[speaker001:] A blur of lights as a quick thinking cameraman locks on to the first Patriot missile fired in war. The patriot had already locked itself on to an Iraqi scud aimed at a Saudi airbase. The scud never made it. An American air crew saw it happen as they prepared to take off.
[speaker002:] I say the erm missile go up, snake up, and then explode and hit the other missile, and I kind of had a good idea right away that, you know, it was a patriot launch, because it was erm very impressive, and erm my confidence in the patriot is extremely high.
[speaker001:] Even so, raids that hunt down and destroy scud missiles sites were stepped up today. At least eight Iraqi mobile launchers were wiped out, although the allies admit it's hard to track them all. The weather didn't help either, high clouds over enemy territory obscured some targets. Several air missions returning with their bombs still in place, much to the frustration of the pilots.
[speaker003:] Because it is ground offensive in sand, you want to be able to see that if you're being shot, we couldn't... we couldn't do that, and it became questionable whether we were actually going to be able to see the ground or not, so we called it aboard.
[speaker001:] As waves of combat mission flew out by night and day, the commander of this R A F tornado squadron warned that despite early successes, the task was never going to be easy.
[speaker004:] There was a deal of euphoria after the first night, the success of the missions, a certain element of surprise, but I did say at that time that we'd be foolish to lower our guard, because erm there was still a lot of work to do, and that is exactly what it's turning out to be, and we're going for his military installations, and he's got a lot of them, and it's a wearing down process.
[speaker001:] The tornados highly effective runway-busting bombs carry a personal message to Saddam Hussein from the R A F. To keep the planes aloft, the ground crews work round the clock.
[speaker004:] They are all pumped up at the moment. There's a lot of adrenalin flowing, and erm they realise that there are pink bodies on the line, and they take a great deal of care in preparing the outfit before they go.
[speaker001:] Tragically, not all their aircrews have come home. Two R A F tornados have already been lost.
[speaker005:] We were pretty hacked off, but we've got to move on, we've got a job to do. Quickly put it out of your minds and carry on with the task in hand.
[speaker001:] For the ground crews there is barely time to think as they bomb up the tornados for yet another sortie. Out in the gulf a tommahawk missile drills up into the ink-black sky fired from the U S battle ship Wisconsin. Deep down in a blue half light of the control room, American sailors huddle over their radar screens, plotting its progress towards Iraq. The screen show the scale of the Gulf battle fleet, ringed on the right, H M S Gloucester, part of the Royal Navy contingent. Another launch pod is raised for action. The crews missile arm is dispatched.
[speaker005:] Eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one, one.
[speaker006:] It's all away.
[speaker007:] Yes sir.
[speaker001:] Over a hundred tommahawks have been fired from warships, pre-programmed with detailed pictures of their targets. This multi-national airforce is now running two thousand missions a day. Among the crews, Royal Saudi pilots determined to protect their country, as another night began with warnings of possible Iraqi air attacks. The Royal prince at the controls
[speaker008:] the machine.
[speaker001:] Noone knows just how much damage has been inflicted on the Iraqi airforce. In an effort to ensure there will be no counterstrike the Royal Saudi pilots forsook the Muslim holy day today to fly their missions, a reminder that religious and political loyalties could be severely tested if Israel was to join the allied force. Jeremy Thompson, News at Ten, in Eastern Saudi Arabia.
[speaker009:] The German chancellor beset with the economic burdens of absorbing the old East Germany is delighted to have found an ally, John Major. Both believe it would be a good idea to slow the momentum towards economic and political union in Europe. But both men are saying that quietly, while trumpeting their credentials as good Europeans, almost a mirror-image of Mrs Thatcher's approach to Europe. With the Gulf War over, the German leader's anxious to dispel doubts that his country can be counted on in a crisis, and there are moves underway to change the German constitution, at least to allow German soldiers to join United Nations military peace-keeping operations. The world has no reason to doubt that this entente is based on a genuine personal chemistry, significant differences remain, on areas as critical as the role of a European central bank. However, none of that is in evidence today, as the two leaders addressing each other as John and Helmut, and payed homage to the European ideal.
[speaker010:] I am sure myself that Europe is stronger when Britain, France and Germany are working together, and Britain is paying a full part at the very centre of the European community.
[speaker009:] As for Mrs Thatcher's weekend warning about a federal Europe dominated by Germany
[speaker010:] Well, we were discussing my comments today on the... on the erm relationship between the two countries, and I think you have just heard what they were.
[speaker009:] In his speech at the headquarters of the German conservative party, he developed that theme: co-operation in Europe, not confrontation.
[speaker010:] My aims for Britain in the community can be simply stated. I want us to be where we belong, at the very heart of Europe.
[speaker009:] But he made it clear Britain would fight its corner.
[speaker010:] Britain will relish the debate and the argument. That is the essence of doing business in today's community, and we want to arrive at solutions which will enable us to move forward more united and not less. That is why we think it better the change in the community should be of an evolutionary rather than of a revolutionary kind.
[speaker009:] Gone is the strong language of Mrs Thatcher's eighty-eight speech in Bruges, when she berated European rhetoric which didn't address the practical problems of European unity.
[speaker001:] We have not successfully rolled back the frontiers of the state in Britain, only to see them reimposed at a European level, with a European superstate exercising a new dominance from Brussels.
[speaker009:] Now, Mr Major wants his Bonn speech to set the tone of future relations with Europe. While that won't please some of his backbenchers, others will breath a sigh of relief that at least Britain will no longer seem to be standing alone against the rest of the community. Mark Webster, News at Ten, Bonn.
[speaker002:] Helicopters in heavily armed formation brought the allied commanders to their meeting with Iraqi generals, the rendezvous, an Iraqi airbase occupied by coalition forces. Desert Storm commander, General Norman Schwarzkopf described it as an historic day: a day to make it clear who was in charge.
[speaker003:] I'm not here to give them anything, I'm here to tell them exactly what we expect them to do.
[speaker002:] The Iraqi military leaders were arriving out of sight of cameras, under allied escort, and stripped of their weapons.
[speaker003:] Now I don't want to embarrass them in any way.
[speaker002:] No sir.
[speaker003:] There I don't want them to know anything.
[speaker002:] The rival generals faced each other across a wooden table in a green desert tent, General Schwarzkopf sitting with Saudi commander general, Prince Karla pin Sultan. Among the allied delegation, British commander, General de la Billiere. Opposite, grim faced, the Iraqi chief of operations, and the commander of Iraq's third army core, generals who'd seen forty-one of their divisions destroyed or captured. There were no smiles, no ritual handshakes. They left after less than two hours of talks to report back to Saddam Hussein on the face of it having agreed to all allied demands.
[speaker003:] The most important point that we discussed was the immediate release of all prisoners of war. The details of this release must be worked out by the international Red Cross. We have also made it very clear that upon the signing of a cease fire, but not before, all coalition forces will be drawn back from Iraqi territory that we currently occupy.
[speaker002:] Allied commanders seemed delighted at the outcome. They said the Iraqi leaders had already given details of P O Ws. They gave us a consolidated figure of various numbers of P W's that are held, and of the numbers of erm dead that are held. And I don't want to give those figures at the present time. But do you accept