January 29, 2006
Woodruff and cameraman Doug Vogt were hit by an improvised explosive device near Taji, Iraq, and were in serious condition at a U.S. military hospital, ABC News President David Westin said.The two were embedded with the 4th Infantry Division and traveling with an Iraqi Army unit.
The U.S. military headquarters in Baghdad confirmed that the ABC News team was involved in an attack but declined to provide further details to The Associated Press. An official military statement was expected to be issued later Sunday.
Reuters has more details about both men.
Woodruff, 44, is from Michigan and joined ABC in 1996. He has reported from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, from Italy for the death of Pope John Paul II and the election of Pope Benedict XVI and from Yugoslavia during the conflict in Kosovo. He had also covered the Justice Department in Washington.Vogt, 46, is Canadian and lives in Aix-en-Provence in France. He is an Emmy award-winning cameraman and filmed the aftermath of the Asian tsunami from Sri Lanka.
Neither AP nor Reuters mentions any possible casualties among the Iraqi or American soldiers traveling with Woodruff and Vogt. Whether this is typical media myopia or the result of the military not releasing casualty data remains to be seen.
I sincerely hope both Woodruff and Vogt have a full recovery, but I find that I care more about the Iraqi and American soldiers fighting for the future this fledgling democracy.
American soldiers experience war in Iraq months at a time. Iraqi soldiers and police are there facing danger on a daily basis, with no respite but victory or death. A reporter looking to get "street cred" in a quick in-and-out 24-72 hour junket without really bothering to learn what is really going on the way, say, Ernie Pyle or Kevin Sites, or Michael Yon has, just doesn't touch me the same way.
I wish them both a speedy and full recovery all the same.
1-31 Update: My point proven:
"The point that is currently being made (is that) that press folks are more important than mere military folks," a senior military officer told UPI Tuesday.
Posted by: Confederate Yankee at
10:29 AM
| Comments (10)
| Add Comment
Post contains 402 words, total size 3 kb.
Posted by: Specter at January 29, 2006 12:18 PM (ybfXM)
Posted by: Old Soldier at January 29, 2006 01:38 PM (owAN1)
Posted by: mkultra at January 30, 2006 12:05 AM (6P4ql)
Posted by: Rick at January 30, 2006 12:39 AM (SXdAj)
Posted by: Tom TB at January 30, 2006 05:47 AM (Ffvoi)
Posted by: Confederate Yankee at January 30, 2006 06:50 AM (0fZB6)
Posted by: Confederate Yankee at January 30, 2006 07:17 AM (0fZB6)
Posted by: old_dawg at January 30, 2006 11:20 AM (mvlLy)
Posted by: beth at January 30, 2006 11:42 AM (X6tm3)
Posted by: wayne's world at January 30, 2006 04:41 PM (TzDq4)
54 queries taking 0.0826 seconds, 161 records returned.
Powered by Minx 1.1.6c-pink.