Hostages of Saddam Hussein: Flight 149
Warfare
History Hit
4.5 • 943 Ratings
🗓️ 11 February 2022
⏱️ 42 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Imagine jetting off on holiday only to land in a warzone and get taken hostage by Saddam Hussein. It might sound far-fetched, but in 1990 that's exactly the fate that awaited the passengers and crew of British Airlines Flight 149. What followed has been called the most shocking government cover-up of the last thirty years. This week James is joined by journalist Stephen Davis, who has investigated the story for three decades and authored a book and new podcast on the lies, spies and ruined lives of that fated flight.
The Secret History of Flight 149 is available to listen on Apple Podcasts and Spotify
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello everyone I'm your host James Rogers and welcome back to warfare a |
| 0:03.3 | podcast which we say is on the front line of military history we bring you |
| 0:07.2 | brand new cutting-edge military histories from all around the world and look |
| 0:11.8 | back through our back catalog of over 200 episodes. |
| 0:15.0 | You're going to find something you love and as I always say if you think we're |
| 0:18.2 | missing something getting contact directly really keen to hear what you want to hear. |
| 0:23.6 | So drop us an email on warfare at historyhit.com. |
| 0:26.6 | Been loving the suggestions coming in recently. |
| 0:29.5 | We're talking about everything from wars in Guatemala, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, all truly around the world. |
| 0:39.3 | So please do, keep them coming in. |
| 0:41.0 | Now this podcast, these topics are always something which I find |
| 0:46.0 | fascinating. I'm fascinated by the history of war. It's why I do this. But this one is particularly |
| 0:50.7 | close to my heart because for the last two years I've been working with the |
| 0:54.3 | United Nations on the wrongful shooting down and hijacking of civilian flights. |
| 0:59.8 | In essence I've been working on the ways in which civilian flights that we all fly on all around the world can be embroiled in conflict. |
| 1:07.0 | So when I heard that Stephen Davis was writing a book and a new podcast on British Airways flight 149, we had to get him on to talk about it. |
| 1:15.8 | Now, I'm careful not to give too much away about this topic. Stephen, based upon his 30 years |
| 1:21.1 | of working with the families, his research as a journalist, since a moment it happened will tell you so much more about it |
| 1:26.6 | in a far better way than I ever can. But due to the fact we talk about the hijacking of this plane, |
| 1:32.3 | the handing over of prisoners to Saddam Hussein during the First Gulf War. |
| 1:36.5 | Well, due to the nature of this topic, we talk about beatings, torture, mock executions, and rape. |
| 1:43.2 | And so therefore I have to warn you about that. |
... |
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