Chapter 20 16. When "Scud" strikes

If you are a good person, you are to blame when things go wrong. — Hemingway Whenever the air defense alarm sounded, in the Tel Aviv Hilton Hotel, the staff rushed all the passengers to the anti-virus room on the sixth floor, and sealed the passengers in the bomb shelter with black plastic tape.A group of journalists from all over the world living here argued hard, and finally had the honor to enjoy the "immunity". John Haygood, Joe the Canadian freelance photographer, Shinichi Murata of Japan's Newsweek, and I were always hanging out together, gas masks stacked at our feet like skulls.I have never worn the chemical protective suit given to me by Xinhua News Agency, which is not because I am brave.Long before we evacuated from Baghdad, Chief Lao Zhu and I gave the full set of chemical protective suits and masks to the landlord.Trying on a new supplemental gas mask while passing through Amman nearly suffocated me.Once in Israel, I got my third gas mask, which I never used.Existing gas masks can only deal with police tear gas bombs, not even the mustard gas from World War I that rots the skin.I never leave my steel helmet. The day before my departure from Beijing, Qiao Tianfu, a photojournalist of the People’s Liberation Army Daily, took special care of me. 80% of the battle injuries were hit on the head by shrapnel. If you want to live longer, don’t be afraid of sinking.

Two days ago, I stood on the balcony for the first time and took a picture of the heroic posture of the Patriot missiles flying against the "Scud", because I used 1. "4 seconds, the ballistic trajectory is extremely short, less than two inches on a 10-inch facsimile film, but this also aroused great praise from Murata and Joe. In recognition of my bravery, Joe gave me a brand-name camera bag, and Murata envied me Say this domker pro bag sells for $200 in Tokyo. 55% of photojournalists here use Nikon, 30% use Canon, and 15% use other cameras, such as Leica.The main models are Nikon F-4S, Nikon F-3P, Canon New F-1, Canon T-90 and Leica M-6.They all have external high-voltage batteries hanging around them, all of which are the American Domk brand camera bags that Murata said sell for 200 dollars in Tokyo.This kind of bag can hold two Nikon F-3 plus MD-4, four medium-sized (such as Nikon 80-200F4) lenses, two flashlights, in addition to two large pockets for other items, the switch is simple, Has a waterproof interlayer.In China, I only saw that He Yanguang of China Youth Daily had carried this brand of bags on his back.

Every morning, when I went to the news center on the first floor with my photo fax machine on my back, a large crowd of foreign counterparts would be onlookers, which made me very embarrassed. The Chinese are ashamed.Australian News Limited photojournalist Ray Strange said with a smile that I was using a machine from the last century. He asked me why I didn't use AP's film fax machine APLeafaX? The AP, Reuters, AFP, Kyodo, Jiji, and Yomiuri Shimbun all use the AP-Leafax.When I was in Baghdad, I borrowed this kind of machine from Kyodo News photojournalist Toshio Ogawa.Its size is only the size of an electric typewriter, and it sells for $15,000 in Tokyo.The instructions can be typed in English, and it only takes six and a half minutes to transmit a black and white negative film (color negative film can also be used), while it takes 10 minutes to transmit a photo with the photo fax machine I use. The company is trying to build a machine smaller than the AP-Leafax, and it is expected to be put on the market after the war.

Associated Press photojournalist Dominique said: "It's incredible to have a photographer shoot more than two types of film." British freelance photographer Neil Chandler said: "It's great to only shoot color negatives. First, you can concentrate on Second, it can be faxed and provided to pictorial magazines. Third, it is fast and easy. One-hour express shops can be seen everywhere, and D-76 developer has long since disappeared in some places. It can be said that anyone with a telephone There are fast food stores everywhere.” Murata, a Japanese photojournalist, said: "Red China should also equip you with this kind of machine." I don't want to, this remark annoyed Yossy, a security guard at the Hilton Hotel standing aside: "What is Red China? There is only one China. One China, understand? "

Closer to home, for several nights, Joe, Murata and I stood on the balcony facing the cold wind of the Mediterranean Sea, looked up at the night sky, and waited for the arrival of "Scud".Due to running the news during the day, I couldn't keep my eyes open at night, but driven by a strong competitive psychology, no one refused to admit defeat.Murata said the best way is for Joe and I to set up our cameras and open door B, and he will draw us a "Patriot" hitting a "Scud" with cigarette butts, and the three of us will receive the Pulitzer Prize together.Joe was so angry that he scolded Saddam for not cooperating.

At midnight on February 8, Murata and Qiao finally couldn't bear it anymore and went back to their respective rooms to sleep.But I firmly believe that "Scud" will come tonight, because today happens to be the end of the Muslim Juma day and the beginning of the Jewish Sabbath. (Author's note, the Hebrew word shabbath means seventh. It is a weekly holy day in Judaism. According to the "Bible Genesis", God created the heavens and the earth in six days, and rested on the seventh day, so the seventh day is honored as The holy day is called the Sabbath. Judaism stipulates to stop working on this day and worship God, which is called Sabbath. Christianity inherits this statement and is called Sunday), which happens to be linked with the "June 3rd Revolution" festival in Baghdad. For this reason, I also made a bet with Murata, but the alarm sounded twice in a row, but I got nothing.

At about 2:30 am, I was woken up for the third time by the bleak siren.I dug my head under the pillow, thinking that this time it was "wolf is coming", the phone rang again, and a man on the receiver ordered me to turn off the lights and water in English, and quickly took cover.I climbed onto the balcony in the dark, but the whole city of Tel Aviv was still brightly lit.I went back to the room and drew the floor-to-ceiling curtains, so as to prevent the shattered glass from flying across.I picked up the Lycra, put on the helmet and returned to the balcony overlooking the sleeping city.

As the city lights went out one by one, I felt the adrenaline rush, my heart pounding, and I was facing some of the most challenging minutes of my career as a journalist.I don't know if I can hold on, I don't know what to photograph, I just try to take a deep breath and try to stabilize my emotions.In the north, a fire dragon soars into the sky, straight into the night sky, and disappears suddenly when it rises to a certain height.A few seconds later, it reappeared.Then there were two dull bangs, and the floor shook, "Scud" really came!Suppressing the oncoming fear, I took the Β door of the Leica camera tremblingly.

I ran down the hall on the first floor from the fire escape, without the slightest fear, and the excitement and excitement I experienced in the past returned to my body again.There is no one here.There was no taxi at the door.Two white men with Nikon on their backs refused my request for a ride and left.I had to run back to the hall again.At this time, a Frenchman ran out head-on and asked me what I saw first in French and then in English.I said, get in your car, I know where it is. Going north out of the hotel, we bumped into a team of fire trucks head-on, followed by us, and more fire trucks and ambulances with red, yellow and blue lights flashing into our team.

There was a burnt smell in the air, water pipes burst and water flowed in all directions. There was a bomb crater with a diameter of seven or eight meters in the middle of David-Ben-Gurion Street. Several cars had been burned into black iron.Several firefighters were extinguishing the fire with water hoses.The surrounding houses have been blown down.A brand-new Oldsmobile behind me had its roof shattered by blasted concrete panels.An engineering rescue team led by German black-backed military dogs searched for victims in the ruins. There were no lights nearby, only the searchlights on the roof of the fire truck and the chaos of flashlights, and the red, yellow and blue police lights flashed non-stop.Soldiers' military vehicles were connected end to end to form a barricade, and hundreds of volunteers carrying Μ-16 rifles joined hands with the military and police to drive all reporters away from the scene.The ambulance team carried five lightly wounded people into the ambulance. I rushed over, and the water sprayed by the fire hose covered me. A soldier blocked my flashing light with his hand several times, and I was so angry that I cursed.A big white fat man who was panting and gesticulating to put out the fire, his white hair fluttering in the night wind, turned out to be Israel Housing Minister Ariel Sharon.

A pair of poor old men on the side of the road covered their faces with gas masks and begged me not to take pictures.A burly man yelled at the TV reporter: "Tell Saddam! We're going to drop an atomic bomb and blow the shit out of him! We'll do it ourselves, we won't use the Americans!" It was the first time in a week that Iraqi missiles had struck Ramat Gaon, and the third time a warhead had landed in the city.A total of 5 homes were destroyed, 150 were damaged, 26 people were injured, and no one was killed.The destroyed buildings included the Burmese embassy.It was the first attack in the early hours of the Jewish Sabbath. The outside world has been paying attention to Israel's reaction.A poll released last week showed more than 70 percent of citizens favored restraint.Israeli Prime Minister Shamir also made a speech on the radio this morning, saying that Israel will still restrain itself from the attack.But if Iraq uses chemical weapons, the consequences will be unpredictable.He pointed out that the past five "Scud" attacks each fired only one missile, indicating that Iraq's launch capabilities have been greatly weakened.So far, Scud missiles have killed 4 Israelis and wounded 270. A man named Rondi whose house was destroyed said that about a minute after the alarm sounded, he saw four walls pressing inward and glass shards flying in all directions. He thought he was dead, but although the house collapsed, But he was only injured in his arm, so he was lucky.A female soldier who assisted in the rescue at the scene said that the attack was very fortunate, because many residents in the area had left their homes and most of them were empty houses, so only 26 people were injured. I found a taxi and rushed back to the Hilton Hotel. I threw off my shoes and developed the film.Taking advantage of the development opportunity, he wrote a short article "When the Scud Strikes" and sent it to the news inspection office.Then I ran back to the room and put the fax photos on the wet negatives.The duty room of the photography department heard that I only had one piece of plastic-coated fax paper left at this time, and ordered me to save it until I needed it most. I ran to the press censorship office with a fax machine and the dripping 10-inch fax photo, and wanted to return the approved text of "When the Scud Strikes" and sent it to the Paris branch of Xinhua News Agency. Lin Chuan and Yuan Man from the Photography Department of Beijing Xinhua News Agency had already contacted me after the review stamp was stamped on the photos submitted for review.I installed the picture, only to hear Yuan Man yell: "AM 120 RPM, develop." The small water droplets thrown by the wet picture drew a line on the table.I grabbed another phone and dictated the picture captions to Lin Chuan.Lin Chuan instructed: The shooting of the war is almost done, and attention should be paid to the occupied territories where the Palestinians live. After posting the photos, it was already 5 o'clock in the morning.I put away the fax machine and handed the two rolls of color negatives to the lady in the press center, asking her to develop them for me.I need to hurry up and get some sleep so I can go to the occupied territory at dawn.After climbing upstairs, I found out that I forgot to turn off the enlarger after showing the photos just now, and the wet negatives were baked to the point of curling. In the morning, according to officials, the Patriots launched last night failed to intercept the Scud missiles.