British peace activists to act as human shields for Baghdad

Daily Telegraph ^ | September 9, 2002 | Adam Lusher

[zapiks44]

British peace protesters plan to go to Baghdad to act as voluntary "human shields" during a war against Iraq.

The activists, who have received President Saddam Hussein's blessing for the mission, want to try to deter attacks by "showing solidarity" with the Iraqi people and witnessing "their suffering".

They are willing to risk their lives in the hope that their presence at installations such as power stations might deter American and British bombing raids.

The "Iraq peace team", from the group Voices in the Wilderness, intends to go to Iraq as early as this month alongside volunteers from the United States.

One of the British volunteers, Matt Barr, 21, a student from Chichester, West Sussex, said: "Obviously, it's unpleasant to consider that you could be killed, but it is important to extend the arm of solidarity and brotherhood to a nation that is suffering - to bear witness to what is happening to the ordinary people."

He added: "I believe in the sanctity of human life. I have dedicated the last five years of my life to human rights. If there is a major attack on Iraq it is the innocent civilians who are going to suffer. That is something I cannot stand by and let happen."

Voices in the Wilderness, founded in Britain in 1998, grew out of the peace protests during the Gulf war, when British activists camped in the desert on the Iraqi border.

The group's website admits that members are involved in breaking "criminal" international sanctions against Baghdad. It says they "risk persecution and imprisonment" in doing so.

The "peace team" idea has been welcomed by the Iraqi regime. Kathy Kelly, the US co-ordinator of Voices in the Wilderness, secured agreement for the mission from Tariq Aziz, the deputy prime minister, in Baghdad in May.

She said: "We will tell everybody that goes over that they should be prepared to say that they have had a good life and this could be the last year of their life."

Mudhafar Amin, the diplomat representing Iraq's interests in London, said: "They are real humanitarians and very brave."

Voices in the Wilderness hopes that its peace team will eventually number 100 members, paying their own costs and working in groups of about 10.

Among the buildings they intend to visit are power and sewage plants. Milan Rai, a group co-ordinator, said the team would all be "seasoned non-violent activists" able to cope under "extreme stress".

Mr Rai, 37, a writer from Hastings, East Sussex, said: "I think that if there are Westerners at a power station, the chances of it getting hit will be reduced."

He added: "I don't think the phrase 'human shield' is appropriate. It evokes the way that some people were put at risk involuntarily."

When Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990, troops seized about 1,200 expatriate Britons. On Saddam's orders they were placed at key installations as "human shields". Their presence, Saddam reasoned, would deter allied air strikes.

The tactic prompted worldwide revulsion, especially when Saddam was filmed trying to create favourable propaganda by urging a five-year-old boy, Stuart Lockwood, from Worcester, to sit on his knee. The terrified boy refused.

Diplomatic efforts eventually led to the hostages' release, but many have suffered continuing psychological trauma. Two killed themselves.

Bernard Jenkin, the shadow defence secretary, criticised the planned peace mission. He said: "These people are what the communist Soviet Union used to refer to as useful idiots. They will simply be serving the propaganda interests of an evil dictator."

[ppaul]

British peace activists to act as human shields for Baghdad

Good!
Let 'em join their "Fellow Travelers."

Here is the fate that awaits them all.

Fellow Traveler on the Highway of Death

"Highway of Death," a name the press gave to the road from Mutlaa, Kuwait, to Basra, Iraq. U.S. planes immobilized an Iraqui convoy by disabling vehicles at its front and rear, then bombing and straffing the resulting traffic jam for hours. More than 2,000 vehicles and tens of thousands of charred and dismembered bodies littered the sixty miles of highway.

:

[P7M13]

Can we get sound to go with it? I want to hear them singing, "We shall overcome" just before impact.

On second thought, maybe I don't want to hear them sing. LOL

t

[j271]

This demonstrates the strong undercurrent of nihilism that runs through leftist philosophies.

IMO, many on the hard left are simply projecting their own desire for personal death and suffering upon others. That's why they attack success, whether it's in business or in the family: success represents life, hope and prosperity.

They cannot bear to look upon life because it reminds them of how dead they are inside.

[vannrox]

I hope that the following "Peace Activists" go to Iraq and join them...

Hillery Clinton.
Al Gore.
Dashille.
Jim Jeffords.
Leiberman.
Jessie Jackson.
James Carville
Jimmy Carter
Madeline Albright.
Janet Reno
Phil Donahue
Geraldo (to report on them)
Senator Ted Kennedy
Sen. Kerry.
Barbra Boxer.
Barney Frank.

Of course it would really be nice if they all wore bright orange jump suits so that the pilots could know where NOT to fire (And where to fire).

[The Wizard]

they will die there

[Tis The Time''s Plague]

I'm curious about how these "activists" (if they survive the bombardment)think they'll be treated by the newly liberated Iraqi people. Will they be treated as "usefull idiots" or supporters and appologist for a vicious dictatorship? Will they be handed over to the gentle American soldiers and marines or will they join Saddam's secret policemen hanging from the street lights?

[Godfollow]

Somehow I don't think GW will give it much consideration... in fact he may even switch from the more costly smart bombs to dumb bombs in order to boost the US economy, while doing away with usless human debris along with Sadam.

[watchin]

Human shields?? Either these folks need to buy a clue, or we need to buy them t-shirts with targets on them.

[watchin]

Just think ... the last shot ever seen on CNN ... incoming.

[watchin]

Oh, let's send Jimmy AND BillyJeff.

[tet68]

Funny, you don't see them offering to be human shields for Brooklyn, or Red Hook. Well, maybe not Red Hook.
Although you would have thought they would have wanted to
defend Little Rock.
Ah Well.

[tet68]

You notice how all these groups seem to "Grow" out of one
another? Isn't that kind of like cancer?

[Nogbad]

Hey! Great idea! Put them on top of Saddam's bunker!

Maybe we can get Chomsky, Ritter and Ramsey Clark to join them.

[gc4nra]

"British peace protesters plan to go to Baghdad to act as voluntary "human shields" during a war against Iraq. "


human shields=targets! A good place for the SF troops on the ground to zero there weapons

[gc4nra]

Shame! How could you forget Fienswine, Gebhardt, and Schummmmmer?

[Thumper1960]

Is there a list of names? I'd like to send out condolences to their survivors. What a damned shame. To waste their lives on such ignoble folly.

Oh well....the Iraqis will probably be eating their carcasses during the siege of Baghdad.

[CROSSHIGHWAYMAN]

Saddam has already tried human shields. It didn't work out very well. I recall he had a command bunker full of civilians who were killed in an F-117A Stealth Fighter attack with deep penetration bombs.

As recall, the military developed much better "bunker busters" which were used in Afghanistan.

[CROSSHIGHWAYMAN]

"I believe that any US or British citizen that would put themselves on Iraqi soil as a friend to Iraq during a war with the US & Britain is a TRAITOR!"

Does the name Jane Fonda ring a bell?

Scott Ritter is the Jane Fonda of 2002.

[CROSSHIGHWAYMAN]

Barney Frank can't wait to go to Afghanistan to look up those villagers who propositioned British soldiers..

[M. T. Cicero II]

Nah! Is a moron! Darwinism in action!