LIVE FROM BAGHDAD (TV)

Summary

This docudrama is about CNN producer Robert Wiener and his news team's attempts to beat other news networks to the "big story " in the days leading up to the 1991 Persian Gulf War. The movie begins as Iraq invades Kuwait in 1991, including actual footage of U.S. television news coverage of the invasion and of President George H. Bush's televised statement that day. At CNN's Atlanta Headquarters, Wiener presses his bosses Ed Turner and Tom Johnson for the Baghdad job, which they ultimately grant him. At Saddam International Airport in Iraq, Wiener and his CNN crew, including Ingrid Formanek, cameraman Mark Biello, sound technician Judy Parker and correspondent Tom Murphy, are approached by an Iraqi official from the Ministry of Information, Mr. Mazin, who drives them to their hotel. The CNN crew reports a story about Saddam Hussein's meeting with British hostages; footage of the CNN news report is shown. Though mocked by other journalists, the story catches the attention of the Western press as well as the Iraqi Ministry of Information; the next day, the CNN team is taken by Ministry official Mazin to film protests outside the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad. Wiener goes to the Ministry of Information to meet with Information Minister Naji Al-Hadithi, who he asks for equipment and an interview with Saddam Hussein, considered by the Western journalists in Baghdad to be the big story. Angered when Dan Rather of CBS News gets the Hussein interview (footage is shown of Rather meeting Hussein), Wiener complains to Al-Hadithi, who sends the CNN crew to Kuwait with Mazin to film a story.

The Kuwait trip turns out to be a trick by the Iraqi government; Al-Hadithi mollifies Wiener by granting CNN an interview with Saddam Hussein. CNN anchor Bernard Shaw arrives in Baghdad and interviews Hussein; the film shows footage from the actual interview interspersed with scenes in which an actor plays Hussein. Also included is footage from Bush's 1990 Thanksgiving Day address to U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia. In Atlanta, Turner and Johnson discuss the likelihood of war as the film plays audio of Bush stipulating Iraq leave Kuwait by January 15, 1991, and Iraqi Foreign Minister Tariq Aziz's response. As the January 15 deadline approaches, Mazin brings Wiener and the crew a four-wire apparatus that enables them direct communication with CNN in Atlanta. The film shows footage of U.S. Secretary of State James Baker from January 9, 1991, reiterating the January 15 deadline for Iraq to evade war. Wiener tells the crew that Al-Hadithi has given them another interview with Hussein at the January 15 deadline, making it impossible for members of the CNN crew to leave before then. Peter Arnett arrives in Baghdad to join the CNN team, but other journalists leave the hotel for the airport. Word arrives that a U.S. attack is imminent, and U.S. Deputy Ambassador to Baghdad Joe Wilson encourages the journalists to evacuate Baghdad the next morning; Formanek, Shaw, Biello, and Parker decide to leave Baghdad. As most of the crew readies themselves for departure, bombing begins and anti-aircraft guns fire. While the rest of the journalists take cover in the hotel bomb shelter, Arnett, Shaw and Holliman report live using the four-wire apparatus.

The movie shows footage of NBC, CBS and ABC covering CNN's coverage of the bombing, which turns out to be the biggest story of the war; the CNN team is congratulated by the bosses at CNN headquarters. At dawn, the CNN crew survey the bomb damage outside their window as Arnett reports the scene. Al-Hadithi demands CNN's subsequent reports be censored by Iraqi officials. Formanek, Shaw, Biello and Parker leave Baghdad. Al-Hadithi and Wiener walk through rubble and discuss their friendship before parting ways. On-screen text informs viewers that Wiener returned home on January 23, 1991, that Al-Hadithi becomes the Iraqi foreign minister, and that Hussein continues to rule Iraq.

Cataloging of this program was made possible by The Marc Haas Foundation, 2002/2003.

Details

• NETWORK: HBO
• DATE: December 7, 2002 Saturday 8:00 PM
• RUNNING TIME: 1:49:06
• COLOR/B&W: Color
• CATALOG ID: T:75263
• GENRE: Drama, historical
• SUBJECT HEADING: Drama, historical; Persian Gulf War
• SERIES RUN: HBO - TV, 2002
• COMMERCIALS: N/A

CREDITS

• Rosalie Swedlin … Executive Producer
• Sara Colleton … Executive Producer
• George W. Perkins … Producer
• Richard Chapman … Co-Producer
• Thomas D. Herman … Co-Producer
• Robert Wiener … Co-Producer
• Richard Hoover … Production (Misc.), Production Designer
• Joe Hutshing … Production (Misc.), Editor
• Ivan Strasburg … Production (Misc.), Director of Photography
• Mick Jackson … Director
• Richard Chapman … Writer
• John Patrick Shanley … Writer
• Timothy J. Sexton … Writer
• Robert Wiener … Writer
• Steve Jablonsky … Music by
• Evyen Klean … Music (Misc. Credits), Music Supervisor
• Hans Zimmer … Music (Misc. Credits), Executive Music Producer
• Jason Antoon … Cast, Mr. Mazin
• Helena Bonham Carter … Cast, Ingrid Formanek
• Michael Cudlitz … Cast, Tom Murphy
• Murphy Dunne … Cast, Bob Vinton
• Paul Guilfoyle … Cast, Ed Turner
• Jerry Haleva … Cast, Saddam Hussein
• Michael Keaton … Cast, Robert Wiener
• Joshua Leonard … Cast, Mark Biello
• Linklater , Hamish … Cast, Richard Roth
• Bruce McGill … Cast, Peter Arnett
• Murphy , Michael … Cast, Tom Johnson
• David Shatraw … Cast, Joe Wilson
• David Suchet … Cast, Naji Al-Hadithi (Naji Sabri Ahmad al-Hadithi)
• Taylor , Lili … Cast, Judy Parker
• Robert Wisdom … Cast, Bernard Shaw
• Tariq Aziz
• James Baker
• George Bush