First, I have to say that Brent does all of the interestinmg stuff after most of America has gone to bed. The story on Friday night of the amazing march of Iraqi conscripts who were willing to walk hundreds of miles to get home with no food, water, or money was amazing to see live.
Last night, I watched three and one half hours of amazing footage captured live in Iraq. CNN will probably never rerun the entire thing, and even if they do, it wouldn't be the same as seeing it first hand as it happened.
Brent Sadler is a seasoned journalist with many years of experience covering news in the Middle East, and specifically, Iraq. His driver is a specially trained security expert with the proper background to know what to do and when to do it. The only time I doubted their common sense was when they didn't get out of Tikrit at the checkpoint coming into town. But their job is to get the story, and get out with it alive and in one piece. They did their job.
Those of us who were watching saw a close call at the first army base when a military truck was coming at them, and Brent simply says, "hold on, this is interesting". It turns out to be driven by a civilian. Then there was the brass of actually driving through a military base not knowing if it's mined or booby trapped, and actually getting out to climb on an APC. Again, they had a security specialist driving them who knew what danger to look for.
Then there's the gunfire exchange between their driver/security guy at the checkpoint, the pursuit out of Tikrit, and the second exchange of gunfire on the highway. Great stuff. Almost better than Indiana Jones, just because it was real and live on my TV.
I have an award for Brent Sadler for excellence in journalism, and going above and beyond the call of duty to provide historic coverage of the final days of the old regime.
