Plot

CNN producer Robert Wiener, his colleague and their crew venture to the Iraqi capital to cover the Gulf War.

Dramatized version of the story of CNN's Gulf War coverage featuring "The Boys from Baghdad": the battle over access, the fight to keep the technology up and running.. and the decision whether to risk their lives behind enemy lines once the bombing starts, in order to get the story of a lifetime.—Sam Meyer

Everyone in America witnessed first-hand the intense reporting of the Gulf War in January, 1991 Iran by the CNN crew of Bernard Shaw, Peter Arnett, and John Holliman, who stayed behind in Baghdad during the bombing. CNN became the only news organization to broadcast first-hand live reports. What we didn't see was the heroics of the team and the political posturing that was required to get the story. This movie is based on CNN producer Robert Wiener's memoirs of the event. The movie opens one year prior to the Gulf War, beginning with Iraq's invasion of Kuwait. Wiener works and becomes close friends with an Iraqi official, which gives the CNN team a leg up with Saddam Hussein and the rest of the Iraqi forces.—John Sacksteder <jsackste@bellsouth.net>

On August 2, 1990, Iraqi forces and tanks roll into Kuwait City, as the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait begins. In Atlanta, CNN picks Robert Wiener and his crew to go to Baghdad and cover the invasion. At Rome International Airport, Wiener meets his colleague and producer Ingrid Formanek. Wiener and his crew arrive in Baghdad on August 23, and stay at the Al-Rasheed Hotel.

As they settle in their hotel rooms, they notice that they are being monitored. The crew report their first story on a young British boy held as a hostage by Saddam Hussein. As they continue to report stories, they get pressured by the Iraqi government. Wiener later meets the Iraqi Minister of Information Naji Al Hadithi, and requests pieces of equipment and an interview with Hussein. As the movie goes on, Wiener and Al Hadithi become friends.

Wiener and his crew get access to interview Americans forced to stay in the country by the Iraqi government. The Iraqis use the American hostages as human shields for potential bombing sites. After Wiener's crew interview an American named Bob Vinton, Vinton goes missing. Wiener becomes worried about Vinton. Later, Al Hadithi gives CBS and Dan Rather the Saddam Hussein interview. Instead of the Hussein interview, Al Hadithi gives Wiener and his crew a trip to Kuwait. They arrive in Jahra Air Force Base, Kuwait on October 17. The crew cover the incubator story in three hospitals, but then Iraqis call off the interviews because the CNN crew broke some ground rules. As soon as they arrive back in Baghdad, Wiener and the crew become the story as the only Americans to be in Kuwait.

After an argument between Wiener and Al Hadithi, Al Hadithi agrees to give CNN a Saddam Hussein interview. On October 29, John Holliman and the CNN crew interview Saddam Hussein at one of his presidential palaces. In the interview, Hussein states that Iraq withdrawing from Kuwait would be like the U.S. withdrawing from Hawaii. The crew then covers the release of American hostages from Iraq. Wiener then finds Bob Vinton and is emotionally moved by his being safe.

The United Nations gives Iraq until January 15, 1991 to withdraw from Kuwait, or face military action. As the deadline comes to an end the crew sees that the Iraqi Army is installing anti-aircraft guns in Baghdad. The crew then gets a piece of equipment called the four-wire, which gives them communications to CNN in Atlanta. The four-wire is essentially a direct phone line to their CNN facility in Jordan. From that point it can hit the satellite above and then go to the CNN headquarters in Atlanta. The Iraqis eventually find out that the crew have established communication with Atlanta. The CNN crew is the only foreign news group with the four wire. On January 9, the crew eventually believe that there will be war.

Bernard Shaw arrives in Baghdad again on January 13 to interview Saddam Hussein again at the deadline. As soon as the deadline expires, streets in Baghdad are empty and businesses are shut down. Americans and foreign news groups begin evacuating Baghdad on January 15 in fear of American bombing strikes. Wiener decides to stay, and some members of the crew decide to leave. At around 3 a.m. on January 17, U.S. F-117 Nighthawk stealth bombers begin to bomb Baghdad. Iraqi soldiers begin to fire anti-aircraft guns into the sky to shoot down the bombers. As soon as the bombing strikes begin, CNN correspondents Bernard Shaw, John Holliman and Peter Arnett begin to report and describe the bombings on the four-wire communicator. The reports are broadcast live on CNN in America. The film shows the points of view from Saddam Hussein and U.S. President George Bush watching the CNN reports. It also intersperses actual archival footage of news anchors from rival networks, having to report off CNN's live feed, since CNN was the only news source transmitting during the bombing of Baghdad. Other archival footage is of [link=nm0155515, during a news conference as Bush's Defense Secretary, stating "The best coverage I've seen of what transpired in Baghdad was on CNN", and NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw stating, "CNN used to be called the little network that could. It's no longer a little network."

At around 5 a.m., the crew is forced to stop reporting by Al Hadithi and Iraqi soldiers.

Most of the crew leaves Baghdad, including Formanek and Shaw. Wiener stays, returning to America on January 23. The film ends showing the destruction of buildings from bombings in Baghdad.