Ex-SR Staffer Under Fire In Libya

The following information comes from an e-mail exchange today between Pickett, briefly back in Cairo, and The Inlander (except where noted): “The air strikes happen very fast — you hear the plane and then you have a couple seconds to look for cover. But nobody knows where the bomb will land,” she writes. “The person who took that photo [above, Paul Conroy/Reuters] was already on the ground next to a mound of dirt, which was where we were all headed.” It’s almost comical to imagine five shooters and their gear dog-piling onto the Reuters guy behind a little dirtpile. But Pickett tells msnbc.com it was the most chaotic, intense situation she has ever been in. And she’s been in some intense situations. “Bullets were whizzing past us. You could see the dust stirring on the ground from bullets zipping past our legs. I’ve never taken this much fire before,” she told the site in a phone interview from Cairo/ Kevin Taylor , Inlander. More here .