Thread by @ArmsControlWonk

Saudi Arabia got released some footage of "Iranian missiles in Yemen in 2017" that turned out to be "Saddam's missiles in Iraq from 2003" that someone stole from a documentary, #SevereClear A short thread on a wild story by @garymbaum in @THR.

The Saudis showed a satellite image of a port in Yemen where the claimed, followed by "secret" video showing the missiles. @miis_ford translated the slides.

The problem, as many online observers pointed out, is that the video of the missiles is taken from a documentary about the invasion of Iraq called "Severe Clear." The Saudis showed a brief excerpt three times; the full clip that I added shows the full clip with US soldiers.

This was really lazy, or contemptuous, on the part of the Saudis. First, you can just reverse image search a still and Google will tell you it is from the movie.

Second, the missiles are "Al Samud II" short-range ballistic missiles. The briefer doesn't really give you a good look, but the missiles in the video they show have the same access panels as the Al Samud II.

The gyroscope plate is also the same. You don't really need Sherlock Holmes here to do this identification. Iraq used a small number of these missiles in the 2003 Gulf War. I would be shocked if no one recognized their old friend.

Third, an analyst could have tried to gelocate the video at the port. The arrow in the slide points at one building that simply isn't a match at all. (below). Most of the other buildings are trashed; none are a good match for the roof, windows, etc.

All of which is to say, this video would have been easy to verify if someone had many any effort at all. My students in the @MIIS #OSINT course can do, and routinely do, much better. This was either very lazy or deeply contemptuous of public opinion.

So many typos.