Posted on 01/05/2003 11:06:22 AM PST by Jacobine
'Human shields' head for Iraq
Paul Harris Sunday December 29, 2002 The Observer
A convoy of anti-war activists, likely to include dozens of British volunteers, will leave London next month to act as human shields protecting strategic sites in Iraq. The convoy to Baghdad is being organised by former US marine Kenneth Nichols, who served in the first Gulf war and won a combat medal but has now become a vociferous opponent of another Gulf conflict.
British protesters are also heading for the country in advance of any Anglo-American bombing.
Nichols, 33, aims to gather scores of volunteers together in London and lead the convoy on 10 January. It will drive across Europe, holding rallies in various capital cities and collecting other human-shield demonstrators along the way. It plans to travel via Amsterdam, Brussels, Paris, Zurich, Milan, Sarajevo, Istanbul and Syria to Baghdad.
He is hoping that the convoy will arrive in the Iraqi capital around 24 January, three days before President George W Bush is to make his decision on whether Iraq has complied with the UN weapons inspections, potentially triggering a US-led invasion.
Nichols is willing to put his own life on the line to stop a war. 'In going to Iraq I understand that I will likely not survive a US invasion,' he said.
Once in Iraq, members of the convoy will identify infrastructure targets for bombing, such as power stations, key bridges and roads, and deploy themselves as human shields in the glare of the international media.
'I don't think anyone will be happy about bombing somewhere they see being protected by North Americans or Europeans,' he said.
In the 1991 conflict, Nichols was serving in the 2nd Battalion of the Marine Corps. He was an infantryman on the road to Basra, where heavy Allied bombing killed hundreds of retreating Iraqi soldiers. He left the Marine Corps a year later.
His experience of war left him disillusioned with American foreign policy, and he is now a vociferous opponent of US foreign interventions. 'Part of the reason I want to go back is to apologise to the Iraqi people for what I was doing there the first time I was in their country,' he said.
Part-time law student Jo Wilding, 28, is one Briton who is heading for the region. She expects to fly to Baghdad on 10 January and then go to the southern city of Basra. 'There is something I can do there just by being a foreigner,' she said. 'If something does start when we are there, we will be able to document it.'
Shouldn't Human Shiels be Human Shills?
Oh wait, that can't be right....
Perhaps they are just as stupid as they sound?
Learn something every day here. UK Observer, that must be what they meant. ;>)
American and British Human Shills Head to Iraq
Is that right?
You might want to re-think that one.
In my humble opinion, we're talking win-win!
Sheesh, what a maroon.
HEY YOU GUYS!!!
Take this bunch out first.
Okay! I DO appreciate the Government freedoms that we have had bestowed so graciously upon us. If that's what he wants to do well...It certainly won't change my attitude toward's that tyranical leader in Iraq or my resolve as to what needs to be done to keep our Republic free.
Won't take that long..
I'll be glad to pay the whole fare.
Matter-a-fact, I've got a special airplane he can go in ;-)
Works for me. Why don't you bring along a cyanide capsule, just to make sure.
'I don't think anyone will be happy about bombing somewhere they see being protected by North Americans or Europeans,' he (Nichols) said.
This guy seems to think that everyone is as big a racist as he is. I don't like to see anyone killed needlessly. I don't care whether he is Iraqi or North American or European. The nationality of the people being bombed does not matter a whit.
(OK, maybe you get bonus points for the French. But that's the only exception)
The key is to only get into wars that are worth killing and dying for. I would put the Iraq invasion in that category, provided the ultimate goal is to overthrow the country and install a stable, representative form of government.
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