Dozier is subject of CBS special

CBS News correspondent Kimberly Dozier, who was seriously injured one year ago by a car bomb in Iraq that also killed a cameraman and a soundman, wants to return as a reporter to the Middle East.

But her boss, CBS News President Sean McManus, says it's "not a black and white decision," and while he's having a discussion with Dozier about her next assignment, he is not yet willing to grant her request.

"I'm looking forward to going back to the Middle East ... to the kind of reporting that I've made my specialty," Dozier said yesterday.

The graduate of St. Timothy's School in Baltimore County made her comments during a teleconference held with TV critics and writers to promote the CBS News special Flashpoint, which documents her journey to recovery.

The show will be an effort to use her experiences to illuminate how the war in Iraq is changing the lives of thousands of wounded soldiers and Marines, Dozier said. Anchored by Katie Couric, it will air at 10 p.m. Tuesday -- precisely one year after her injury.

The 40-year-old journalist, who underwent more than 25 surgeries, said that while there are "effects" of her injuries that will never go away, she does not consider herself impaired as a reporter.

"This is just something I'll be stuck with. It doesn't limit my mobility," she said, acknowledging problems with circulation in her legs. "It just means that sometimes this leg blows up like an ugly little balloon. It doesn't change the way I walk. It looks hideous, but that's about it."

The Wellesley College graduate, who holds a master's degree in foreign affairs from the University of Virginia, will appear Sunday on the network's Sunday Morning newsmagazine show with a report about female combat amputees. Her return to the airwaves also will include other reports related to the attack and medical treatment of military personnel. The segments will air on the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric.

One story that has not yet been assigned an air date will examine the training doctors, headed into combat, receive at the Maryland Shock Trauma Center. Dozier was treated there.

"I'll be doing a story on how Maryland Shock Trauma is one of the three centers in the country that trains military surgeons, because Baltimore most resembles combat," Dozier said. "Baltimore, L.A. and Miami are the three places that they have these centers, because they have all sorts of trauma that comes through the door."

While she is committed to reporting on the Middle East, Dozier has not asked McManus to let her return to Baghdad: "I'm not ready to go back to Iraq," she said.

Calling the impending decision on whether or not Dozier will be allowed to work as a correspondent anywhere in the Middle East "one of the most difficult" he faces, McManus promised only to give a full hearing to her request.

"In the end, the decision as to what Kimberly wants to do with the rest of her reporting career is a decision that she will have to make herself," said McManus. "And I'll have to make a decision based on CBS News and what I consider best."

Related topic galleries: University of Virginia, Katie Couric, CBS Corp., Armed Conflicts, Injuries

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