Rose we conclude theening with a conversation with the commissioner of the nba adam silver. I would say thats when the pivots ive made is being someone who ran the business side of the league for a long time sort of the mantra around the league right now is the game above all. Meaning that we foe all these new platforms for exhibiting our games are fantastic, hd 4k, the ability to watch games on smart februaries and tablet its. But at the end of the day unless the game is compelling, fans arent going to continue to watch it. Remembering bob simon and a conversation with adam silver. When we continue. Funding for charlie rose is provided by the following rose additional funding provided by and by bloomberg, a provider of multimedia news and Information Services worldwide. Captioning sponsored by Rose Communications from our studios in new york city, this is charlie rose. Mon was a friend and colleague at cbs news. He spent five decades as a correspondent earning every award journalism has to offer including 27 emmies and four peabody awards. Bob was killed in a car crash in new york last night. He was 73. The executive producer of 60 minutes called him a reporters reporter driven by natural curiosity that took him all over the world covering every kind of story imaginable. There is no one else like bob simon. Jeff had it right. Earlier today on cbs this morning we reflected on his long and esteemed career as a colleague. As a globetrotting Foreign Correspondent bob simon cut a striking figure. His assignment thousands of them took him to farflung corners of the earth but it all began in vietnam. Were going to pick up an american. All we foe about him is that he is fire base andrews and that hes been hit by schrep nell. A war simon covered for much of the 1970s he was on one of the last American Helicopters out of saigon. President assads tough statement warning israel against military intervention was not taken at face value in jerusalem. Rose sigh machine was named chief middle eastern correspondent in cbs in 1987 reporting on conflict in the region for over 20 years. He witnessed egyptian president anwar sad at a first visit to jerusalem. Will miracles never see. Rose covered Prime Minister rabins assassination. Sadness beyond words. Rose and during the intefatah he and his crew captured a brutal beating of two plirn teens with the use of a telephoto lens. It was a powerful image of the conflict. This seemed cold deliberate methodical it went on for 40 minutes. Rose never one to shy away from war zones simon covered the opening days of the gulf war in 1991. But he ended up being part of the story when iraqi forces captured him and his threeman crew. For 40 days they were imprisoned beaten starved and threatened with death. He spoke about it with ed bradley. Has it changed you . Opinions yes. How . I dont know, too early to tell. Anyone who watched sigh machines work on 60 minutes and 60 minutes2 knew his range as a reporter. His skill with storytelling and the grace of his words. Before long the house became a makeshift conserve tore. He was the dean. Every room every corridor no matter how small or dark or stifling was teaming with sound. Rose he helped us understand the language of el fants. Within these fathersome noises are actually elephants greeting one another. Glad to see you. Cole a little closer. And took us back to the nuclear call agoity at fukushima. The disaster seems to have stopped time. The clock shows 2 46, the moment of earthquake hit. And the damage to shops and homes looks like it could have happened yesterday. Rose he showed us the world through the eyes of sudans lost boys. When they saw the villages burning they started running. Streams of boys became rivers. Hundreds became thousands until an exodus of biblical proportions was under way. And made us comprehend the enormity of the massacre in sleb sleb. Vb veb this is where the body are stored. A more fraction of the missing but more than anyplace on earth could handle. Rose through it all simon the winner of 27 emmies had a voice unlike anyone else. Bob simon came to this table five times tlae as a guest and twice he sat in my chair as anchor. Welcome to the broadcast. Im bob simon of cbs news sitting in this evening for charlie rose. Rose in 1992 he spoke to me about the 40 days he spent as a hostage during the persian gulf war. It was a day that you got up that morning and turned into the most extraordinary of your life. And what was going through your mind and why were you off the reservation. What was going through my mind . Not a whole legal hell of a lot. Rose it was not after a great Pulitzer Prize winning story. It was an ode day. It was a very routine day in fact. And it took a lot of reflection later on to realize just what an ode day it was. And we were just, we were doing what we never convinced the iraqis we were doing. Because they couldnt believe that journalists behave like that. They couldnt believe that western journalists just go off on their own. Which we werent supposed to do according to American Press restrictions. Rose one of the reasons you were doing it. I think we what have done it anyway. I mean there was something going on. We wanted to check on what was going on up north. We would have done it. It was the place to go. The action was north. It just so happened that we werent supposed to do it. And we did it anyway but even if we were allowed to do it, we still would have we werent doing out of spite. Rose you were doing also doing it because the number of wars you covered you were clearly perturbed about the fact that there was some effort to restrict you from following where you thought the story lead to. Perturbed not so much p perturbed, it was obvious that there was a cat and post game going on. And they were the cat and we were the mice. And this mouse got caught, to the by the cat. And we had done it a few days earlier. It was as soon as the air war began all our suspicions about how the pentagon planned to manage the press i think were confirmed. And a few days earlier my colleagues and i went up the coastal road north, on the border between saudi arabia and kuwait. And we just happened to cross some things that just happened not to have been reported by the Pentagon Press pools. For example that a large Saudi Oil Refinery was on fire because iraqi artillery had pummeled it. That an American Marine unit was under fire and was hurting. And the marines werent supposed to talk to us according to allied press reels because they were marines, they did. And also that some saudi defenders their tents were empty. They just werent there any more. And we brought that material back to the cbs bureau. And had what was in the context of that day a pretty good story. Because nobody else will it. Which was absolutely what, as you know, it is all about. And so we want back a couple of days later to just another part of the border. And it was that routine. We did onestory on friday. We were doing another on sunday. And the military traffic we passed as we were going from where the base was up to the border. The military traffic was a story in itself. And because we had never seen anything like it anywhere else ever it was as i wrote, i believe it wasnt a series of convoys, it was like one never ending convoy. And so we had quite a story in the can already. And then we just wanted to flesh it out a bit and just strolled across this border when our lives changed. When did you know i mean that this was going to be as harrowing as it turned out to be . I mean there must have been a time for a while in which you thought this will be i will be able to convince them that im a member of the press and they will understand. They will let me go. They will not believe im a spy. The other end of this is the notion that you obviously expressed in the book. That you thought i could rot away in a prison as a long timer and never again see my family. My body will be dumped somewhere and they wont know where i am. In the beginning. It was much later this is what the book is about. The book is about the progress from thinking i was still a reporter who could sweet talk his way out of a tough situation which we have all done so many times before. To thinking that i was either going to get killed pretty quick or rot away in an iraqi prison for the rest of my life. Rose when did it switch . When did you realize there was one sudden switch. Because in fact after the initial bruskness of getting caught and pummeled around a bit, we were for the next several hours treated quite well. We were taken to a bunker outside kuwait. And introduced to some very civil sophisticated englishspeaking iraqi officers who brought us tea and sympathy. And who were awfully nation nice fellows to chat to. This is when peter bluff my british colleague and pri convinced that we had been in stuff like this before. And it would take another couple of cups of tea cigarettes laughs and a couple of bad jokes. Rose and you would be on your way. Thats right. But then a couple hours after that they were beating the excuse my tendency for the vernacular, but they were beating us up badly in another place. And thats when, of course the initial when they start beating you up badly you realize that the game is up. Rose and what goes through your mind . I mean take us there, as hard as it is, the feelings that you are going through. I mean what it is you know. Well, this is something i try to write about and its difficult to explain. I try. But the most remarkable thing about getting beaten up badly and i thought it was just me but then i compared notes much later with other people who had experienced that other people who had been pows. And the remarkable thing that i experienced is that its not as bad as i thought it would be. And i dont recommend it. Its not fun. But after a while i realized that i would get through it. And i just hope that they would leave my eyes alone and other parts. And it hurt like hell. But what this book is about is about the big surprise. A series of surprises and what the surmises are is how incredibly adapted we are adapted and adaptable to deal with situations which we had never accepted. And in 40 days i just kept on discovering and not me bob simon but me human being just discovering things i never knew about resources i didnt know i had. Like what. Like getting beaten up. And i realized that in a sort of strange way my mind would retreat, and then come back. And my mind was was sort of synchronized with the blows. And my mind was smarter than their sticks were. And its tough to put into words. But i knew i knew if wouldnt break. Rose did you find things about yourself that you liked that you didnt know were there . Yeah, but again not so much as bob simon but as a guy. Just things that i meaned one thing you discover real quick is this implabling implacable will to survive that had nefern been put really to the test with me before. And driven by the love of your family. Driven by i dont know i dont think so in fact. I think that might be sentimental. I think driven by this biological will to survive that is just more powerful than you can experience, that anyone does experience until they are really up against it. And then you just you know its there. Its not like you have to do anything. Its there and it works. Rose worst moment was when . You know, i dont know. Im asked that sometimes. But there were several worst there were a whole bunch of worst moments. Certainly the first time they formally accused me of being a spy. That was something i could get through. What you are up against in an experience like this arent bad moments like getting spat upon or called dirty names. But stuff that tough that you know could either end your life or seriously crip tell. Rose roll tape. This is you in Baghdad Hotel right after you came back. I went through and i cant find the words for this because regret is not a Strong Enough word. Might not be a Strong Enough word before the pain i know i caused pie loved ones i will try to make up for it in every way i can. And i thank gord god that the four of us are alive. Rose you really said to yourself how could i have done this to my family . How could i have put them through this . Did you think about that every day . Oh sure. Sure. When are you asked what the worst moment was t wasnt a moment but because it was constant and what that was was the idea that they were going to kill me. And i got to a point where i could deal with that in terms of their killing me. Rose how could you get to a point . You just do. What i never got to the point of accepting was the notion that what could very well happen was they were going to off me i knew that they didnt admit that they had us. So i could just be disappeared. And my family never would have known there wouldnt have been a body. There wouldnt have been a trace. Rose interesting, that is exactly what Political Prisoners say. It is, that is why they talk about human rights activities on their behalf makes a difference. They worry most of all i talked to a number of them from this and other broadcasts, nobody will know if they kill me. Nobody knows im here. And no one will know if they take me somewhere. Thats the ultimate fear. Well what you are telling me is another example of this club we belong to where, were not aware of. But there is this sure you are going through this experience and others will say very similar things because yeah that was it. I mean i could just picture my wife and my daughter not knowing never knowing what had happened. And i had spent a lot of time over the years with the families of the missing from vietnam doing stories about them. And i know that this these are people who are haunted day in and day out. Rose how has it changed you in terms of coverage . You had on what looked like military khakies. Yeah, well i mean, a year later if we cant laugh about it a bit there was to point in surviving. I will have to make sure to gefer never get captured again because that would be in very poor taste. Rose yes, but how i dont think an experience i dont think i have changed much. Rose does your wife think youve changed . No, not really. Just as bad as i always was. Rose thats right. Unfortunately she says he didnt change. But i mean i mean you know, you go into this business because its something about a big story that is more exciting than anything else. And sometimes a big story is a war and sometimes its not. I still want to be where the big story is. Rose and you want to be in the middle east. Sure. Rose good to have you 40 days by bob simon. Pleasure. Bob served as cbs news mideast correspondent and lived in israel for many years. He talked about the israelipalestinian conflict and its affect on the people there in 2009. Tell me what you did and what conclusions you have come to. Well while the gaza theater was lit up our executive producer had the intelligent idea of sending us to the west bank which wasnt getting any attention at all. But the west bank is the main battlefront the main theater for the israelipalestinian conflict. And when we were going there to see is whether, in fact peace was possible or whether history had passed peace by. The solution for the west bank problem the west bank israel problem has always been or has been for many many decades now, a twostate solution. Israel on one side Palestine West Bank on the other side. And the question was whether this is still possible or whether its just inconceivable by now. Rose and you think what . I think history has passed it by. I think mainly because the israelis have sent so many settlers, so many jewish israeli settler to the west bank there are now close to 300,000 of them that removing these settlers which has to be done through. Rose politically not viable. Is not politically viable. And is not militarily viable. The radical settlers are convinced that if the army would ever be september in to evacuate settlers, first of all the government would fall within a day, which i think is probably true. And second, if the army wept in, so many of the soldiers now are religious guys that the army would break apart. Rose but would it have been and this is not fair and it is an unfair question and cant be answered. But nevertheless suppose it was Prime Minister rabin or Prime Minister sharon, a different answer . I was so sentimentally attached to Prime Minister rabin that i think that anything might have been possible with rabin which was why he was killed. Rose you used to live in tel aviv, did you not . Yes. Rose so of all your friends in israel where you lived for how many years . Oh, all together, more than ten. Rose so for all your friends there, if you would say to them would you say to them the building of the settlements in the west bank was a bad idea and not in your interest . They would say of course and change the topic of conversation. Rose i dont understand. In places like tel aviv where just about every one is for peace and again settlements, the irony is when you go to a dinner party in tel aviv everything is discussed except politics. Family, friend movies theater music everything. Vacations tuscany. You name it. Its discussed. But not the politics of the situation. Rose because theyre just tired of it or because they know theres no light at the end of the tunnel . Because theyre tired of it and because theyre in a state of denial. Theyre living a very good life. Life in tel aviv is a wonderful life. They dont want to be bothered with these questions that dont really have an answer. Rose one month after 9 11 he joined me again for a conversation about how that event had changed the world. I get very nervous when i hear the rhetoric of the washington about winning the war on terrorism about victory. I understand the need for rhetoric in times like this. But i think it raises false expectations. I dont know of anyone who has won a war against terrorism. The israelis who are so much better equipped at this point to fight it than we are, who are perfectly prepared to use draconian measures which we havent begun to imagine yet and have infiltrated every terrorist organization which fights them which bombs them they cant make it stop. There were 32 suicide bombers against israeli in the last year. The british have been trying to get it out of Northern Ireland now since 1969. No way. The french who systemically use torture to eliminate the Liberation Movement against french rule. Rose in algeria. In algeria in 1957. They won the battle of algiers by torturing everyone they caught and getting all the information they had. And they incidentally had a cell structure which is very similar to what