AUTHOR SERIES
Breathing the Fire: Fighting to Report--and Survive--the War in Iraq
Kimberly Dozier, CBS News Correspondent, Middle East
The Home of WFPG Board Member Susan Rappaport
January 14, 2009

Washington, DC—Kimberly Dozier has covered Iraq and the Middle East extensively, worked primarily in Baghdad starting in 2003. On Memorial Day 2006 she was among the victims of a 500-pound car bomb attack by insurgents that killed two of her colleagues and left her critically wounded. She discussed her recovery from the near fatal attack, and the pressures of reporting from a war zone like Iraq. Ms. Dozier also described how her reporting was criticized by both conservatives and liberals given the polarized view of the Iraq war in Washington. Yet she explained how this criticism signaled to her that she was getting things right, “I was 50/50 and both sides hated me.” Problems, including rising security costs and a waning audience, increased pressure to report new and exciting stories in risky and dangerous situations such as her trip to a notorious neighborhood in southern Baghdad where she was attacked.

Ms. Dozier is currently based in Washington DC where she covers the Pentagon and the White House. She told the audience that she thinks that it is a great time to be in DC. Despite her 2006 experience, she would still like to return to Iraq and Afghanistan in the future to be able to report both sides of the story.

 

WFPG President Patricia Ellis, Kimberly Dozier, and WFPG Board Member Susan Rappaport

 

Kimberly Dozier, author and CBS News Correspondent, Middle East 

 

WFPG Board Vice Chair Gail Kitch, Board Secretary Donna Constantinople, Patricia Ellis, Kimberly Dozier, Susan Rappaport, and WFPG Board Chair Maxine Isaacs

WFPG Board Member Susan Rappaport

Patricia Ellis introduces Kimberly Dozier

Gail Ifshin, President of the Discovery Channel Global Education Partnership, Patricia Ellis, and Kimberly Dozier

WFPG Members and Guests

WFPG Reception

Gail Kitch greets Carol Chodroff of Human Rights Watch

Donna Constantinople and Maxine Isaacs greet WFPG members and guests

Kimberly Dozier signs her book for Paige Thomas Scaperoth, a WFPG Young Professional Member

Susan Rappaport with Vital Voices Board Chair Susan Davis and her mother Vivian Davis