ABC news co-anchor Bob Woodruff has been seriously injured by an IED in Iraq
Jan. 29, 2006— A statement from ABC New President David Westin:
“Bob Woodruff and his cameraman Doug Vogt were injured in an IED attack near Taji, Iraq today. They were embedded with the 4th Infantry Division, traveling with an Iraqi Army unit in an Iraqi mechanized vehicle. Bob and Doug are in serious condition and are being treated at a U.S. military hospital in Iraq. ABC News will provide updates on their condition as they become available.”
This will put some added pressure on his co-anchor, Elizabeth Vargas, to whom this must seem like a recurring nightmare: her husband, singer-songwriter Mark Cohen, was shot in the head last year.
My heart goes out to Woodruff and Doug Vogt and their families. Woodruff seems like a nice, hard-working young guy, presumably with a young family, and this will be at the very least a life-altering experience for all of them.
I suspect that over here both sides of the political divide on the war in Iraq will be pointing to this injury of a celebrity as evidence for their case.
Here’s the link to the full Associated Press article.
Others following the story:
Outside the Beltway
Cori Dauber, who notes that embedding with the military is no “silver bullet” for the safety of journalists in Iraq.
UPDATE: ABC News has filled in a few details. Woodruff and his cameramen were not accompanied by U. S. military forces at the time of the attack but by Iraqi security forces. They’re being operated on at the best military hospital in Iraq right now.
ANOTHER UPDATE: Both Bob Woodruff and Doug Vogt are out of surgery and in stable condition. No further details on the extent of their injuries other than “head injury and broken bones” yet.
YET ANOTHER UPDATE: Former newspaperman Joe Gandelman of The Moderate Voice, who’s been in a few dangerous situations himself in the course of his career (his former career, not his current one of ventriloquist—although he may have faced some pretty tough audiences), notes that journalism can be a dangerous business and is getting more so.
Bob Woodruff is like family. He and Elizabeth Vargass enter our living rooms every night as we watch ABC news without exception. Our prayers are with him and his family as well as with his cameraman, Doug. What a talented young man. God be with him now and during his recovery. I hope everyone who reads this will join us in our prayers.