CBS Reporter Lara Logan Explains Her Attack In Egypt

While not disclosing every detail of her beating and sexual assault, or the full extent of her physical injuries, CBS international reporter Lara Logan has offered her own explanation of some of the details of the attack early today. Previously, CBS only offered a statement that Lara Logan "suffered a brutal and prolonged sexual assault and beating before being saved by a group of women and an estimated 20 Egyptian soldiers". Lara Logan was doing a story for 6o MINUTES when the events went horribly wrong in Tahrir Square. As she recovers from her physical injuries, a possible 60 Minutes story may be likely in the near future.

Lara Logan said that "the attack was so sudden" and that she had "no way of escaping" the violence she faced last week. Lara Logan claims that she was separated from her crew by the rowdy crowd of about 200 following news that President Mubarak would step down, and she was kicked and punched and her clothes were ripped off. She also had some hair pulled out as well. She claims that a group of women saved her from actual rape by throwing themselves on top of her, protecting her. The nature of her sexual attack appears to be more that of groping or possible penetration by fingers, since the legal term "sexual assault" stands for some sort of sexual penetration under accepted U.S. law definitions, rather than the claims of a controversial YouTube video and other reports that have surfaced on the Internet in the last few days claiming actual violent rape or claimed details of that rape.

Further, there were reports that cell phone videos exist of the violent attack. The Obama Administration has reportedly asked the Egyptian government to make arrests in the case, suggesting that any known videos of the attack may have been confiscated or are being used as evidence in this crime to identify suspects. Sometimes American law enforcement may offer assistance in such a case if a foreign government allows it. However, the statements by Lara Logan that she was sexually assaulted, but escaped rape strongly suggest that some cell phone videos that might exist of the reported violence might actually be of other women who faced sexual violence in recent days in Egypt. There have been many police reports of sexual violence in Egypt in the last two weeks as order had badly broken down and Egyptian security forces were hard pressed to restore order to demonstrations and other public gatherings that had grown out of control.

Lara Logan was also held at blindfold by Egyptian police only days before the Tahrir Square assault, where she questioned for being a spy for Israel. She became very ill during this interrogation when she vomited so much that a medic was sent to look after her. She asked for an IV at the time because of the illness problems. After she was placed on the IV and recovered somewhat, she was released. CBS was apparently unaware of her captivity at a secret location.

Despite one of the worst two weeks in life of any reporter ever recorded, Lara Logan contends that "it is in my blood to cover tumultuous events". This means that you can expect Lara Logan back on the job very soon. She'll have one heck of a book to write someday, facing danger many times before from IEDs covering warfare in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as hotspots in Africa and the MidEast. She's a reporter's reporter.

We at Wizbang Pop continue to wish her the very best wishes and prayers for her speedy full recovery from any injuries and a return back to work. We also appreciate the efforts by Lara Logan to set the record straight and offer her own first person account of her terrible ordeal in Egypt. This should help to prevent any further reports with wrongful or inaccurate information such as the recent YouTube video which surfaced this past week following the assault aftermath when CBS wasn't very forthcoming about information regarding this attack.