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Exhaustion. NBC News Middle East Correspondent Richard Engel is hanging on in spite of it, a sleepless three days now since the killing of terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
"I'm running on adrenalin," Engel tells me on the phone, his voice only slightly slurry, as he describes what he is filling for Nightly News tonight: a dramatic show and tell of what's left of al-Zarqawi's hideout.
Engel, the first and only network correspondent on the scene, describes a remote farm area, filled with wildflowers.
"We landed in a chopper in an overgrown field," he's saying. "In a clearing we were to find a house
surrounded by these palm trees. But when we got there I thought, where is the house?
It was just a big hole in the ground..concrete, cinderblocks."
He explained what the U.S. was telling him from the scene: "The two missiles went into the same crater, and blew up the foundation. There were 6 people in the house, al-Zarqawi, two men, and two women and a child. By the time we got there, U.S. forces had picked through the rubble, and pushed all the debris back into the crater, which was the size of a swimming pool."
I asked him whether there was anything left in the rubble and was stunned by what he said next.
"We found a Newsweek magazine, from last week, I think." Al-Zarqawi was known to be well-informed, but Newsweek? "We found women's clothing and underwear, shoes, and propagandist leaflets. We had heard that there were some computer flash drives and documents."
After covering this war for three in a half years, I asked Engel to stop for a moment and gauge this moment in the conflict. He said he'd been thinking about that.
"For me it was a marker of time... one of the seminal moments. It felt the same way as when I was taken to another farmhouse where Saddam was captured."
He added, "I can't tell you how many stories I've done on Zarqawi. He killed thousands of people and to be there on the site where he died. I was exhilarated. There is not a lot of sympathy for al-Zarqawi here."
Exhilarated and exhausted. Maybe that's why he can keep going, our man Engel, now preparing to show Americans the place where one of the world's most dangerous men was last alive.
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What's Next? 
I can understand the sense of exhiliration over Zarqawi's death. It was enough to inspire me to write and record these two songs:
Now That Zarqawi's Gone
Words and music by Dr. BLT ©2006
http://www.drblt.com/music/nowthatzarq.mp3
No Tears for Zarqawi
Words and music by Dr. BLT ©2006
http://www.drblt.com/music/no.mp3
(Sent Jun 15, 2006 4:33:35 PM)
I believe that Richard Engel is one of your top two or three field reporters. He always files excellent reports. May God keep him safe.
Dave, Bonita Springs, Florida (Sent Jun 12, 2006 3:17:08 PM)
I think that Mr. Engel would agree that the killing of Zarqawi will have absolutely no impact of the situation in Iraq where there are two fundamental events underway. The nation as a whole is trying to rid itself of its foreign occupiers and secondly the three ethnic factions are jockeying to ensure their interests when the foreigners are gone. The fact that Zarqawi may have died maybe of interest to US TV viewers interested in a victory story, but is of hardly any import. I hope you can tell your viewers this truth.
Remember when the media was repeating what the administration was saying about Saddam's capture. Now we all know that Saddam's capture had no bearing on the Iraqi situation. Still the media had bought into this story hook, line, and sinker.
When oh when can we expect a bit of gutsiness from our media?
(Sent Jun 12, 2006 12:18:59 AM)
Thank Mr. Engel for showing use the site of the bombing yet I wonder why the troops didn't mention the eye witness to account of a man being dragged and beated to death. How could anyone survive that damage? World reports tell of sorrow for Al Zarqawi's death and some happiness. He killed thousands yet his name just became famous lately. He spent most of his life in jail. Bin Ladin was on the front page as the #1 killer and 9/11 yet now Zarqawi was the most dangerous man. Our govenment has been given money for propagander and I wonder are we getting the hold truth from our govenment or what they want us to believe. The media has dropped the infomation about the murders of the woman/children by our troops. In war people kill people who is right and who is wrong. The US is on Iraq soil and we are the third wheel in this countries war amoung each other.
Jackie Rawlings Riverside California (Sent Jun 11, 2006 1:54:43 PM)
Dear Ann,
Thank you for this report on Richard Engel's tireless coverage of Al-Zarqawi's death and its impact in Iraq. When next you speak to Richard Engel, tell him that his work is appreciated and that he does a superb job in his reporting of the events and their repercussions, as well as how it effects him as a reporter living in the region. Also, please tell him, as long as he is in Iraq, to keep safe and to get some sleep! He deserves a long vacation on some tropical island somewhere, or in a European City--Italy, perhaps, or just a break to come home.
Thanks again,
Natalia
Natalia Fiore, Tampa, Florida (Sent Jun 11, 2006 12:08:48 PM)
Ms. Ann Curry,
Next time you talk to Mr. Richard Engel, tell him that his work over there is stellar and greatly appreciated. Also, tell him to be very careful and to wear his protective gear.
Leila (Sent Jun 10, 2006 5:55:39 PM)
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