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Surviving a Baghdad bombing

It's the kind of wake-up call everyone who works in Baghdad hopes they never get. For me, it was the second time. I was dozing after my alarm had gone off at 8 a.m. The loud BANG was unmistakably close. I recognized it and knew immediately what it was. I stayed put, like last time, and listened. First nothing, then small arms fire... I knew I had to get out into the hallway, and started to get up... Another blast, even louder, threw me back onto the bed... Now I knew I had to get out fast... The next few minutes went by in a haze... almost on automatic pilot, remembering the things we were told to do in an emergency. I got up, walked into the living room and to the door... then realized I was barefoot,and there was glass shattered on the ground. Dale walked through the door: "Are you all right? Get your shoes on, take your phone, your bag." I scrambled, following his orders... back into the bedroom, shoes on, phone, handbag with important stuff. "Count your people"... made me remember I'm in charge of this group of people. New to the job of bureau chief, I'd forgotten that for a moment. Will I remember everybody? Up the flight of stairs to our office, where my colleagues and some other journalists who stay in the building were gathering. "Get down on the floor!" I started counting, but didn't know how many I was supposed to have. Is everybody here? The phones on the desk kept ringing, but when someone reached out and grabbed one there was no one at the other end. It added an unnerving touch to an already tense situation. We may be evacuating... I'd better tell someone on the foreign desk... the cell phone worked.  A camera in my face. Kevin Burke, behind it, asking questions... I'm supposed to give him a soundbite... my thoughts are still scrambled: "Don't do this to me!" I must look terrible, pull myself together, say something.

After a while, I've lost track of time, no more blasts, no gunfire, we relax a little. I pull trousers from my bag and put them on. The phones start working. Kevin, Rob Moro and Mike Boettcher are heading out to the street with an escort. They've started working. No structural damage to our building. I look out the window and see the blast site, the dust has settled. A large piece of the wall has fallen onto a car. Beyond it a building has been reduced to rubble. The walls worked, they did not get past them... they protected us. But the people in the buildings next to the wall were too close.

I should take a closer look, can I go down? Some of us are escorted down... a water main has burst. I'll have to wade through a pool of water. Wish I had my boots on. But when we get closer to the blast site... "go back, there's someone in the crowd wearing a suicide vest!" We turn back. Back in the office I get into work mode. Can we feed tape? Is the live position working? Did our security camera catch the blast? Local employees start coming in, their faces worried, shocked. "We're all right, we're fine." The first tape comes in, the feed is up... and it's business as usual. Except... we've become part of the story.

Weekend warriors

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