Airman witnesses deadly attack Published Oct. 31, 2003 By Master Sgt. John Norgren 447th Air Expeditionary Group Public Affairs BAGHDAD INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, Iraq (AFPN) -- A scheduling mistake that stranded an Air Force photographer overnight in the Al Rasheed Hotel lobby in Baghdad made him an eyewitness to the rocket attack that killed one soldier and injured 15 others Oct. 26.Airman 1st Class Brian Ferguson, from the 447th Expeditionary Communications Squadron, was dozing in the hotel’s lobby when the attack occurred. Sitting about two feet from a large picture window, he saw some of the rockets pass by. “I got left at the Al Rasheed by the folks who were going to take me back to (the coalition provisional authority complex) to stay (for the night). I was napping on and off in a chair in the lobby,” he said. “All of a sudden I woke up ... I heard whistles, something like a muffled boom. It didn’t last long, maybe 30 to 40 seconds. I felt maybe two or three rockets actually hit the building. One was pretty solid; it shook the building.”While he did not see the rockets that hit the hotel, he did get a close look at those that missed. “I actually saw two come by the window. It looked like they either (hit) the ground maybe 50 yards from where I was sitting or just flew by the hotel,” he said. “It was pretty close.“My first instinct was to take a photograph; my second instinct was to get down,” Ferguson said. “I got down.”Ferguson was covering Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz’s four-day visit to Iraq. From Ferguson’s vantage point, he felt several of the rockets hit. The attack prompted an immediate reaction from hotel residents. “As soon as the attack was over, there were people in the lobby as quick as you could turn around. I went out into the foyer where everyone had congregated,” Ferguson said. The attack’s results were soon apparent. “All of a sudden I (heard) screaming as they (were) bringing (an injured) lady out who had been in one of the rooms upstairs. After that, it was like a convoy of injured personnel being brought in,” he said. “It was chaotic at first but not for long. They restored order very quickly.”Watching events unfold around him, Ferguson faced a choice. “At first, I wanted to help out, then I saw how many people were there. I felt I would just be in the way,” he said. “So I asked myself, should I take pictures or shouldn’t I?”Since documenting events is his job, he opted to do just that. Considering what was going on around him, Ferguson was careful to not get in the way. “I wasn’t going to stand around and shoot (photographs) of everything. I didn’t take any more photos than I thought the event dictated. (I knew) everybody (was shaken) up and basically on edge. I didn’t want to overstep my bounds,” he said. He said he was particularly careful to avoid photographing anything that would invade the privacy of the injured or their family members. “I made sure I didn’t get any pictures of injured personnel or anything somebody back home wouldn’t want to see,” Ferguson said. After a post-attack press conference, Wolfowitz resumed his scheduled tour. Ferguson photographed Wolfowitz while he toured an Iraqi police station and accompanied a 1st Armored Division patrol downtown. “I think he did the right thing continuing on because that’s what (the terrorists) didn’t want. They want to scare us out of Iraq,” Ferguson said.