Two Congressmen Injured In Iraq

A military vehicle carrying three congressmen overturned on the way to the Baghdad airport, injuring two of them, the U.S. Embassy said Sunday.

Rep. Tim Murphy, R-Pa., was airlifted to a military hospital in Germany for an MRI on his neck, and Rep. Ike Skelton, D-Mo., was sent to a Baghdad hospital for evaluation. Rep. Jim Marshall, D-Ga., was also in the vehicle but was not injured when it overturned Saturday.

"They packed me up in a Medavac helicopter and took me to a military hospital. It's called a combat hospital... and then they decided I better go up to Germany, where they send the wounded, to get an MRI," he told KDKA. "So they sent a C-17 - which is a plane that's virtually become a flying ICU."

The MRI turned up no major problems, Murphy told CBS News, describing himself as "groggy and sore, but otherwise okay," and the overturning of the vehicle - an armored bus - happening as the driver swerved to get out of the way of a refueling vehicle.

"I was supposed to come tour the hospital to talk to the wounded. I didn't think I'd be among them," said Murphy, in a phone call from the hospital to Pittsburgh's KDKA-TV.

He expects to be on his way back to Washington by Monday night.

Skelton's spokeswoman Lara Battles says she believes Skelton is doing well but declined to comment further.

The politicians were riding in a convoy that was driving in the middle of the road, a common practice used by the military in Iraq to deter oncoming motorists. Shortly after dark, an oncoming tanker truck refused to yield, the embassy said.

"Then all of a sudden brakes get slammed on. Then we hit something and go off the side of the road and tip over," Marshall told The Macon (Ga.) Telegraph by phone from Baghdad.

Marshall said that as the vehicle toppled over, he held onto Skelton, who has limited use of his arms due to childhood polio. The embassy said the driver's quick reaction "probably averted disaster."

The delegation had traveled to Afghanistan for Thanksgiving with the troops and then on to Baghdad to meet with troops there.