Sunday, November 09, 2003
John Simpson is all "They bombed me?! The fuckers!" in A Panorama Special: In the Line of Fire about how his newsteam got caught in friendly fire while in Iraq earlier this year. Firstly there's lots of bravado, before the war starts Simpson is coolly explaining how they might get thrown in an Iraqi jail when they get to Baghdad ahead of the coalition forces, then we see Iraqi forces deserting under attack from Allied bombers. You can't help but think that they are insane to be just driving around in Iraq like it was an afternoon drive, albeit in flack jackets. They meet up with Kurdish soldiers working with American troops who call in air strikes on Iraqi positions, often very close. As part of a convoy they feel safe because they're near special forces who are directing aircraft. And nearby some Iraqi tanks...
And then they get bombed. Utter devastation. Bodies everywhere, stored ammo exploding, injured people screaming, car alarms blaring. Then Simpson's shouting "it's coming back! It's coming back!" about the plane and they run on.
It's shocking, absolutely shocking and should be shown to anyone who's stupid enough to think that war is ever a good thing.
And then they get bombed. Utter devastation. Bodies everywhere, stored ammo exploding, injured people screaming, car alarms blaring. Then Simpson's shouting "it's coming back! It's coming back!" about the plane and they run on.
It's shocking, absolutely shocking and should be shown to anyone who's stupid enough to think that war is ever a good thing.
