BizTalk 2004 handling of XML inside Text field from SQL Server

[NaAlex]

Hi,

I'm new to BizTalk and am having a tough time accessing a row in a table having a text column. The text field has XML data stored in it. Example:

<TRANSACTION>
<TYPE>SOME_TRANSACTION</TYPE>
<ACTION>INSERT</ACTION>
<SERVER_NAME>NN.N.NN.NNN</SERVER_NAME>
<REQUEST_TS>5/4/2005 10:36:25 AM</REQUEST_TS>
</TRANSACTION>

When I use BizTalk 2004 to acces this data, I use a query:
select XML from xml_index where transaction_id = 000001 for XML Auto

The results get thrown into a xml file like so:

<xml_index xml="&lt;TRANSACTION&gt;&lt;TYPE&gt;SOME_TRANSACTION&lt;/TYPE&gt;&lt;ACTION&gt;INSERT&lt;/ACTION&gt;&lt;SERVER_NAME&gt;NN.N.NN.NNN&lt;/SERVER_NAME&gt;&lt;REQUEST_TS&gt;11/4/2004 9:40:27 AM&lt;/REQUEST_TS&gt;

I need to convey the actual xml file in the text field AS IS.

In desperate need of help.
Thanks, A