Great thread and very interesting. I wouldn't want to go myself under any circumstance but glad you made it without mishap.
23 years ago today.
367 people boarded a British Airways 747 en route to KL.
Every other airline diverted from stopping in Kuwait before the BA flight landed there. BA was carrying British military personnel and we ended up being taken hostage by the Iraqis.
I ended up in a hot squalid, feckin room for over 4 months waiting to be executed or bombed.
Yes, I'm still a bit pissed off by the experience. Never had an apology, explanation or compensation beyond a £200 quid ex gratia payment to get me out the airport when we were released.
www.facebook.com/BritishAirways149IraqHostages
Last edited by Lostandfound; 01-08-2013 at 06:00 PM.
Great thread
Wow, L&F. I remember you telling me this in a PM a while back. There's nothing I could say to you to make anything any better. That's really scummy of BA and everyone else who should have shown some human decency.
No shit!Originally Posted by Lostandfound
I guess you just have to focus on the fact that things could have been a lot worse and try and take something positive out of what was a very shitty and unpleasant experience. And that's putting it mildly!
What don't kill you and all that.
I'm sure it was traumatic, and I don't wish to lesson your bad experience, but to put things in perspective,
3-4 months? you "carry it around with you for life"?
You fucking crybaby.
Were you tortured?
My father and grandparent were held 3 fucking YEARS in SEPERATE prison camps in Indonesia by the very cruel Japs. I won't go into detail but THAT is life changing. THAT is what you carry around with you for life.
Get over yourself.
“If we stop testing right now we’d have very few cases, if any.” Donald J Trump.
I have perfect perspective on it. The worst thing that happened was a gun at my temple and the guard discharging it behind my right ear.
I agree that its nothing compared to years in a Jap POW camp. Maybe you should be locked up for a few months whilst complete strangers wonder whether to string you up or ransom you to find out the difference for youreself.
Maybe I was a cnut before I went there, who knows. I did have to retire early from my UK business employing 80 odd people (selling it) because try as hard as I might, I couldn't deal with employees with the degree of sympathy that it now demanded by UK legislation.
So yes - it's cost me a fair bit and I'm still pissed off about it.
On a more positive note, Lord King, Thatcher and Saddam are all dead.
Lost and Found,
Great thread, great pics, and a moving story of your time there in 1990.
Great thread.
Interesting thread and pics, cheers for sharing.
So it turns out that tbe British Embassy official in charge of military intel in Kuwait warned British Airways in a half hour briefing that an invasion was imminent and any flight landing after midnight might be trapped. We landed at c3am. The pilot, Richard Brunyate now revealed as an MI6 asset. I saw the "deniable" soldiers board and exit. We were delayed at Heathrow so they could rush down from Hereford.
the BA station manager of the Kuwait backwater later landed a plum job at IATA in Switzerland.
I had lunch with Tony Paice at the press conference on Monday. He wanted to come clean about it.
BA flight 149: Was it on a secret '''military intelligence mission'''? - BBC News
^ I read the interesting story about the book some 3 weeks ago, did not dare to mention it. The source I read presents the story much more detailed, seems that it is almost a full excerpt from the book issued 1 month ago.
How the BBC story is believable, not sure, I do not want to waste my time when seeing the first picture description:
The book - and the excerpt I read - says something different:After the crew and passengers had disembarked, the aircraft was destroyed on the runway
Same is stipulated in the Wiki:The BA 747 was destroyed by US fighter planes at the request of the British. Was this to hide the embarrassment of an ‘own goal’ or was it to cover up something else?
British Airways Flight 149 - WikipediaThe empty aircraft, which had remained at Kuwait International Airport throughout the war, was destroyed on the ground by an aircraft attack during the latter stages of the conflict; the destruction may have been an intentional act of the US military to prevent its capture.[1] Alternatively, the aircraft may have been destroyed by Iraqi ground forces during their withdrawal from Kuwait.[2] As a consequence of its destruction, British Airways was able to collect on the airliner's insurance.[1] Two of the aircraft's landing gears were salvaged and are displayed at Waterside, British Airways' headquarters.
^Here is a better account of the latest book describing the flight, a good reading.
Saddam Hussein used its passengers as human shields. Now a damning new book by a top investigative journalist asks: Was Flight 149 allowed to land in a war zone because it was carrying a secret squad of British Special Forces? - Scoopy Web
The reader can think for himself who made use of the "human shield"...
Another "blatent" example what is the difference between conspiracy theory and the truth. In this case the difference is 30 years... (but who cares after 30 years?)
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