Maybe they got wind of CNN's collaboration with Saddam.

Brent Sadler said one of their drivers had a head wound. They slowed down, then sped up. Then the video feed got cut. That was several minutes ago. CNN is still showing old footage.

already reported in the thread below

Taking a "Short Break"

Anderson is receiving a valium drip during the commercial. He seems particularly shaky and scared tonight. It makes me nervous every time I watch him.

Three points:

1. It was hard to watch. Terribly tense.
2. Sadler is a cool customer.
3. Previous poster Melissa is an idiot.

Gee whiz. Hope they're alright.

Fisk reporting Sadler soiled his pants

OK. Maybe Brent had had a few, maybe not. But this guy on CNN Intl right now has clearly been drinking for the last 6 or 7 hours.

Now it's CNN International. God I hate this British guy.

now steve be nice the idiot police will come arrest you for being the only smart person alive.....

On to CNN international. Where's Anderson? He's a dude.

Still no new word from the CNN crew. They were on a satellite phone. So it's not like they are just going out of range.

The fog of war reporting.

Godspeed, Brent Sadler & Co.

Dog bites man, that's nothing, man bites dog, that's news." It's always good when the reporters go bite a dog.

Geraldo is gonna be insanely jealous over this CNN Tikrit business. He'll have to stage an embolism or something to get back into the headlines.

http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/04/13/sprj.irq.war.main/index.html

A convoy carrying CNN correspondent Brent Sadler was fired on Sunday morning as it passed through a checkpoint in Tikrit. At least one of the vehicles was hit by gunfire.

"That was a pretty ugly moment," he said. No injuries were reported.

MSNBC is mentioning the "other TV crew" but is saying they "took fire but got out". Hope that's true.

I have to wonder if they ought to have gone into Tikrit. Might have been wiser to hang around and ask more questions first from people coming out.

It's interesting that they had an armed guard. In Afghanistan, reporters had to hire gunmen because there were so many people around with guns. The CBC showed one of their reporters travelling with a guard weilding a mounted 50-mm machine gun.

family needs me. good night all. thanks for the reports.

bbc world radio now reports on the wild ride

what they need you for?

Is this how normal people speak in the UK, or does this new CNN anchor has a strange speach impediment? Or maybe CNN is just using all these silly anchors to annoy me?

Yeah, me too. Goodnight all.

its a zionist plot

rose, I think it's a combination of all of the above. lol. I hate this guy's voice, it's sounds like a bad sitcom.

BTW, I went over to FNC during the break.

Does anyone else think Jennifer Eccleston is a complete babe?

Anenga, I'm telling you, it's a CNN conspiracy :-).

yes she is but i dont like her buck teeth.

"Jennifer Eccleston is a complete babe?"

LOL! Totally! I was thinking the same thing!

Early sunday AM at any broadcast operation = weakest announcers on duty.

ITS A ZIONIST PLOT TO UNDERMIND THE IRAQI REGIME....

DontTread, at the moment I am seriously considering awarding Sadler the "babe" status, just based on his cool reporting.

What's a zionist plot ?

JEWISH

zionist plot=jewish plot.

Rose, Sadler is massively cool.

(Assuming we can still talk about him in the present tense.)

Thise Brit commentator is ripped. You can see the Boddington's mustache on him every time they cut back to him. He has a pint next to the teleprompter.

hes a zionist plotting to overthrow the iraqi regime he must die infidel

zionist, roughly=jewish plot to rule the world (starting with the media and US congress), term widely used by arabs and anti-semites.

hehe - I know what 'zionist plot' means. I want to know what the plot is, exactly.

I've switched off the TV. No news about Sadler?

damn general get back to that armchair before we straight jacket your long winded buttt...lol

Aby, haven't yer handlers thrown the net over you yet (for your feeding)? -kidding

Sadler update -- last seen drinking heavily under overpass approx. 6 miles from last reported location. I'd be doing the same.

hehe - I know what 'zionist plot' means. I want to know what the plot is, exactly.
cant tell you iraqi secret

Pentagon statement regarding the Sadler/CNN incident:

"It's still incredibly dangerous to be out there as a unilateral journalist"

finally a man with a sense of humor even if you are a war monger general...lol

Where is Sadler???

DontTread, Anenga,

Jennifer Eccleston defines "babe"...

:^)

So, really, Sadler and convoy went drinking or no word yet?

aby:

figures. nobody tells me nuthin'

The journos know that (albeit still pretty ignorant/ethically impaired)

God, why is CNBC showing re-runs of Kudlow and Cramer (sp). I hate that loud ass guy whose always leaning over his chair. He tries to be like O'Reilly, but lacks the intelligence.

Dammit, whats up with that Brit anchor's mauve wide-tie/collar combination - He's sober, the wardrobe supervisor is drunk as a skunk. That fashion statement ain't right on so many levels, even for an 'odd' Brit.

The British CNN International anchor just said that Brent Sadler & Co. "were unhurt."

??

Did I miss something? Does he really know that they got to safety? I thought they were still being chased when the video went out.

hey im posting from a cell in the middle of tikrit how come no one is worried about me?

Andrew, I think he's just basing that off of the "Replay". He is drunk, you know ;)

silvertrain22

Sadler update -- last seen drinking heavily under overpass approx. 6 miles from last reported location. I'd be doing the same.

No Sh*t!!! So would I.

I don't think you missed anything. The brit cnn guy I think just meant 'had got through the checkpoint unhurt', even though Sadler had talked of a headwound.

Aby, nobody cares because you're not offering handfulls of $100 bills. Get real.

sorry i was halucinateing again....

He said that as soon as they switched. No mention of the one head wound. Nothing. No mention of getting the signal back.

More likely, it's an NRA plot, to demonstrate vividly how carrying guns can save your life.

I mean, you pull up to a checkpoint with armed gunmen...if you don't have a gun yourself, you're completely screwed. The gun gave the CNN guys a chance to escape.

And it demonstrates the value of assault weapons. A car full of Iraqis firing pistols pulled up to the CNN car. But a burst from CNN's AK-47 convinced them to go away.

The 2nd car stopped just a few miles away from the checkpoint - I think they were switching drivers b/c the driver was wounded. This is when Sadler mentioned the head wound.

You know, this was like COPS in reverse. The good guys were running away from the bad cops, and the whole thing was being filmed from the perspective of those running away.

I hope they all got away safely. Sadler is totally cool under pressure. "Under fire. Under fire. That confirms our worst fears." I wish he would have said, "Life is cheap, terror punks." Then opened fire. He'll have stories to tell for years to come, I hope.

Brent Sadler, stud journalist.

Well, they kept me up til 0330, but enough's enough. If they're not reminding themselves every 30 seconds that they have a colleague in mortal peril, then I can't do any better than to get some sleep and check in with them tomorrow.

Been fun blogging with y'all.

My God. The news organizations have formed their own militas. It gives a whole new meaning to the term "ambush journalism."

TIKRIT, Iraq (CNN) -- A CNN convoy retreated under a "hail of machine gun fire" Sunday morning after passing through a checkpoint in Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit.

At least one of the vehicles was hit, and a bodyguard returned fire. CNN correspondent Brent Sadler said one person in the seven-vehicle convoy received a head wound, apparently from flying glass when the back of a window of an SUV was blown out.

"That was a pretty ugly moment," he said.
http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/04/13/sprj.irq.war.main/index.html

My first reaction as I watched them drive into Tikrit was "Do those idiots know what they're doing? Sure enough..."

I believe the live footage was on a 3-5 second delay. 2 hours ago, when I watched this live, near the end, before Sadler went off the air and they had mostly gotten out of Tikrit, they stopped for a moment to check on the car that had its back windows blown out. It lasted for only a second, but they showed the man who received the head wound, he was poking his head out the window as Sadlers car drove off, but his entire head appeared to be red with blood. Looked very nasty.

Anyone else see this? The strange thing was, I didn't see it in the live version, I saw it about 5 minutes later, when they started to replay the drive out.

Actually, to clarify further...his ENTIRE face was blood soaked.

CNN just mentioned that the crewmember injury came from flying glass, and that they're heading north to safety. Also, CNN is back live in Atlanta, no more wierd CNNi dude.

Shooting at CNN is a bit extreme but understandable. I just use the remote to click them off.

AH CNN "news you can trust" or NOT. CNN executive Eason admitted in NYT oped piece that CNN has had a special deal going with Saddam since Gulf War 1. They repress any negative reports they discovered, they get to stay in Iraq. They squashed some pretty important info

Jennifer Eccleston definitely wins "Miss Shock and Awe" in my book!