National Nitwit

Left: Rivera's mangled finger

(New York) FOX News host Geraldo Rivera suffered "a really nasty cut" while working on a segment on car bombings in Iraq yesterday.

"I was shuffling some papers during the break when I realized that something was wrong," said Rivera, holding up his index finger for reporters. "Man, that was the bloodiest paper cut I have ever seen."

Rivera joins a growing list of American journalists endangered by the Iraq conflict the past few weeks. ABC's Bob Woodruff, 44, who took over the anchor duties for the weeknight broadcast earlier this month, and ABC cameraman Doug Vogt suffered serious head wounds Sunday in a roadside bomb attack in Taji, north of Baghdad.

Jill Carroll, a 28-year old freelance reporter working primarily for the Christian Science Monitor, was abducted at gunpoint in Baghdad on January 7.

Rivera said that the horror of having an on-air "incident" catapulted him into quick action.

"I realized I had only about 60 seconds before we were going back live," he said. "I ran to the control booth, opened the first aid kit, and got out a flesh-colored Band Aid, making it back to my chair with 10 seconds to spare."

The toughest part of the ordeal, according to Rivera, was "keeping it all together" through the second half of his 30-minute show.

"A couple of times I thought I lost it there," he said, wiping his brow. "I just thank God for giving me the strength to carry on and keep the show on the air."