- Close call for NBC’s Richard Engel: Engel, a truly fantastic foreign correspondent (and NBC’s chief correspondent in the Middle East) is on the ground in Libya, covering the uprising against Muammar Gaddafi. While interviewing rebel forces, an artillery strike hit that sent Engel scrambling for cover behind a tiny cement wall, a harrowingly close call. Not to be overlooked is the sight Engel was describing as the explosion hit; a rebel fighter who was carrying a plastic toy gun around, presumably to try to trick enemies into thinking he’s lethally armed, a toy gun he amazingly darts out of cover to try to retrieve during the strike. source