Covering Iraq

Weekly commentary by CBS Evening News anchor and Face the Nation host Bob Schieffer.

This was a hard week at CBS News. We lost two good people in Iraq -- the camera crew of Paul Douglas and James Brolen, and we almost lost another, the Correspondent Kimberley Dozier.

Kimberly was basically dead when they got her to the military hospital. She had lost 30 pints of blood and had no heartbeat, but somehow those doctors brought her back to life.

Kimberly knew the danger, yet she kept going back to tell this story. Why? Here is part of an essay she wrote not so long ago about the responsibility she felt to tell the story of the young Americans fighting this war.

"Almost every soldier I meet now, she wrote, "has done at least one tour of Iraq, and sometimes is working on his or her second or third. Almost every one of them has been hit by something, and while they may have walked away, they usually know someone who hasn't...

"It gives a whole new meaning to the expression, 'feel the fear and do it anyway.'

So basically, if you want to tell their story, you have to take their risks...

"Yes, absolutely, journalists face awful, dangerous risks in Iraq, Kimberly wrote, but it is nothing compared to the people we cover."

Kimberly felt the fear and went anyway because that is the only way to get the true story and that is the core of responsible journalism.

She faces months, perhaps years of healing and recuperation. But she has improved enough that they will fly her to a military hospital in the United States later this week. We are all very proud of her.

By Bob Schieffer