Human Shields in Iraq.

[modest mouse]

Volunteer 'Human Shields' to Head for Iraq
By Andrew Cawthorne

LONDON (Reuters) - A first wave of mainly Western volunteers will leave London this weekend on a convoy bound for Iraq to act as "human shields" at key sites and populous areas in case of a U.S.-led war on Baghdad.

"The potential for white Western body parts flying around with the Iraqi ones should make them think again about this imperialist oil war," organizer Ken Nichols, a former U.S. marine in the 1991 Gulf War, told Reuters.

His "We the People" organization will be sending off a first group of 50 human shields from the London mayor's City Hall building Saturday, part of a series of departures organizers say will involve hundreds, possibly thousands, of volunteers.

Nichols' planned human shield convoys are one of several such efforts around the world to mobilize activists in Iraq as a deterrent against military strikes on Baghdad.

In Bucharest, more than 100 Romanian diehard communists said Tuesday they would travel by bus to Iraq to act as human shields in case of a U.S. attack.

Members of the tiny Romanian Workers Party, which took the mantle of ousted dictator Nicolae Ceausescu's defunct Communist party in 1995, said they would set off next month to support "the cause of the people."

The new human shield plans revive memories of the 1991 Gulf War when President Saddam Hussein forcibly held thousands of Western hostages after his invasion of Kuwait.

Many were put near sensitive sites in a bid to stop attacks that proved futile, although there are not thought to have been any casualties among the Western hostages.

Baghdad also used Iraqis, alongside some foreign volunteers, as shields in 1998 against U.S.-British bombing.

Nichols' groups intend to drive through Europe and the Middle East en route to Iraq. The first will travel in a pair of double-decker buses, led by a car with a white peace flag on it.

"We are on the verge of something big," said volunteer Christiaan Briggs, 26, from New Zealand. He argued that the stream of human shield volunteers was symptomatic of radicalizing anti-war opinion around the world.

"People know this is wrong. It is just so blatantly transparent how the U.S. is trying to impose its hegemony."

PROPAGANDA ACCUSATIONS

"We the People" organizers said the self-financing human shield volunteers had come forward from a range of Western nations including the United States, Britain, Ireland, Switzerland, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Spain and Denmark.

There were also some volunteers from Muslim nation Turkey.

The major rallying point for Muslims, however, is in Iraq's neighbor Jordan. There, a campaign led by leftist parties and civic bodies is seeking 100,000 shield volunteers.

Baghdad has welcomed the plans, but volunteers smart at suggestions that they are handing a propaganda gift to Saddam.

Washington and London are sending troops to the Gulf and threatening military action against Saddam unless he admits to possessing weapons of mass destruction and disarms.

"It's laughable to say that we are working for Saddam when it was the UK and the U.S. who gave him his biological and other weapons in the first place," Nichols said.

"The hypocrisy is mind-blowing. The biggest threat to world security at this moment is (U.S. President) George W. Bush."

Nichols said his involvement in the human shield program was in part "penance" for his participation in the Gulf War when a U.S.-led force drove Saddam's troops out of Kuwait.

But those forcibly used as human shields by Saddam in the past are stunned others are volunteering to do it.

"Putting yourself in danger is not going to help at all," said John Nicol, a British air force flyer shot down in 1991 and later paraded on Iraqi television. He was moved around by the Iraqis to various potential targets and experienced allied bombing nearby.

"I doubt it would be a deterrent to any attack," Nicol, a journalist and military analyst since leaving the air force, told Reuters. "I am shocked that anyone would want to put themselves in such a situation."

Whether you are for or against a war with Iraq; would you let these people stop bombing?

Personally I would proceed as if they were not there and if they happen to be injured or killed then they get to make the statement they so strongly wish to make.

Its ther right to protest but with such protest come risks. Merely putting yourself in iraq does nto mean a change in military policy.

 

[lavender]

Its ther right to protest but with such protest come risks. Merely putting yourself in iraq does nto mean a change in military policy.

This sums it up perfectly.

 

[plasticman33]

I'd go along with what you said. Proceed as if they don't exist.

 

[Guest]

I'd join them if I had the cash.

 

[RosevilleCAguy]

People don't stop bomb fragments nearly as well as concrete.

 

[Weird Harold]

I think we should issue them catcher's mitts and locator beacons.

We should also thank them for helping us to reduce Iraqi casualties -- as they're volunteering to behuman shields, Saddam won't need to force unwilling Iraqis to fill that function.

 

[Problem Child]

It constitutes aiding and abetting the enemy. They're traitors.

The more patriotic and sane position would be to stay home and put all their efforts into peaceful protest.

 

[Tungwagger]

I'll give them all umbrellas....just like the Looney toons......

 

[P. B. Walker]

Do you think they'll have the round targets painted on their shirts?

I wonder what the view will look like from the nosecone of those bombs as they feed us video... heh

 

[REDWAVE]

You're a bunch of heartless scum!

While I applaud the self-sacrificing idealism of those who have volunteered to be human shields, I do not recommend that tactic. They would be much better off remaining here, engaging in militant demonstrations, strikes, and civil disobedience against the war.

 

[Tungwagger]

Do you think they'll have the round targets painted on their shirts?

I wonder what the view will look like from the nosecone of those bombs as they feed us video... heh

Either the look of Wile E. Coyote when the realization of what was happening to him...or...

 

[Problem Child]

Inside the Pentagon war room on the opening day of the war:

Colonel Smartypants: Mr.Secretary, we have reports that the Iraqis are using westerners as human sheilds.

Donald Rumsfeld: Who is it? Barbra Streisand and Sean Penn?

Colonel Smartypants: Well, no sir, at least we don't have confirmation that it's them.

Donald Rumsfeld: Damn.

Colonel Smartypants: Sir, what should we do?

Donald Rumsfeld: Call Dixon Carter Lee. I know he's not exactly Hollywood "power" but I hear he has a few connections. Susan Sarandon's washed up. He probably knows her.

Colonel Smartypants: Yes?

Donald Rumsfeld: Tell Carter Lee to persuade her to get her ass over there and do her part for peace, and try for Jeneane Garofolo too.

Colonel Smartypants: What about Alex Baldwin?

Donald Rumsfeld: No, I want females only.

Colonel Smartypants: Yes sir. Why is that sir?

Donald Rumsfeld: We need to formulate our strategy based on the most effective weapons in our arsenal.

Colonel Smartypants: I see, sir.

Donald Rumsfeld: Get Garofolo and Sarandon over there. Make sure they stand near important military sites and have them wear low-cut blouses.

Colonel Smartypants: Low-cut blouses sir?

Donald Rumsfeld: Yes. We're going to use the TLGB.

Colonel Smartypants: (sheepishly) Mr. Secretary, forgive me, but I'm not familiar with that nomenclature.

Donald Rumsfeld: Oh, for fuck sake. The TLGB man! The Titway Laser guided Bomb! It's our newest weapon. It acquires the nipples of liberal activist actresses and homes in on them.

Colonel Smartypants: Yes sir! Right away!

Donald Rumsfeld: See if you can get Anna Nicole Smith and Jane Fonda while you're at it. The TLGB has a silicone sensing feature as well.

 

[REDWAVE]

I knew Rummy was just a dirty old man.

 

[RosevilleCAguy]

I knew Rummy was just a dirty old man.

Too much Gin.

Hah! I kill me.

 

[Harbinger]

Good Idea!

I plan to address my city's traffic problems by throwing myself in front of trucks and buses. Well, maybe only one of them.

 

[Tungwagger]

<bump>...and one post closer to 1K

 

[modest mouse]

While the death of Garofalo, Fonda, and Smith would make my cold heart warm, Ms. Sarandon is certainly not washed up. Still super fuckable but with declining taste in scripts.

 

[Guest]

 

[modest mouse]

Re: Re: Human Shields in Iraq.

MM: ur a hater

Who exactly am I hating?

 

[CelestialBody]

 

[Weird Harold]

Re: You're a bunch of heartless scum!

...They would be much better off remaining here, ..

Both You and PC are ignoringthe fact that very few of the VHS's are American.

From the article:
"We the People" organizers said the self-financing human shield volunteers had come forward from a range of Western nations including the United States, Britain, Ireland, Switzerland, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Spain and Denmark.

There were also some volunteers from Muslim nation Turkey.

The major rallying point for Muslims, however, is in Iraq's neighbor Jordan. There, a campaign led by leftist parties and civic bodies is seeking 100,000 shield volunteers.

Your comments and PC's knee-jerk "traitor" accusation simply show your parochial world views.

Yes, I'm a heartless scum -- I think people deserve the result their actions bring. I also believe that suicide should be legal.

 

[Pseudomoniker]

a.k.a. "Operation Hide Behind The Blackies."

Human shields? Boooooring.

Human torches? Now that would be worth watching CNN for.

 

[clit_licker30]

Re: You're a bunch of heartless scum!

While I applaud the self-sacrificing idealism of those who have volunteered to be human shields, I do not recommend that tactic. They would be much better off remaining here, engaging in militant demonstrations, strikes, and civil disobedience against the war.

Like that does any good. Oh, I bet the life insurance policies they might have won't pay off either.

They are total dumbasses, Sadamn will make sure they get killed for the propaganda angle.

 

[Problem Child]

Re: Re: You're a bunch of heartless scum!

Both You and PC are ignoringthe fact that very few of the VHS's are American.



Your comments and PC's knee-jerk "traitor" accusation simply show your parochial world views.

Yes, I'm a heartless scum -- I think people deserve the result their actions bring. I also believe that suicide should be legal.

Harold, I never identified them as Americans. In fact, if you read my little satire you'll see I called them "westerners".

If Americans go to a foreign country and act as human sheilds, they are doing it to confound our war effort. They aren't over there handing out red cross packets.

They're traitors, in my view.

 

[teddybear4play]

Whether you are for or against a war with Iraq; would you let these people stop bombing?

Personally I would proceed as if they were not there and if they happen to be injured or killed then they get to make the statement they so strongly wish to make.

Its ther right to protest but with such protest come risks. Merely putting yourself in iraq does nto mean a change in military policy.

It's ridiculous. If you want to save the Iraqi's lives, get them the fuck out of there. Join the Red Cross. Don't "stand with them." It's meaningless and won't deter us.

I have no sympathy for them. Not after this line: "'The potential for white Western body parts flying around with the Iraqi ones should make them think again about this imperialist oil war,' organizer Ken Nichols, a former U.S. marine in the 1991 Gulf War, told Reuters."

I wonder how many of them will be shocked when their protest doesn't work and they really are in the line of fire. I bet if we find any of them dead (assuming they haven't run), we'll discover that their last act on this earth was soiling themselves.

TB4p