"I'm an ex-marine recruiting human shields"

As war with Iraq seems to edge ever closer, former US Marine Kenneth Nichols O'Keefe - who fought in the Gulf War - plans to lead a group of Westerners to be human shields:

I'm hoping to recruit hundreds of volunteers en route to Iraq and my goal is thousands. After we leave London on 25 January, we go to France, then Holland, Germany and Switzerland before heading towards Baghdad.

In the UK and the US, there's little appetite for war but the authorities don't expect many people to go to such extremes to stop it. That would be true if there was only 20 to 50 of us, but if there's 500 or more, it becomes easier and easier to recruit people.

The bandwagon is already formed. The first two or three people were the most difficult - it was myself and one other person who said 'we're going', and it was another fortnight before we got a third. Based on that sort of progress, we'd only have a dozen by now, but it's grown exponentially since then.

Not one of the volunteers has said that they want to go to Iraq to support Saddam Hussein. The theme I'm getting is that this is a criminal war, that it's going to victimise an already victimised population. Many also regard the US as the greatest threat to world security.

I was in the Gulf War in 1991 for six months with the Second Battalion, Fourth Marines.

The first few months we sat on the border of Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, and when the ground war kicked off we had to secure the road that runs between Kuwait City and Baghdad - the Highway of Death, where 20,000 Iraqis were massacred by the US military forces as they were retreating.

I was in a supporting role in that massacre; although I didn't kill anyone personally, I still take responsibility for the deaths of others.

I left the Marines seven or eight months later - essentially I was fired when they were downsizing after the war.

I'd had an altercation with my immediate superiors, having reported them for an abuse of power. It might seem quite trivial, but we were living on board a ship in the Mediterranean in summer and it was very hot.

My superiors had shut a passage so as to keep what little air conditioning there was in their area. They had no authority to do that, and it forced us in the lower ranks to go three times as far to get to routine areas.

The whole platoon was punished for what I did, and I had to look over my shoulder after that. A lot of marines would no doubt describe me a provocateur or a "bad apple" but to my mind I did the right thing.

While my experience in the Gulf helped shape me, it's not my time there that's prompted me to return. I'm going to protest against my country's policies.

I've also renounced my citizenship. I've handed over my passport, put my hand up and sworn the oath - and added a statement condemning the US's criminal acts at home and abroad, and its destruction of the natural environment - and left the country.

I'm now based in Holland, where I came in November 2001 to seek political asylum. I no longer have a passport but I managed to get into the UK with a copy of my old US one - no doubt because I'm white and speak with an American accent.

I grew up in a prosperous place in southern California, I went to the beach and surfed, I played soccer. I had a loving family, a safe neighbourhood. Before I left the US, I lived in paradise in Hawaii, had my own dive business and was involved in a lot of marine conservation work.

I've had a life most people would kill for. It makes me very sad to know that the majority of people don't have such opportunities.

I heard this asshole on the radio about a week ago. He sidestepped the issue of whether, if push comes to shove, he will take up arms against American troops in Iraq when they come to get the Saddam regime. But, basically, he said "I will defend myself". I might add that this buzzard renounced his US citizenship.

I just don't think it's that easy to renounce one's citizenship. Unless he did all of these steps, he's still a US citizen:

Renunciation of U.S. Citizenship

A. THE IMMIGRATION & NATIONALITY ACT

Section 349(a)(5) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) is the section of law that governs the ability of a United States citizen to renounce his or her U.S. citizenship. That section of law provides for the loss of nationality by voluntarily performing the following act with the intent to relinquish his or her U.S. nationality:

"(5) making a formal renunciation of nationality before a diplomatic or consular officer of the United States in a foreign state, in such form as may be prescribed by the Secretary of State" (emphasis added).

B. ELEMENTS OF RENUNCIATION

A person wishing to renounce his or her U.S. citizenship must voluntarily and with intent to relinquish U.S. citizenship:

appear in person before a U.S. consular or diplomatic officer,
in a foreign country (normally at a U.S. Embassy or Consulate); and
sign an oath of renunciation

Renunciations that do not meet the conditions described above have no legal effect. Because of the provisions of section 349(a)(5), Americans cannot effectively renounce their citizenship by mail, through an agent, or while in the United States. In fact, U.S. courts have held certain attempts to renounce U.S. citizenship to be ineffective on a variety of grounds, as discussed below.

C. REQUIREMENT - RENOUNCE ALL RIGHTS AND PRIVILEGES

In the recent case of Colon v. U.S. Department of State, 2 F.Supp.2d 43 (1998), plaintiff was a United States citizen and resident of Puerto Rico, who executed an oath of renunciation before a consular officer at the U.S. Embassy in Santo Domingo. The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia rejected Colon’s petition for a writ of mandamus directing the Secretary of State to approve a Certificate of Loss of Nationality in the case because the plaintiff wanted to retain one of the primary benefits of U.S. citizenship while claiming he was not a U.S. citizen. The Court described the plaintiff as a person, "claiming to renounce all rights and privileges of United States citizenship, [while] Plaintiff wants to continue to exercise one of the fundamental rights of citizenship, namely to travel freely throughout the world and when he wants to, return and reside in the United States." See also Jose Fufi Santori v. United States of America, 1994 U.S. App. LEXIS 16299 (1994) for a similar case.

A person who wants to renounce U.S. citizenship cannot decide to retain some of the privileges of citizenship, as this would be logically inconsistent with the concept of citizenship. Thus, such a person can be said to lack a full understanding of renouncing citizenship and/or lack the necessary intent to renounce citizenship, and the Department of State will not approve a loss of citizenship in such instances.

D. DUAL NATIONALITY / STATELESSNESS

Persons intending to renounce U.S. citizenship should be aware that, unless they already possess a foreign nationality, they may be rendered stateless and, thus, lack the protection of any government. They may also have difficulty traveling as they may not be entitled to a passport from any country. Even if they were not stateless, they would still be required to obtain a visa to travel to the United States, or show that they are eligible for admission pursuant to the terms of the Visa Waiver Pilot Program (VWPP). If found ineligible for a visa or the VWPP to come to the U.S., a renunciant, under certain circumstances, could be permanently barred from entering the United States. Nonetheless, renunciation of U.S. citizenship may not prevent a foreign country from deporting that individual back to the United States in some non-citizen status.

E. TAX & MILITARY OBLIGATIONS /NO ESCAPE FROM PROSECUTION

Also, persons who wish to renounce U.S. citizenship should also be aware that the fact that a person has renounced U.S. citizenship may have no effect whatsoever on his or her U.S. tax or military service obligations (contact the Internal Revenue Service or U.S. Selective Service for more information). In addition, the act of renouncing U.S. citizenship will not allow persons to avoid possible prosecution for crimes which they may have committed in the United States, or escape the repayment of financial obligations previously incurred in the United States.

F. RENUNCIATION FOR MINOR CHILDREN

Parents cannot renounce U.S. citizenship on behalf of their minor children. Before an oath of renunciation will be administered under Section 349(a)(5) of the INA, a person under the age of eighteen must convince a U.S. diplomatic or consular officer that he/she fully understands the nature and consequences of the oath of renunciation and is voluntarily seeking to renounce his/her U.S. citizenship. United States common law establishes an arbitrary limit of age fourteen under which a child’s understanding must be established by substantial evidence.

G. IRREVOCABILITY OF RENUNCIATION

Finally, those contemplating a renunciation of U.S. citizenship should understand that the act is irrevocable, except as provided in section 351 of the INA, and cannot be canceled or set aside absent successful administrative or judicial appeal. (Section 351(b) of the INA provides that an applicant who renounced his or her U.S. citizenship before the age of eighteen can have that citizenship reinstated if he or she makes that desire known to the Department of State within six months after attaining the age of eighteen. See also Title 22, Code of Federal Regulations, section 50.20).

Renunciation is the most unequivocal way in which a person can manifest an intention to relinquish U.S. citizenship. Please consider the effects of renouncing U.S. citizenship, described above, before taking this serious and irrevocable action. If you have any further questions regarding this matter, please contact the Director, Office of Policy Review & Interagency Liaison, Bureau of Consular Affairs, U.S. Department of State, Washington, DC 20520.

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