Please indulge me a personal memory:
News of the passing of Joe Wilson brought obituary tributes and flashbacks to a different time, particularly his important role in the national drama around the lead up to and execution of the second Iraq War. But for me, the headlines of his death transported me a decade earlier, although the stage was still Iraq.
The United States was on the brink of its first war with Saddam Hussein and a CBS reporting team and I were some of the few westerners in Baghdad. Joe Wilson, at the time already a seasoned diplomat, had been left in charge of a skeletal team at the U.S. Embassy. The mood in the Iraqi capital was tense and there was word that Hussein was going to round up westerners to act as human shields in advance of an anticipated U.S. aerial assault.
Wilson was as tough and as savvy as they got and was handling the final drawdown of American foreign service members with steel-eyed precision. But he also saw the bigger picture
He told me "You and the rest of your co-workers should leave as well Dan, but I know you won't." So he made a remarkable arrangement. He left the phone lines open at the Embassy and allowed us to stay, even after he had pulled out, thinking, correctly, that it would be extremely provocative for the Iraqi forces to storm what was in essence U.S. soil. It was an act I will never forget, demonstrating a deep respect for his role and that of the press.
I soon had to leave as well to get back to New York to anchor, and the wheel of historical fortune continued to turn. Much has transpired since those days, but it is a moment and a man I will never forget.
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