Saddam Hussein's "Human Shields": London Apologizes 30 Years Later
Iraqi President Saddam Hussein on national television with a 6-year-old Briton, to threaten the West through the treatment of hundreds of British and American hostages, on August 23, 1990 in Baghdad.
© AFP - IRAQI TV
Text by: RFI Follow
2 min
The British government apologized on Tuesday 23 November in the case of British Airways passengers taken hostage and used as human shields by Saddam Hussein in 1990.
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“
As the current Minister, I apologize to the House and express my deepest sympathy to those who have been detained and abused,
” Foreign Minister Liz Truss told the British Parliament.
Let us recall the facts.
From London and bound for Kuala Lumpur, flight BA149 made a stopover in Kuwait City on August 2, 1990. That is to say a few hours after the Iraqi invasion which then led to the Gulf War.
All the passengers had been gathered for several days in a nearby hotel, run by the Iraqi general staff, then transferred to Baghdad, and finally used as “human shields” at strategic sites.
Among the 367 passengers and crew on the flight, some spent more than four months in captivity, placed on potential targets for the Western coalition.
"Unacceptable breach"
For three decades, the ex-hostages had sought to know exactly what information the British government had, asking it to take responsibility. On Tuesday, the chief diplomat assured that the British ambassador to Kuwait had informed London of an invasion Iraqi woman around midnight on August 2, 1990. In other words, after the plane left. However, no warning message was sent to British Airways, which could have hijacked the plane. "
The appeal [of the ambassador] has never been disclosed or publicly acknowledged until today
", neither to "
Parliament, nor to the public
", admitted Liz Truss, deeming "
this failure unacceptable
".
Liz Truss, however, has dismissed accusations in a UK book
Operation Trojan Horse
that the government used the flight - officially delayed by two hours for "
technical issues
" - to deploy nine intelligence officials to Kuwait. , despite the risk to civilians. According to its author, Stephen Davis, London had received American intelligence announcing the Iraqi invasion.
Barry Manners, a 55-year-old ex-hostage, said he refused the apology from the government, which he too accuses of lying about British agents.
"
Who the hell were they then?"
Members of a rugby team?
he blasted, quoted by AFP.
It was enough to look at them, I know they were soldiers.
"
The airline, accused of negligence and concealment, was delighted that "
these documents confirm that British Airways had not been warned of the invasion
".
►
To read also: Thirty years later, the Gulf War is still debating between Iraq and Kuwait
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