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 I
had taken up position by the back entrance where I spent the
day, waiting and watching. As the sun began to set and the
city of light grew dark, I sensed that the place to be was
out front. I circled around the building to find a mass of
80 to 100 photographers, cameramen and journalists crammed
shoulder-to-shoulder, about four people deep, behind a
police barricade. In the crowd were three other AP
photographers.
I
felt strongly that I needed to stay, yet there was no need
for another AP photographer in the crowd. So, I dropped back
several feet from the police line and climbed up on top of a
structure that enabled me to shoot over the heads of the
press corp and, fortunately, over the tops of the cars.
Within
moments, several under-cover police officers escorted a
terrorist in handcuffs to a waiting police vehicle. The
assailants had surrendered, having made their point. What no
one knew at the time, the Iraqi's had decided they could not
allow the terrorists to live. It would set a bad example ...
or some logic like that. This was long before the Iraqi's
became the world's favorite bad guys.
As
the terrorist was put into the car, the Ambassador's number
two man gave a signal to two plain-clothed Iraqi embassy
guards who drew their weapons and opened fire. In the first
volley of bullets, they missed the handcuffed terrorist and
shot a French police officer who was escorting him.
Pandemonium pursued. People in street clothes everywhere
drew their guns and began shooting and running, seemingly
indiscriminantly.
In
this frame above, the man in the center with gun in hand is
being fatally wounded by the officer who is shooting from
the doorway. Others scramble for cover, not yet realizing
that another Iraqi guard is also shooting from across the
street in a cross-fire. And, one "Joe Cool" is casually
standing there with his police radio, as if he's watching a
ballet.
At
the time, the AP, as part of an economy program, had issued
20 exposure rolls instead of 36ers to everyone. I knew I had
exposed about 8 frames when the gunfire began. And, I knew
that changing film or cameras would cause me to miss the
action. So, I carefully and with thoughtful purpose squeezed
off the remaining frames. The exposure by now was about
1/30th of a second, using a 300mm f4.5. That was the next
great piece of luck.
The
press corp was crammed so tight behind the barricade that
any movement by one caused the photographer next to him to
move too. In the melee, half the press corps "hit the dirt",
blurring the shots of all of their compatriots. Those few
who had sharp pictures missed the action because the cars
obscured their view.
Us
four AP photographers gathered together our film. I was the
only one who was shooting at 400 ASA. The others were angry
at my lack of experience. They had all pushed their film. I
later learned that my "special" processing instructions of
normal ASA were ignored in the lab in the interest of speed.
It was unfortunate because the key images that ran in
virtually every newspaper in the world the next day were
from my "bullet-proof" roll of film. The AP selected and ran
every frame on the roll. It was probably the best sequence
of photos in my life. And, it taught me the tremendous value
of luck. The luck of being in the right place at the right
time with a clear vision of what I thought was going to
happen has benefited me on many occasions since. I received
four pay raises the first year I was with the AP, thanks in
part to lucky moments like this one.
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iraqi
shootout