Who dares wins, retorts SAS hero ‘called a mutineer’ by top brass
A FORMER SAS soldier who was decorated for his role in countering an Islamist terrorist attack in Kenya has claimed that senior army officers accused him of possessing a “mutineer attitude”.
Christian Craighead, previously a SAS warrant officer, said members of the top brass believed he set a bad example to younger soldiers by not asking permission to rescue hostages during an armed assault that left 22 civilians dead.
The special forces soldier was awarded the Conspicuous Gallantry Cross for the bravery he displayed during the attack at the Dusit D2 Hotel complex in the Kenyan capital Nairobi in January 2019.
But the 48-year-old war hero has since revealed that Foreign Office mandarins were planning to make him a scapegoat if his one-man rescue operation failed.
In a post on Instagram, the ex-soldier wrote: “A senior member of the British military said Christian Craighead is a bad example to young soldiers because his mutineer attitude promotes lawlessness in the military.
“I’ve also heard of people in the Foreign Office saying Craighead should not have done that thing in Kenya.”
He added that despite having many supporters in the Foreign Office, some senior staff felt he should not have undertaken the rescue mission in case he was unsuccessful.
“If I had failed… I would have been a scapegoat,” he said.
“The last time I checked the motto of the SAS was ‘Who Dares Wins’ – not ‘Who Asks For Permission Wins’. People need to remember that.”
Mr Craighead also revealed that his gallantry award was presented by a civil servant instead of the late Queen because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
He said plans for the then sovereign to present the medal were cancelled because of the need to “flatten the curve” of infection rates.
Mr Craighead said: “In 2021, I was handed the medal in its box by a civil servant in his modest St. James Park office.
“Without design, receiving the medal in this unceremonious manner was probably more fitting, with my outlook on life.
“On that day in 2019 it was never about getting a medal. It was about stepping up, doing the right thing and getting the job done,” he added.
Mr Craighead, who joined the military at the age of 16 and served for 28 years, was off duty when he learnt that the hotel complex was under attack.
His actions were captured on live TV as he dashed in and out of the hotel, wearing civilian clothes and body armour and armed with an assault rifle, pistol and knife.
Mr Craighead single-handedly rescued at least 20 civilians and shot dead five members of the al-Shabaab terrorist group over the course of the rescue.
His bravery received global praise, and images of the former soldier repeatedly entering the hotel complex and rescuing civilians were published in newspapers across the world.
Mr Craighead had hoped to write a book about his exploits in Kenya but
‘The motto of the SAS is not who asks for permission wins. People need to remember that’
was refused permission by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) on the grounds that his account posed a threat to SAS operational security.
His memoir One Man In was originally purchased by publisher Simon & Schuster on the assumption there would be no objection by the MoD because his involvement in the rescue was so widely known.
Mr Craighead claimed in the High Court that the ban, which was imposed by the Defence Secretary, was a breach of his right to freedom of expression.
But Mrs Justice Steyn ruled that protecting the SAS’s tradecraft secrets in the interest of the public and national security overrode Mr Craighead’s right to freedom of speech.
The Foreign Office and MoD declined to comment.