I completely agree with "when the two possible explanations for something are either a conspiracy or a c*ck-up, it's almost always the latter".
But when there are numerous reports from both passengers and cabin crew that a number (ten, by most accounts) of young men were taken off the aircraft before anyone else, it starts to look like the c*ck-up was thinking that they could get the aircraft out again before the Iraqis arrived.
The second c*ck-up is pretending it didn't happen.
Passenger quote
Who on earth were they, then? Members of a rugby team?
“These were serious guys, you only had to look at them.
“I’m absolutely gobsmacked. I know what I saw going on with that plane. I know they were soldiers.”
This is not a "conspiracy theory". It's a valid conjecture. What would *you* do given one last chance to get some surveillance on the ground?