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BONUS: The Untold Story of SAS Operations in Afghanistan
In 2017, reports emerged that Britain’s Special Air Service - the country’s most celebrated regiment - was being investigated over allegations that its soldiers had executed scores of captives in Afghanistan. These accusations led to a damaging shift in perceptions of the armed forces, with soldiers widely castigated as war criminals.
But Daily Mail Defence Editor Mark Nicol argues these reports misrepresented the reality of operations in Afghanistan, and the impossible position the SAS was put in.
His new book, Blades: The Untold Story of SAS Operations in Afghanistan, lifts the lid on what really happened and details why he believes Britain’s most elite soldiers were failed by their government.
Mark joins host Chris Pleasance to reveal what he’s uncovered, and the troubling questions his investigation raises about the state of Britain’s armed forces.
Host: Chris Pleasance
Producer: William Colledge
Executive Producer: Joseph Luke Palmer
Follow the work of the Daily Mail's award-winning Deep Dive team by clicking here: https://www.dailymail.com/news/deep-dive/index.html
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42. A Deal with the Devil? Inside Trump and Putin’s Diesel Pact
38:50||Ep. 42Donald Trump caught the world’s press by surprise last week, announcing a shock diesel deal with Russia after a phone call with Vladimir Putin meant to be about a suspected plague outbreak in Siberia.In a Truth Social post, the President promised that 300,000 tonnes of highly coveted diesel would immediately enter global markets, with a further 4.5 million mooted for release in time.Reaction to the deal at home and abroad has been far from enthusiastic. Six senators, four of them Republicans, demanded it be immediately reversed. Volodymyr Zelenskyy branded it a ‘weak decision’, and in the Mail on Sunday, Trump admirer Boris Johnson described the President’s behaviour as ‘sickening’.With the backlash still coming thick and fast, we ask: is the deal worth it? Will cheaper diesel actually help Republicans at the ballot box? And how do Ukrainians feel about their biggest backer bankrolling their enemy?To answer these questions, Chris Pleasance is joined by Chief Foreign Correspondent Andy Jehring, just back in London from Ukraine, and White House Correspondent Jon Michael Raasch.Host: Chris PleasanceProducer: William ColledgeExecutive Producer: Joseph Luke PalmerFollow the work of the Daily Mail's award-winning Deep Dive team by clicking here: https://www.dailymail.com/news/deep-dive/index.html
40. Will Netanyahu Win Again? Israel's Election and Our Exclusive Interview
42:25||Ep. 40With Israel three weeks from one of the most consequential elections in its history, the Daily Mail's Middle East Correspondent Natalie Lisbona has secured an exclusive interview with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.Can the great survivor of Israeli politics triumph once again? And why has he compared Burnham's Britain to a 'rogue state'?Chris Pleasance is joined by Natalie to discuss her interview, along with i24NEWS Diplomatic Correspondent Guy Azriel, to explain what's at stake in this election after three years of war.Host: Chris PleasanceEditor: Buddy PeaceExecutive Producer: Joseph Luke PalmerFollow the work of the Daily Mail's award-winning Deep Dive team by clicking here: https://www.dailymail.com/news/deep-dive/index.html
39. Massacre on Camera: What Iran's Regime Didn't Want the World to See
37:19||Ep. 39This episode contains distressing descriptions and audio of violence.For more than eight hours, the crimes Iran's regime tried to hide from the world play out, unfiltered.Snipers aim at protesters' heads and pull the trigger. Machine-gun fire rips through the crowds. Teenagers cower indoors as armed paramilitaries maraud outside, wounded friends bleeding out in their arms. Bodies are left where they fall.These are just some of the scenes in This Is Our Story, a new four-part documentary from London-based Iranian opposition channel Manoto. Built from more than 2,000 videos smuggled out of Iran, it charts the nationwide protests that erupted on December 28 last year over a collapsing currency, and the regime's brutal response, culminating on January 8 and 9, when it cut the internet and opened fire on its own people. Doctors on the ground estimate as many as 30,000 were killed.On this episode of Deep Dive, Chief Foreign Correspondent Andrew Jehring and Middle East Correspondent Natalie Lisbona, who were given exclusive early access to the film, join host Chris Pleasance to reveal who the victims really were and what the footage tells us about a regime that barely clings to power.Host: Chris PleasanceEditor: Buddy PeaceExecutive Producer: Joseph Luke PalmerFollow the work of the Daily Mail's award-winning Deep Dive team by clicking here: https://www.dailymail.com/news/deep-dive/index.html
38. Are We Sleepwalking into a Global Energy Catastrophe?
39:51||Ep. 38The largest drone attack ever launched on Moscow. That's how the city's mayor, Sergei Sobyanin, described Ukraine's overnight assault on Saturday, which left one of Russia's largest oil refineries in flames. Volodymyr Zelensky hailed it as a blow to the billions of petrodollars fuelling Russia's war machine.Donald Trump was less jubilant. He reportedly rang his Ukrainian counterpart to urge him to stop hitting Russia's refineries. With the midterms six weeks away, the President is acutely aware that the world's energy supply is already under enormous strain.The Strait of Hormuz remains in Iran's grip, Iran-backed Houthi rebels have overrun one of Saudi Arabia's last escape routes for its oil, and American diesel has hit a record $6.51 a gallon.How bad could this get? Defence Editor Mark Nicol and financial journalist Simon Lambert join host Chris Pleasance to ask what it means for America's economy as voters head to the polls, what it means for your bills this winter, and whether there's any respite in sight.Host: Chris PleasanceEditor: Buddy PeaceExecutive Producer: Joseph Luke PalmerFollow the work of the Daily Mail's award-winning Deep Dive team by clicking here: https://www.dailymail.com/news/deep-dive/index.html
37. Falklands Furore: Can Britain Still Defend the Islands?
34:20||Ep. 37'Las Malvinas son Argentinas' - the Falklands are Argentine - read the banner paraded by Argentina's World Cup stars after they knocked England out in July's 2-1 semi-final.It's a slogan that usually falls on deaf ears outside Buenos Aires. But not this summer.In early September, Donald Trump hinted the US could abandon its neutrality over the islands. Days later, Argentina's president and Trump ally Javier Milei vowed in a televised address to 'recover' the Falklands and threatened sanctions on oil firms drilling nearby, before Israeli minister Itamar Ben-Gvir urged Benjamin Netanyahu to back Argentina's claim.On this episode of Deep Dive, the Daily Mail's Defence Editor Mark Nicol joins host Chris Pleasance to ask why, 44 years after the Falklands War, Britain's claim is back under scrutiny - and whether we still have the political will and military firepower to defend the archipelago.Host: Chris PleasanceEditor: Buddy PeaceExecutive Producer: Joseph Luke PalmerFollow the work of the Daily Mail's award-winning Deep Dive team by clicking here: https://www.dailymail.com/news/deep-dive/index.html
36. The Daily Mail Remembers: 9/11
01:10:31||Ep. 36'It was obvious in that moment that everything had changed, the world had changed.'To mark 25 years since 9/11, Deep Dive brings together three of the Daily Mail's most experienced reporters, all of whom covered the terror attacks and their aftermath: former US Correspondent Sarah Chalmers, former Chief Crime Correspondent Stephen Wright and former Chief Reporter David Williams.Each provides memories and analysis of the tragedy from a unique vantage point. Sarah was the only Mail journalist on the ground as the attacks unfolded, experiencing events first-hand. Stephen was sent to New York days later, on the first direct flight from Heathrow. As a crime reporter, his career would be profoundly shaped by the era of terrorism 9/11 ushered in.David was one of the leading figures in the London newsroom that day, writing as they say, the first draft of history. He went on to spend four months in Afghanistan covering the US-led invasion, as coalition forces began the hunt for Osama bin Laden.Together with host Chris Pleasance, they reflect on how the events of September 11, 2001 shaped the world we live in today.Host: Chris PleasanceEditor: Buddy PeaceProducer: Sally McLennanExecutive Producer: Joseph Luke Palmer
35. Minute by Minute: 9/11
20:04||Ep. 35It's 4am on September 11, 2001.In a room at the Comfort Inn in South Portland, Maine, Egyptian-born Mohamed Atta is preparing to check out. He has a plane to catch. In his luggage he puts a copy of the Koran, a folding knife, pepper spray and a videotape on how to fly Boeing jets.Two hours later, a thousand miles away in Florida, President George W. Bush is having an early morning run in the dark around a golf course, followed by his team of Secret Service agents. He is due to meet children and parents at a nearby elementary school.Later that morning, in New York, Stephen Mulderry makes his way through the metropolis to the World Trade Centre, where he works as an equity trader. He's one of the 50,000 workers who occupy the famous Twin Towers on any given day.Within hours, the world will have changed.In extraordinary detail, Minute by Minute: 9/11 reconstructs the deadliest day in modern American history: from the 1993 car bomb beneath the towers that proved the deadly dress rehearsal, to the hijacking of the four planes, the passengers of Flight 93 who fought back, and the heroism of the largest rescue effort in the city's history.Narrated by legendary broadcaster Michael Buerk, the Daily Mail brings you the definitive account of September 11, 2001 - 25 years on.Host: Michael BuerkProducer: John RogersSound Design: John ScottExecutive Producer: Joseph Luke Palmer
34. Burnham Faces Parliament: Is the Honeymoon Over?
32:47||Ep. 34Prime Minister Andy Burnham would have wanted the summer to go on forever. Since taking office in late July, Labour has enjoyed a bump in the polls amid a flurry of feel-good policies and glossy social media videos.But discounted bus fares and collaborations with TikTok influencers can only get you so far when the country faces one of the bleakest economic outlooks in decades. Based on current borrowing trends, experts warn the UK is staring at a sobering £14 billion black hole ahead of Burnham's first Budget in October.Now, a full six weeks into the job, the new Prime Minister has finally faced Parliament - delivering his first statement to the Commons and taking on his inaugural PMQs.So, how did he do? And what does it tell us about the sort of Prime Minister he'll be? Fresh from Burnham's head-to-head with Kemi Badenoch, Political Editor James Tapsfield joins Chris Pleasance to break down the new PM's first proper taste of scrutiny. Host: Chris PleasanceEditor: Buddy PeaceExecutive Producer: Joseph Luke PalmerFollow the work of the Daily Mail's award-winning Deep Dive team by clicking here: https://www.dailymail.com/news/deep-dive/index.html