CBS Reporter Critical But Stable
The family of CBS News correspondent Kimberly Dozier — wounded Monday by a bomb that killed cameraman Paul Douglas and soundman James Brolan — is expected to arrive Wednesday at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, the U.S. military hospital in Germany where Dozier is being treated.
Dozier remains in critical but stable condition and according to a statement from CBS, is "resting comfortably today after receiving further treatment for injuries to her head and legs."
"We are encouraged by reports from Dozier's doctors about the outcome of her recent surgeries," the statement continues. "She will continue to be evaluated and is expected to remain at Landstuhl for several more days."
At a media briefing in Germany on Tuesday, Col. W. Bryan Gamble said Dozier was moving her toes on the flight to Landstuhl and "was responsive, opening her eyes to commands."
Dozier was flown to Germany on a specially equipped military transport plane early Tuesday - a day after the bombing, after doctors in Iraq had a chance to stop her bleeding, replace a large quantity of lost blood, and stabilize her condition enough to allow her to be moved.
The combat support hospital where she was treated in Iraq, reports CBS News correspondent Elizabeth Palmer, handles on average between 10 and 15 trauma cases a day, so doctors and nurses there knew what to expect when they heard Dozier and other military personnel had been wounded by a car bomb.
"If this would've happened back in the States, she probably would have died," one doctor at the combat hospital told Palmer.
The three journalists, who were embedded with the 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, were doing a Memorial Day story about what life is like for the troops in Baghdad when an explosives-packed car nearby suddenly blew up.
Dozier, Douglas and Brolan had been riding in an armored Humvee. But at the time of the blast in the Karada section of Baghdad, they were outside on the street, accompanying troops who had stopped to inspect a checkpoint manned by the Iraqi Army. They were wearing helmets, flak jackets and protective eyeglasses when the bomb went off.
Douglas, 48, and Brolan, 42, died at the scene of the explosion, which also killed a U.S. soldier and an Iraqi interpreter and wounded six U.S. soldiers.
Dozier, 39, was flown to closest U.S. military hospital, which was about a mile away, where she underwent two operations.
Palmer reports that at one point Dozier's pulse stopped.
"She didn't have a heartbeat. She was as sick as you get," a doctor told Palmer.
"Her blood pressure dropped to a point where we could barely see what it was anymore, we could barely assess it. Basically, it means that she was going down... But we were able to get her back by giving her fluids and medications," said Capt. Tiffany Fasco.
"She's lucky she got here when she did. If it had taken longer for her to get to the hospital, it may not have come to this outcome at this point," a doctor at the military hospital told MacVicar.
CBS News national security correspondent David Martin reports doctors in Iraq were able to remove shrapnel from Dozier's head, but her more serious injuries are to her lower body. Doctors have said that they are cautiously optimistic about her prognosis.
Douglas, who was British, leaves a wife, Linda; two daughters, Kelly, 29, and Joanne, 26; and three grandchildren. Brolan, who was also British, leaves a wife, Geraldine, and two children, Sam, 18, and Agatha, 12. The bodies of Douglas and Brolan are being flown to Kuwait, where they will be met by their families, Martin reports.
The attack was among a wave of car and roadside bombs that 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.
"This is a devastating loss for CBS News," said CBS News and Sports president Sean McManus, in a statement calling the three journalists "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."
"Our deepest sympathy goes out to the families of Paul and James, and we are hoping and praying for a complete recovery by Kimberly," said McManus. "Countless men and women put their lives on the line, day in and day out, in Iraq and other dangerous spots around the world, and they deserve our utmost respect and gratitude for the work they do." McManus said.
Douglas had worked for CBS News in many countries, including Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Rwanda and Bosnia, since the early 1990s. CBS News correspondent Mark Phillips describes Douglas as "one of those people you wanted around when things got dicey."
"He could charm his way through hostile country. He could defuse the belligerent tension at an armed roadblock. He could get the reluctant to tell you their story," Phillips said.
CBS News' The Early Show co-anchor Harry Smith said Douglas was "one of our really amazing CBS colleagues, who any of us would want to be with in any trouble spot anywhere. He's an extraordinary, extraordinary person. And that smile on his face belies exactly what was at the root of his personality."
Brolan 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.
Brolan was "the funniest single person I had ever met," Smith said.
"He was a terrible, terrible cheater at Scrabble, which we gave him eternal grief for. And (he was) just an amazing, amazing character who spent months and months in Iraq over the last three years," Smith said.
"James was the best dad, the best husband and the best mate to be with in a tight spot out in the field," Brolan's family said in a statement. Before turning to journalism, Brolan served in the British Army, in the Royal Green Jackets infantry regiment, an experience that served him well in his chosen profession. His family says he "had a natural way with people and was always in demand as the person to go with to the world's trouble spots; always putting the locals at ease, winning friends everywhere he went and always putting in his best effort."
Dozier has been a CBS News correspondent reporting from Iraq for the past three years. Her previous assignments include the post of London bureau chief and chief European correspondent for CBS Radio News from 1996-2002, and chief correspondent for WCBS-TV's Middle East bureau. Dozier is the recipient of three American Women in Radio and Television (AWRT) Gracie Awards for her radio reports on Mideast violence, Kosovo and the Afghan war.
In addition to being notably fearless, fast on her feet, insightful and accurate, Dozier has a lifelong interest in world events and the academic credentials to back it up. She has a master's degree in foreign affairs from the University of Virginia, specializing in the Mideast, and graduated magna cum laude from Wellesley College, where she majored in human rights and Spanish.
Smith said Dozier "loves this story," referring to the war in Iraq.
"She loves the world. She loves the politics of it, the geo political implications. She's a smart, smart, smart woman. It meant a lot to her to be able to be in a place like that," Smith said.
An average of six news teams a day go out on patrol with the 4th Infantry Division in Baghdad, like the CBS journalists, Martin says.
So far this year, insurgents have planted more than 3,000 roadside bombs in Baghdad alone. Nearly half of them are discovered before they go off, but they remain the number one killer of American soldiers and now, of the CBS journalists, Martin reports.
Scores of journalists — nearly 75 percent of them Iraqis — have been injured, killed or kidnapped in Iraq since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that ousted the government of Iraqi president Saddam Hussein.
"These brave journalists risked their lives to tell the world the story of a courageous people and a proud nation," said U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad. "The terrorists who committed this evil crime have shown themselves for who they are. They do not want the world to see the truth of what is happening in Iraq, where a determined people are fighting for freedom and liberty. That story must and will be told."
"The news profession has lost nearly 100 people in this devastating war — 71 journalists and 26 support staffers," said Ann Cooper, executive director of the Committee to Protect Journalists, in extending sympathy to the Douglas and Brolan families and expressing concern for Dozier. "Dozens more have been injured or kidnapped in one of the most dangerous conflicts that journalists have ever covered."
Another group, Reporters Without Borders, voiced "deep sadness" at the news of the CBS News crew deaths.
"The security situation is becoming more and more alarming for the press in Iraq. Although better protected, embedded journalists are not completely isolated from the dangers," the group said, noting that only six of the journalists killed in Iraq were embedded with U.S. forces.
Smith says the incident "also underscores the lethality of day to day life for Iraqis who have died there and the tens of thousands. They're not there in Humvees. They're not there in flak jackets and helmets. They live with this day-to-day danger in every minute of every day."
In January, ABC News cameraman Doug Vogt and anchor Bob Woodruff were injured while covering the war in Iraq. They were standing in the hatch of an Iraqi mechanized vehicle, reporting on the war from the Iraqi troops' perspective, when a roadside bomb exploded. Both were wearing body armor, which doctors say likely saved their lives.
Vogt has returned home to France for rehabilitation. Woodruff, who co-anchored "World News Tonight" with Elizabeth Vargas, is also still on the mend, recovering from serious head injuries and broken bones. ABC News announced last week that Charles Gibson will take over as "World News Tonight" anchor.
Another high-profile casualty among journalists came in April 2003, when NBC News correspondent David Bloom, 39, died from an apparent blood clot while embedded with U.S. troops near Baghdad.