Home > War in the Persian Gulf > Peter Arnett Biography

Born November 13, 1934

Riverton, New Zealand

Controversial journalist who broadcast the first coalition air strikes of the 1991 Persian

Gulf War live from a Baghdad hotel

"I knew that interviewing Saddam Hussein in the middle of this war was going to be controversial."

Peter Arnett in Live from the Battlefield: From Vietnam to Baghdad—35 Years in the World's War Zones.

Journalist Peter Arnett has reported on more than a dozen wars during his long career. But he is probably best known for his dramatic live coverage of the first U.S. air strikes against Baghdad, Iraq, during the 1991 Persian Gulf War. Arnett and his colleagues Bernard Shaw and John Holliman, who became known as the "Boys of Baghdad," faced great personal risk in order to broadcast the start of the war live from their hotel room. Their reports on the first U.S. bombing raids aired...