CBS reporter recounts attack that killed her crew

May 29, 2006 is a day that Kimberly Dozier will never forget. It was Memorial Day, and while… May 29, 2006 is a day that Kimberly Dozier will never forget. It was Memorial Day, and while most Americans were celebrating the beginning of summer, Dozier, a CBS news correspondent, was traveling with the U.S. 4th Infantry division through the Baghdad neighborhood of Karrada.

After months of terrorist attacks in the area, Karrada was about to be returned to civilian Iraqi control. As Dozier, her cameraman Paul Douglas and sound engineer James Brolan made their way down a narrow street to interview Iraqi civilians, a car bomb exploded just 30 feet from them.

Shrapnel flew into Dozier’s head, back and legs. She survived.

Douglas and Brolan were killed, along with an American military officer and an Iraqi translator.

On Saturday night, Dozier spoke about this horrific event, her time in Iraq and the issue of media responsibility in front of a crowd of nearly 200 people at Carlow University as part of the Marie Torre lecture series.

Dozier previously worked for BBC World and CBS Radio before becoming a CBS television news correspondent. She was also the recipient of three Gracie Awards, which recognize outstanding female television and radio correspondents.

Before going to Iraq, Dozier reported from London, Kosovo and Jerusalem, where she covered the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

She talked at length about the increasingly complex problems journalists face in combat zones. “Journalists are now seen as the targets, not impartial reporters, as they had been in Kosovo,” she said.

There are a number of reasons why journalists have become targets, Dozier said. “It’s as if by murdering us, they’re murdering our ideas.”

Some of her colleagues blame the practice of embedding journalists for putting them in greater danger, since they are more closely associated with the military. “This problem started in Afghanistan, where the Taliban equated foreigners with infidels,” she said. “Journalists have become symbols of nationality. Journalists are targeted because they represent ideas that oppose the other side.”

She surmised that the terrorists who attacked her considered it to be “an extra special victory” because they could spread their message of fear to foreign nations by attacking reporters.

Dozier added that the threat to journalists in Iraq has hampered their reporting ability. “Journalists travel outside the walls of the compound only when the story is worth it.”

“My own chances to report became increasingly rare as kidnappings and car bombings became commonplace,” she said.

As difficult as journalism has become for American reporters, Dozier noted that the challenges posed to Iraqi journalists and sources are much greater. “Iraqi reporters have it more difficult; they must rely on their prayers and their lies,” she said. “They must lie to their friends and families about where they are going and even where they work.”

Since 2003, 101 Iraqi journalists have died, significantly more than journalists from any other nation.

Dozier recognized that despite journalists’ best attempts to remain objective, “they reflect the society they live in, and so does their reporting.”

She talked about a colleague who was fired from a cable news channel before the U.S. invasion of Iraq for pursuing a story about the possible resurgence of al-Qaeda because of increased American presence in the Middle East.

Dozier has not escaped criticism for her reporting. She said she has been accused by liberal bloggers for being a “pro-corporate pimp” and by conservatives for being “overly critical” of the administration.

And while Iraq has become the biggest issue for presidential candidates in America, Dozier doesn’t believe that Iraqis are concerned with American presidential promises.

“They have enough on their plate just getting groceries on a daily basis, so it’s more of a ‘tell us when it’s over attitude,'” she said.

She also spoke about the complex issues that American soldiers and diplomats are just now beginning to understand about Iraq.

“Those Iraqis who could have helped us have either fled the country or have been killed. Now Iraqis don’t really have anywhere to turn,” she said.

Dozier believes that the spread of misinformation throughout the Middle East has exacerbated the problems faced by American soldiers. “Many in the Arab world think we’re bullies,” she said.

Dozier also said she thinks that many Muslims “feel trapped between the United States and home-grown extremism” but prefer to choose neither.

“There will always be militants who feel so strongly about their faith that they’re willing to use violence.”

However, Dozier did recognize the progress being made to understand the underlying issues in Iraq.

“There is a growing sensitivity to both the religion and the culture,” she said.

Despite the violence that she has witnessed, Dozier tries to keep the issues in perspective.

“The guy who pulled the trigger in the attack against me, did he lose a wife or a child in an accidental shooting at a U.S. checkpoint?

“The moment we put ourselves in their shoes, we’re on the road to fixing things.”