Human Shield Buses Stuck in Beirut, Seek Fare Home

Reuters ^ | 3/5/03

[areafiftyone]

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Two red double decker buses and a white London taxi that ferried anti-war activists to Baghdad to serve as "human shields" are stranded in Beirut with their owner short of the $5,500 it costs to ship them home.

The buses and taxi, dusty after a six-week overland journey that began at London's Tower Bridge, were plastered with signs saying "No to a war on Iraq" and "No to war, Yes to peace."

"The buses have to be shipped back. It's just not practical to drive them...I am not even really sure how much money I've got, but I'm sure it's not enough," said owner Joe Letts, adding that he would fly to London on Thursday to try to raise cash.

"I thought I would let people know it's a problem," he added, sitting in a makeshift kitchen on his bus in central Beirut.

Letts said he left London with 45 human shields of 10-12 nationalities, and picked up a dozen or so more in Turkey before arriving in Baghdad, where he spent a week sleeping in a power station hoping to prevent a possible U.S.-led attack.

"We were taken to see some of the installations that the Iraqis thought were suitable for protection," he said, adding that he had feared a bombing campaign could start at any time.

"We painted a huge sign on the roof saying human shields, so when any planes bombed the target, they'd see they were killing us -- Englishmen and Finns and Turks."

Some 50 other Swedish anti-war human shield activists who had traveled to Iraq began to leave on Monday, saying they had wanted to protect hospitals and schools but had been forced out to refineries, power plants and water works.

Letts said about 200 human shields, including many who traveled on his bus, remained in Baghdad when he left. But he said that although he stayed on as a shield for a week, he had no intention of staying in Baghdad for the duration of a war.

"I own these buses and they are my livelihood and my family's livelihood. And all along I was there really to take the people down and then come back," he said.

When he left London, he thought he had enough money to pay to ship the buses home, but ended up spending his personal finances to help pay for the trip.

"I had promised my wife I would get the buses home," he said. "If I don't get them home, we're absolutely stuck."

[far sider]

Human Shield Buses Stuck in Beirut, Seek Fare Home

BUS Fare!!! HAHAHA!

[mass55th]

I'm sure one of those rich Hollywierd anti-war supporters would be more than happy to send them the money to bring their vehicles home.

[The Great Satan]

WILL SHIELD FOR FOOD

[Moose4]

National Lampoon's Iraqi Vacation (2003): Chevy Chase, Beverly D'Angelo, Randy Quaid. The Griswald family's latest hilarious misadventure as they hop on a double-decker bus during their London vacation and wind up in Baghdad as "human shields" during the US attack. Khalid Muhammad: Ron Jeremy. Burqa Babe: Susan Sarandon. Saddam Hussein: The Iron Sheik. (1:57, closed captioned)

}:-)4

[FirstTomato]

"Help! I'm a Human Shield! Get me out of here!"

[FirstTomato]

If these people really want to be human shields, they should put their butts on Israeli buses.

[plain talk]

These people can't even plan a round-trip 'vacation' for themselves and their 'belongings' and they wish to lecture the rest of us on complex foreign policy issues. LOL!

[Terry Mross]

We got on our little red busses and we drove down to Baghdad town.

We were gonna' be there when the bombs started rainin' down.

Our whole plan depended on the honesty of Saddam to let us be human shields.

But we quickly learned he was using us and he back out on the deal.

Now we're stranded in Beirut with nothing to eat

and we're sleeping on our little red buses.

We guess it's now apparent

that we're just a bunch of little wusses.

We thought human shields were meant to shield

the people and that was our only deal.

But Saddam showed us he was gonna' use us

as real live human shields.

[Churchillspirit]

This is disgracefull!!

Giving our lovely old London double-deckers a bad name.

[DonQ]

Not only did this guy renege on his promise to shield the Iraqis with his body, he wouldn't even leave his vehicles behind to shield them!

[bfree]

Best article of the day!!! I really needed a laugh, Thanks.

[Publius6961]

Heck, I will send them lots of bucks if they pledge to go back to Iraq!

[GOPJ]

LOL:

Impoverished idiot lefties ping

[caisson71]

My suggestion would be to park the busses near a power plant and paint a bulls eye on the tops, covering the yellow streaks.

[tessalu]

Send the idiots back to Baghdad, where they belong. They need their medicine, and it is just about to arrive.

[doug from upland]

SING FOR THE USEFUL IDIOTS, AND WE DO MEAN IDIOTS

[Gopher Broke]

Where are those bus bombers when you need them???

[cake_crumb]

"A fool and his money are soon parted. For those shields remaining, a fool and his/her life are soon parted. Life is hard... it's harder if you're stupid."

LOL....frequently shorter, too.

[A2J]

"The buses have to be shipped back. It's just not practical to drive them...I am not even really sure how much money I've got, but I'm sure it's not enough," said owner Joe Letts, adding that he would fly to London on Thursday to try to raise cash.

Memo to Joe:

"Slam door in face of future protesters."