Mayday - Ep 8. Operation Magic Carpet
Intrigue
BBC
4.6 • 4.6K Ratings
🗓️ 9 November 2020
⏱️ 24 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
“I had to do it because my colleagues faced death.” Now the rescuers need saving.
When James Le Mesurier fell to his death in Turkey in 2019 he left behind a tangle of truths and lies. Mayday tells the extraordinary real story of the man who organised the White Helmets – rescuers who film themselves pulling survivors from bombed out buildings in rebel-held areas of Syria – and investigates claims that, far from being heroes, they are part of a very elaborate hoax. James Le Mesurier – his detractors say – was a British secret agent, pulling the strings. So when his body was found by worshippers on their way to morning prayers, there were a lot questions.
Produced, written and presented by: Chloe Hadjimatheou Editor: Emma Rippon Researcher: Tom Wright Mixed by: Neil Churchill Arabic translation and additional research: Vanessa Bowles, Abdul Kader Habak Turkish researcher: Nevin Sungur Narrative Consultant: John Yorke Original music: Nick Mundy and Bu Kolthoum Production Coordinator - Gemma Ashman
REFERENCES
* Abdulhadi video – Syria’s White Helmets: Mask of Terror report. Anna News Agency Documentary, January 5th, 2017 Uploaded to Daily Motion by Sayed Hasan
ARCHIVE TRUMP WITHDRAWAL: Press conference April 3rd 2018 – Source Reuters via The Washington Post website
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Just before this BBC podcast gets underway, here's something you may not know. |
| 0:04.6 | My name's Linda Davies and I Commission Podcasts for BBC Sounds. |
| 0:08.4 | As you'd expect, at the BBC we make podcasts of the very highest quality featuring the most knowledgeable |
| 0:14.3 | experts and genuinely engaging voices. What you may not know is that the BBC |
| 0:20.4 | makes podcasts about all kinds of things like pop stars, |
| 0:24.6 | poltergeist, cricket, and conspiracy theories and that's just a few examples. |
| 0:29.7 | If you'd like to discover something a little bit unexpected, |
| 0:33.1 | find your next podcast over at BBC Sounds. |
| 0:36.1 | BBC Sounds. BBC Sounds, music radio podcasts. |
| 0:41.1 | There you can be. podcasts. My name is Abbe Hadi Keb. My name is Abdi Keb. My father is Ahmed. I'm 26. I have worked as a white helmet since May 2013. At first I thought |
| 0:57.2 | we were going to help civilians. This is a confession video broadcast on a Russian language news channel. |
| 1:06.4 | Abdul Hardy was a young white helmet in East Aleppo when at the end of 2016 the Syrian |
| 1:12.1 | army took back control of the city. |
| 1:16.2 | He and the other white helmets abandoned their centre and fled. |
| 1:20.0 | But before Abdul Hardy could reach safety, Syrian government forces stopped his vehicle and took him away. |
| 1:27.0 | Abdul Had, I know him, we were together in the center in alibou city for friends. |
| 1:34.0 | Ismale Abdullah is another white helmet. |
| 1:37.0 | He's still working in the rebel-held area of Idlib. |
| 1:40.0 | We heard from him back in episode 3. |
| 1:42.0 | No one can imagine this feeling when we saw him in the TV. |
| 1:46.0 | First thing from his face we knew that he was tortured. |
| 1:51.0 | He was in bad conditions. |
... |
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