A persistent sandstorm and the schedule of the Joint Chiefs of Staff means ABC Newsman Bob Woodruff will have to wait another day to report from Iraq — where he nearly lost his life more than three years ago.

Woodruff was to deliver his first report from Iraq since the 2006 attack for World News last night but sandstorms pushed the reporting to GMA this morning. But the storms kept up, and during a phone interview with GMA’s Chris Cuomo, Woodruff talked about what it all meant:

Part of me is really sad by it. Certainly, it’s a very emotional time. But, you know, I think that the hope is, the dream is, that I will go back there — maybe soon, maybe a month later, maybe a year from now. But I do want to go back. I really wish this had not happened, that the sandstorm had not stopped us. I wanted to come back and — we’re not able to see much of anything. But we know that the danger zone, that the violence is way down. There’s a lot more hope that this country will return. And certainly a lot of the people, the insurgents who were fighting against the United States and other foreign countries for so long have now calmed down. They still exist, but the country has hugely changed since that day, January 29th, 2006, when the insurgents nailed us.

Given that he is traveling with Joint Chiefs Chairman Admiral Mike Mullen, Woodruff and his crew have now moved on to Afghanistan. Woodruff will report on the second leg of the trip today.

Earlier:
• Sandstorms Delay Bob Woodruff’s Iraq Reporting
• Bob Woodruff Returns to Iraq
• Bob Woodruff, Doug Vogt Seriously Injured by IED in Iraq