TV AND THE GULF WAR : Reality Isn’t as Pristine as Ali Baba’s Baghdad War

Baghdad.

The ruler there is ruthless and sadistic, using fear and torture to keep his subjects in line. Smiling and appearing full of confidence, he greets his troops. An adviser assures him: “The future lies in your hands.”

Meanwhile, forces for good assemble outside the city, preparing to assault the enemy and overthrow the evil tyrant.

The Baghdad of the Persian Gulf War in 1991?

Hardly. This is the Baghdad (actually a sound stage) of Hollywood in Universal’s 1944 movie, “Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves.” It aired on cable’s Arts & Entertainment network Saturday morning, yet another reminder of television’s juxtaposed realities in wartime.

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There on CNN--in Iraqi-controlled footage about which little was known--is Iraqi President Saddam Hussein in his olive uniform, seemingly in good spirits and even appearing to joke and chuckle while meeting with his military yes men.

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There on A&E; is the bald, squinting Khan in his rich robes, sitting on his Baghdad throne and grinning maniacally while ordering punishment for some poor soul who has displeased him: “The role of a conqueror is never an easy one. But I feel it’s hardest dealing with you traitors.” To his guards: “Take him away!”

“Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves” is 87 minutes of gloriously corny 10th-Century escapism, starring Jon Hall as the title’s rightful caliph of Baghdad seeking to regain his throne from the evil Khan, whose Mongol hordes have overrun his Arab kingdom. Maria Montez plays the comely Lady Amara, who loves Ali Baba despite being heavily courted by the Khan.

Meanwhile, Ali Baba and his color-coordinated 40-man force hide in a secret cave, making their plans.

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It’s CNN again, this time correspondent Margaret Lowrie--who has joined the network’s Peter Arnett in Baghdad--narrating footage of a town the Iraqis say was virtually destroyed by allied air strikes.

The pictures show ruins, recalling other Iraqi footage that CNN ran Friday, in which a Baghdad woman walking amid hills of rubble raged in English at Americans for “bombing people for the sake of oil!” Rarely has there been such raw emotion on TV, this middle-aged woman’s anger seeming almost to explode through the screen. “We are human beings!” she shouted.

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Tension is building back in the cave, as Ali Baba vows to stop the Khan’s impending marriage to Lady Amara. “You would storm the walls of Baghdad and face the Mongol armies single-handed?” asks an associate.

As it turns out, he doesn’t have to, for just as a coalition is helping President Bush fight Hussein, Ali Baba’s 40 thieves volunteer to join him in Baghdad. The plan is for Ali Baba to show up disguised as a rich businessman bearing wedding gifts for the Khan.

And here he is, announcing himself as a merchant from Basra.

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On CNN, anchor Donna Kelley reports the latest allied air attacks, including one on Basra.

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Ali Baba is discovered. But just as things look grim, the 40 thieves rush in and, supported by a general uprising of Baghdad citizens, defeat the Mongol troops in a rousing sword fight.

The Khan ends up with a spear through his chest, a new flag is hoisted, and that is that.

If only today’s real Persian Gulf conflict were as uncomplicated, with the Arabs of Iraq seeing things through American eyes and, like those of Ali Baba’s world, rising up against the evil tyrant.

And if only war were as clean.

In the sealed-off realm of Hollywood’s Baghdad fantasy, opposing soldiers stab each other with their swords bloodlessly, as if killing and dying were precise and pristine. But on newscasts, we’re now seeing the casualties of actual war, whether twisted Arab bodies on both sides of the conflict or families of slain U.S. troops fighting back tears or Israelis in gas masks or a Baghdad woman raging at America.

An escapist movie is what you’d prefer these days. But the real world gives you bombs, not Ali Babas.