth is, A, reporters do get out. And, when they do, it's so dangerous, they risk their lives. And that's really what we have seen here with these two CBS -- the cameraman, the soundman, and -- and the correspondent fighting for her life. It just goes to show you that, even if you take every precaution and you travel with the U.S. military, you're putting your life at risk.</s>COSTELLO: Let's talk about Afghanistan now. The insurgency is really heating up there now. Explain to us why this is.</s>MCINTYRE: Well, the Taliban is moving back into the south. There's a number of theories. One is that they want to test the new NATO troops going in. The other one is that they're increasingly desperate, because they see the control the government spreading. And a third theory is that simply they're protecting the narco traffic that goes on in the south. What the U.S. military would say is that they're having a pretty bad couple of weeks. There have been a number of strikes in which 10, 20, 30, some case -- in one case, up to 80 people were killed. And the U.S. says it -- the Taliban can't sustain those kinds of losses over time. But what we're also seeing is that it's been quite some time, and the Taliban is still able to mount attacks against U.S. forces.</s>COSTELLO: All right, a final question for you about Haditha, where U.S. Marines allegedly massacred civilians. What are your sources telling you about that?</s>MCINTYRE: Well, they're telling me that the investigation is substantially complete, that it will probably be out in the next month or so, and that the evidence looks -- is pointing very closely toward supporting the theory that Marines did kill civilians and that there will likely be criminal charges, including some charges of murder. And they're also saying that there clearly was a cover-up, although those sources are not saying how high that extends, whether it was just the Marines involved or could it go farther up the chain of command.</s>COSTELLO: You talk -- you talk about documentation, as in pictures of this. Might we see them? Might the public see them, much as we did with Abu Ghraib?</s>MCINTYRE: Well, if they leak out. You know, the Pentagon sat on the Abu Ghraib pictures for a long time. A lot of these pictures were taken by individual Marines and soldiers, and they were confiscated by the government as evidence. They're not likely to release them, although we have seen some pictures in video taken by independent groups afterwards. So, we have a pretty good idea of what happened there.</s>COSTELLO: Jamie McIntyre at the Pentagon -- Jamie, thanks.</s>MCINTYRE: You're welcome.</s>COSTELLO: CNN's Michael Holmes knows the risks of reporting in Iraq. Earlier this year, he shared his perspective on the dangers that go with the job.</s>MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It is a sad fact of war coverage that casualties become numbers, compounding the tragedy, trivializing the individual. But that's what many victims here have become, numbers, 45 killed in this bombing, 80 in that one. The maimed, their own lives shattered, even if not ended, are more numbers. With so many deaths, it is impossible to cover the individual stories of the lives of those who perished. Reporters at work, it's easy to become anesthetized. There's an element of deja vu here sometimes -- another day, another bomb, another attack, another death toll. (on camera): Many of us, of course, try to stay detached from the actual violence. You would go crazy if you got emotionally involved in every horror that you see. But there are always times when we in the media cannot bury it. And, usually, that's when the horror involves you or someone you know. (voice-over): Many in the media have lost friends and colleagues here. These are photos of just some of them. It is two years since we lost two of our own, translator Duraid Mohammed Isa on the left, and one of our drivers, Yasser Katab, two vibrant young men whose lives were cut short by insurgent bullets. We had been returning from filming a story south of Baghdad when our two cars were attacked by two cars. None of us there will forget the image of gunmen standing up through the sunroofs, firing AK-47s, wanting to kill not someone who would become a number, but us. Cameraman Scott McWhinnie was sitting next to me. He was shot in the head, but survived. Yasser and Duraid didn't make it. (on camera): It changed me, changed all of us in the cars that day, of course, and many people who were not. These were people we worked with, lived with, and joked around with. (voice-over): Yasser, young, idealistic, came to work for CNN, despite his family's constant warning of the dangers. He used to bashfully teach us Arabic swear words on the way to stories. Duraid, fun, funny, devoted father of two children the same ages as my own -- we would proudly compare photographs and laugh at their latest antics. It's changed, too, how those of us who carry on work here in Iraq now. Those of us here in the early days would certainly take precautions, but would think little about walking the streets in Baghdad and elsewhere, speaking with locals, getting a firsthand look at the story we're covering, in this case, sitting on Saddam's famous statue before it was removed. (on camera): This is where we do our live shots from every day, reporting to you. However, most days, this is as close as we can get to those in the city behind me. (voice-over): It is difficult to get out and about. We do, but it is always with great caution. The kidnapping of journalist Jill Carroll is another reminder of the risks involved, just a few photos of those who have died here. It helps now and them to remind ourselves and those who watch our work that those casualty lists contain more than numbers, Iraqis or coalition forces. They're people. Michael Holmes, CNN, Baghdad.</s>COSTELLO: Just ahead, what it's like to go from reporter to war casualty. I will ask a veteran "TIME" magazine correspondent who survived a potentially deadly attack. And, later, the incredible behind-the-scenes battle to save our wounded warriors and get them back home to their families.