View Full Version : John Simpson, GW1, 1991
alwayslookingup
7th Mar 2010, 19:32
Evening all,
bit of a long shot here.
Towards the end of GW1 John Simpson was doing a piece to camera when all of a sudden a Tomahawk cruise missile flew over his head, literally following the line of the street he was standing on.
A few of the youngsters at work are sceptical it actually happened and would love to see it.
I've tried all avenues on You Tube and elsewhere I can think of on the net, to no avail.
Can anyone help?
Thanks in anticipation.
ALU.
Daysleeper
7th Mar 2010, 19:43
In Simpson's book ("From the house of War", I think) he said that film was taken from them by the secret police... I don't remember ever actually seeing it broadcast.
dead_pan
7th Mar 2010, 20:03
I remember it well - it was definitely broadcast. That said, I'm not 100% sure it was John Simpson - are you sure it wasn't Brian Hanraharahan?
I recall the missile disappearing from shot accompanied by the sounds of small arms and triple-A fire.
Riskman
7th Mar 2010, 20:42
Brent Sadler, ITN
Clip 13
1991 Compilation (http://www.itnsource.com/compilations/datesanddecades/1990s/?lr=S17010802)
Simpson referred to it in one of his reports from Baghdad.
R
I had a quick search and found the following. Someone has spliced two unrelated pieces of video together.
The first part shows a small segment of the news footage from 1991.
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TJ
dead_pan
7th Mar 2010, 21:00
Blimey, 145 quid for that short clip. Talk about money for old rope.
Seems a bit gaff that several missiles follow the same track within a few minutes of each other. Must have been fun to be an Iraqi triple-A gunner on that day.
Archimedes
7th Mar 2010, 21:33
It's at the start of this - part of a BBC programme/series The Gulf War (not sure if it is on DVD)
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(Click on the 'watch on youtube' link if the embed fails)
There is certainly more than enough evidence from the man himself that he saw a TLAM go past his hotel and "turn left/right at the traffic lights".
alwayslookingup
8th Mar 2010, 07:16
Morning all,
many thanks for taking the trouble to reply.
Funny how the mind (and memory) plays tricks. I could have sworn it was John Simpson. The first part of the clip in TEEEJ's post is the clip I was thinking about. Maybe at some other point John Simpson commented on it.
Rgds,
ALU.
Daysleeper
8th Mar 2010, 11:51
I found the reference in the Simpson book - From the House of War Page 310-311 ,
"we were arrested as we were filming the fire which the missile had started and, after a fight....the security people got the tape with the cruise going past the window during my report to camera"