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Iraq

33 years later: story behind British people turned into human shields by Saddam Hussein

2023-11-21

[Shafaq News] Sky Documentaries has commissioned documentary feature, Flight 149 (w/t) from Drum Studios.

The film will explore the dramatic moment when the passengers of BA Flight 149 were taken hostage.

On 2nd August 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait. Hours later, BA Flight 149 from London lands in Kuwait City for a scheduled stop with over 385 men, women and kiddies on board. With Kuwait City under occupation, Saddam Hussein broadcasts to the world that the passengers of the plane are now his ’guests’ and are not allowed to leave. They are held as human shields in military and chemical plants across Iraq in a rapidly escalating international crisis.

Over the next five months, a tense hostage story unfolds with the world watching. It coincides with a pivotal moment in geopolitical history that will change the West’s relationship with the Middle East forever. The hostages become pawns caught up with a ruthless dictator, a plane full of spies, a British government cover-up and unexpected involvement from Richard Branson.

During their time in captivity, the hostages endure near starvation, mock executions, rape and a constant fear of never making it home.

Thirty-three years later, a group of those hostages are now taking the British government and BA to court in their search for justice and the truth. Why was the plane allowed to land in the first place? What secret is the British government still determined to hide? Will they ever find closure to their horrific ordeal?

This film will feature testimony from all sides of the story — including the hostages themselves, politicians from both sides of the Atlantic and the men and women from the Kuwaiti resistance who risked their lives to hide the hostages. For the first time, we will hear from people who knew Saddam Hussein. They will offer a unique insight into the psychology of the dictator at this sliding door moment in his relationship with the West.

Posted by:trailing wife

#4 Most likely an extraction mission gone horribly wrong. I believe some 600 Kuwaitis were taken to Baghdad and were never seen again. Later termed "The Missing."

Posted by: Besoeker 2023-11-21 08:23

#3 The plane was the 'Trojan Horse', and the plan - as well as the horrific, traumatic consequences for the civilian passengers - has been lied about, denied and covered up by successive British Governments ever since.

I'm inclined to think - and this is strictly IMHO - that any author who believes a professional intelligence service would use the name 'Trojan Horse' for a plan like this shouldn't be allowed out without a keeper.

Mike

Posted by: MikeKozlowski 2023-11-21 07:46

On 1 August, 1990, British Airways Flight 149 departed from Heathrow airport, destined for Kuala Lumpur. It never made it there, and neither did its nearly 400 passengers. Instead, Flight 149 stopped to refuel in Kuwait, as Iraqi troops amassed on the border - delivering the passengers and crew into the hands of Saddam Hussein and the Iraqi army, to be used as 'human shields' during their invasion. Why did BA flight 149 proceed with plans to refuel in Kuwait City, even as all other flights were rerouted - and even though British and American governments had clear intelligence that Saddam was about to invade? The answer lies in an exchange of favours at the highest echelons of government, and a secret, unaccountable organization - authorised by Margaret Thatcher - carrying out a 'deniable' intelligence operation to sneak in a group of intelligence offers into Kuwait aboard the flight. The plane was the 'Trojan Horse', and the plan - as well as the horrific, traumatic consequences for the civilian passengers - has been lied about, denied and covered up by successive British Governments ever since. Soon to be a major TV drama, this explosive book is written with the full cooperation of the survivors, as well as astonishing and conclusive input from a senior intelligence source. It is a story of scandal, betrayal and misuse of intelligence at the highest levels of UK and US governments - which has had direct, horrifying impact on terror attacks in the West and the shape of the Middle East today. It is high time the truth is told.

Posted by: Besoeker 2023-11-21 07:27

#1 testimony from all sides of the story

It is unlikely any operational covert assets, scheduled for infiltration, will be surfacing.

Posted by: Skidmark 2023-11-21 07:18

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