Human shield Britons quit Baghdad

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HeXp£Øi±

Well-Known Member
By Charlotte Edwardes in Baghdad
(Filed: 02/03/2003)

Almost all of the first British "human shields" to go to Iraq were on their way home last night after deciding that their much-heralded task was now too dangerous.Two red double-decker buses, which symbolised the hopes of anti-war activists when they arrived to a fanfare of publicity a fortnight ago, slipped quietly out of Baghdad on the long journey back to Britain.

Nine of the original 11 activists decided to pull out after being given an ultimatum by Iraqi officials to station themselves at targets likely to be bombed in a war or leave the country. Among those departing last night was 68-year-old Godfrey Meynell, a former High Sheriff of Derbyshire, who admitted that he was leaving out of "cold fear". He had been summoned, along with 200 other shields from all over the world, to a meeting at a Baghdad hotel yesterday morning.

Abdul Hashimi, the head of the Friendship, Peace and Solidarity organisation that is hosting the protesters, told the shields to choose between nine so-called "strategic sites" by today or quit the country.

The Iraqi warning follows frustration among Saddam Hussein's officials that only about 65 of the shields had so far agreed to take up positions at the oil refineries, power plants and water-purification sites selected by their hosts.

It heightened fears among some peace activists that they could be stationed at non-civilian sites. Mr Meynell and fellow protesters who moved into the power station in south Baghdad last weekend were dismayed to find it stood immediately next to an army base and the strategically crucial main road south to Basra. Iraqi officials said there was little point in guarding what they considered to be low-risk targets.

Iraq's decision to force the pace was welcomed by some of the 20 Britons remaining in Baghdad. "It's only fair," said Uzma Bashir, 32, a college lecturer who is one of the team leaders.

"We've come here as shields to defend sites and now the Iraqis are asking us to make our choice."
http://news.telegraph.co.uk/news/ma...2/ixnewstop.html/news/2003/03/02/wshiel02.xml
 
All of a sudden, it's not so cool anymore. Espescially since they were told no special effort would be made to avoid blowing their asses to kingdom come.
 
pansies. A chance to show a little courage for once and die with chins held high ... and they failed. Soft, weak westerners.. pah.
 
unclehobart said:
A chance to show a little courage for once and die with chins held high ... and they failed. Soft, weak
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...

Liberal socialist fascist backboneless poseurs with an agenda.

Just kidding flavio
 
..isn't that neat? The foreign human shields have their spots hand chosen for them by their loving and generous hosts...the Hussein regime....

.....but then balk when it becomes likely they'd be bullseye circles...

No shit...I'd have never guessed that'd happen...not in a million years....

MADrin
 
Can you imagine. A US or UK marine sights down an rifle, and sees a civilian of his own country defending what that marine considers an enemy. Can you think of any occaission that he wouldn't fire? I can't.
 
So in other words they decided to be human shields except in the case that we might actually attack. So basically they weren't shields. A moronic protest.
 
it's now getting hilarious

WELLINGTON (Reuters) - A New Zealand woman said on Wednesday she was willing to be crucified by President Bush if he pledges not to attack Iraq.

Mary Grierson said she had emailed the challenge to the White House and as an open letter to leading U.S. newspapers.

"Send your troops home and take me instead, on behalf of everyone in the world who does not want war and oppression," she wrote.

But the deal has a catch -- Bush would have to personally hammer in the nails.

"I don't think he would have the courage to do it quite frankly, but that is the measure of a man," she told Radio New Zealand.

"Can he follow through with this aim of creating more chaos in the world if he had to do it just to one person himself?"

It is not the first novel expression of protest in New Zealand against a looming U.S.-led war on Iraq.

Another woman spent NZ$2,500 ($1,409) last month on an anti-war newspaper advertisement directed at Bush in the hope it would be seen by the U.S. ambassador to New Zealand and passed on to Washington.

New Zealand, which refuses entry to its ports for foreign warships that are nuclear powered or carry nuclear weapons, opposes military action against Iraq unless it is backed by the United Nations
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Anti-War 'Shields' in Iraq Scurry Home
By Philip Sherwell
Washington Times | March 3, 2003


Almost all the first British "human shields" to go to Iraq were on their way home yesterday after deciding that their much-heralded task is now too dangerous.

Two red double-decker buses, which symbolized the hopes of anti-war activists when they arrived to a fanfare of publicity two weeks ago, slipped quietly out of Baghdad on the long journey back to Britain, carrying most of the 11 protesters with them.

Nine out of the 11 activists decided to pull out after being given an ultimatum by Iraqi officials yesterday to station themselves at targets likely to be bombed in a war or leave the country. Two left immediately by taxi, and six more were on the buses last night, bound initially for Syria.

Among those departing yesterday was 68-year-old Godfrey Meynell, who received an emotional farewell from workers at the Baghdad power plant where he has slept for the past week.

Mr. Meynell, a former high sheriff of Derbyshire,said he was leaving out of "cold fear." He had been summoned, along with 200 other shields from all over the world, to a meeting at a Baghdad hotel yesterday morning. Abdul Hashimi, the head of the Friendship, Peace and Solidarity organization that is officially host to the protesters, told the shields to choose between nine so-called "strategic sites" by today or leave the country.

The Iraqi warning follows frustration among Saddam's officials that about 65 of the volunteers had so far agreed to take up positions at the oil refineries, power plants and water-purification sites selected by their hosts.

It heightened fears among some peace activists that they could be stationed at non-civilian sites. Mr. Meynell and fellow protesters who moved into the power station in south Baghdad last weekend were dismayed to find that it stood next to an army base and the strategically crucial road south to Basra.

Many shields had earlier asked to be stationed at sites such as schools, hospitals or orphanages, but Iraqi officials said there was little point in guarding low-risk targets in any aerial assault.

Iraq's decision to force the pace was welcomed by some of those remaining in Baghdad. "It's only fair," said Uzma Bashir, 32, a British college teacher who is one of the team leaders. "We've come here as shields to defend sites, and now the Iraqis are asking us to make our choice."

Pentagon officials have said that in the event of war the United States could not be deterred from attacking militarily significant sites by the presence of human shields. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Friday that the deliberate use of human shields by Iraqi officials would be grounds for war-crimes prosecution.
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Human shields take a powder
By Betsy Pisik
THE WASHINGTON TIMES

Nathan Chapman made the arduous journey to Iraq last week intending to help impoverished civilians, defend orphanages against U.S.-led bombing and make a political statement against a war he passionately believes would be wrong.

By yesterday afternoon, he was back in Amman, convinced that his sacrifices would amount to nothing in Baghdad. After only five days in Iraq — with more time spent in meetings than in clinics — he felt compelled to turn back.

"No humanitarian sites were made available to us," said Mr. Chapman, a delicate 20-year-old Englishman who sold everything he had to make the trip to Iraq. "It was clear they wouldn't be."

Mr. Chapman is one of an estimated 200 or more Americans, Canadians, Australians and Europeans who have arrived in Baghdad in recent weeks to act as voluntary human shields — prepared to defend civil and humanitarian structures with their lives, if necessary.

About half of those have already left the country in frustration, angered that the Iraqi government demanded they leave low-risk targets, such as hospitals, and instead cluster around electrical plants, water-pumping stations and communications centers, which serve significant military as well as civilian purposes.

On Friday, the head of Sweden's largest peace organization urged the human shields to leave, saying they were being used for propaganda purposes by Saddam Hussein.
T
he sites chosen by the Iraqi government for the shields are on a list of sensitive locations prepared by the U.N. Development Program, "so it's not like the ones who stayed are guarding military targets," Mr. Chapman said. "But if you go out to a water plant, all you do is sit there, and I really wanted to help the people."

Mr. Chapman, who left Norfolk, England, less than a month after discovering the human shield movement, said he is disappointed, but not surprised, that the Iraqi government would not let him work at purely humanitarian sites.

"Some people thought that once they got there, everything would be all right," he said. "Like they didn't know what the Iraqi government is like."

Iraq has established a Friendship, Peace and Solidarity Office to facilitate visas for the volunteers, ferry them in buses from Amman and pay for their Baghdad hotel rooms. Participants say Iraq is growing impatient to see a better return on its investment.

"They wanted to see more of the shields at strategic sites," said Shane Mulligan, a Canadian organizer for HumanShields.org, one of several groups that has tried to bring Westerners to Baghdad to protest the war.

No one in Baghdad seems to know how many peace activists have made the journey in recent weeks, or how many of those have left. Even those in the thick of coordinating the effort say the grass-roots movement is very loosely organized.

Among the Westerners roaming Iraq now are religious groups, peace activists, solidarity seekers, and human shields — those who are so committed to preventing a war that they are, effectively, daring their own governments to kill them as well as Iraqi civilians.

Mr. Chapman is one of several activists who scraped together the roughly $1,700 to cover air fare, lodging, food and other expenses for a trip that could have lasted days, months or forever.

"I sold everything I had to do this, and ... I guess it could be a one-way trip," he said last week, before he boarded the bus for the 16-hour ride across Iraq's western desert to Baghdad. "We know what we are doing. We are all prepared."
Back in Amman yesterday, however, he acknowledged that few of his comrades seemed to understand the gravity of what they were doing. Many seemed to view it as an excellent adventure, rather than the ultimate sacrifice.
"OK, honestly, I was terrified the whole time I was there. There could be civil war, getting killed, being taken hostage by the government, being mentally destroyed, all kinds of things," he said. "I don't think they did have that understanding."

Introspective, soft-spoken and articulate, Mr. Chapman said he had a hard time explaining his decision to his American businessman father and British mother, who works for the National Health Service.

After a fair amount of worry, he said, they are proud of him.

Mr. Chapman, who operates a Britain-based Web site (www.0001000.org) to document the war on terror, said last week that he believes in direct action to protect the innocent.

But he said yesterday that he has no patience for the marches and meetings that seemed to take up the bulk of his time in Baghdad.

"I didn't see a lot, honestly," he said.

He went to nightly meetings with other shields and accompanied HumanShields.org founder Ken Nichols O'Keefe on interviews.

He also bought a baggy, green three-button suit in a market, and was surprised to discover Internet cafes, stores and restaurants — just like in other densely populated cities.

Now that he is back in Amman, Mr. Chapman wants to get his hands dirty helping with the expected flood of Iraqi refugees when the war starts.

If Washington and London do invade Iraq, Mr. Chapman plans to renounce his U.S. and British citizenships. "I will absolutely, definitely do that. There is an organization and you can do it officially, become a world citizen," he said with contentment.
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Mr. Meynell and fellow protesters who moved into the power station in south Baghdad last weekend were dismayed to find that it stood next to an army base and the strategically crucial road south to Basra.
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You were dismayed, were you? I wasn't sure these goombas had the sense to realize the potential dangers.
 
If Washington and London do invade Iraq, Mr. Chapman plans to renounce his U.S. and British citizenships. "I will absolutely, definitely do that. There is an organization and you can do it officially, become a world citizen," he said with contentment.
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idiots, what makes them think that our corporate imperialist leadership gives a flying fuck about their damned statment.
I'm often reminded of the ancient pimp in catch-22, when he was talking about his allegance to whoever was in power. As much as I loath the character, he was a smart guy.
 
"No humanitarian sites were made available to us," said Mr. Chapman, a delicate 20-year-old Englishman who sold everything he had to make the trip to Iraq. "It was clear they wouldn't be."
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Duh!

Human shields take a powder
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What's that all about? I read the article twice and still didn't get it. Did i read something wrong?
 
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