LDT: Fallujah hero Scott Lawson


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Lou Dobbs has a clip about Staff Sergeant Scott Lawson, one of the soldiers who entered the infamous house in Fallujah with David Bellavia (and a certain reporter from Time magazine...)

Michael speaks briefly about what happened when the soldiers got inside. It looks like the clip was filmed shortly before he left Baghdad a few weeks ago. (The additional footage of Michael comes from the "Inside the Surge" B-roll.)



LOU DOBBS: And now "Heroes," out tribute to the men and women who serve us all in this nation's uniform. Tonight, we introduce you to former Army Staff Sergeant Scott Lawson. Four years ago he led a weapons squad into the Iraqi city of Fallujah to root out al Qaeda terrorists. Philippa Holland has his story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PHILIPPA HOLLAND, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT (voice over): In his work boots and hard hat, Scott Lawson blends right in with his fellow construction workers. He's part of a team with a goal to accomplish, yet what happened on a house-to-house search for members of al Qaeda will make him stand out forever.

Lawson was in charge of an Army weapons squad in Fallujah with orders to enter a maze of darkened houses to kill or capture insurgents. CNN Baghdad correspondent, Michael Ware, then writing for "Time" magazine, embedded with Lawson's platoon on the mission.

MICHAEL WARE, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT: When Lawson and the others of the platoon went into that house, al Qaeda lay in wait. They'd set an ambush under the stairs, drawing the young soldiers into the house, and waiting until they were just six feet away in a narrow corridor before they opened up with machine guns from behind a fortified bunkered position.

HOLLAND: Driven out by heavy gunfire, the soldiers reground. Lawson's squad leader asked for volunteers to join him and root out the enemy. Lawson, armed only with a pistol and 30 rounds, stepped forward.

STAFF SGT SCOTT LAWSON, U.S. ARMY (RET): It was just me and him. And he was going to go in and I said, I can't let you go in by yourself. I wasn't going to let him go in there by himself and die. Because that's what we thought was going to happen. So much is running through your head, it's like, am I going to come back out of this house? What's going to happen?

That night it was hectic, crazy. You lose your mind a little bit. You try to keep yourself sane. But there's not much you can do when you got bullets whizzing all around.

HOLLAND: As Lawson provided cover, the squad leader killed two al Qaeda terrorists and then moved to a second floor. By the time the fight was over, there were as many as six al Qaeda terrorists dead.

Today, Lawson works for a contractor in suburban Detroit. Soon he will marry his fiancee. Four years after Lawson left Fallujah, he's still modest about his bravery.

LAWSON: The owner of the company, he calls me a hero every time he sees me. It's kind of funny. A lot of the guys I worked with never really knew. I felt like I did my job over there. That's what I went over there for.

HOLLAND: Philippa Holland, CNN.