Posted on 03/05/2003 1:41:24 PM PST by Jimmyclyde
Stranded human shields buses seek fare home
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 the 3,400 pounds 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 travelled 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 travelled 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."
ROTFLMBO!!! That one gets my vote!
You guys are killing me here! I'm laughing so hard I have tears in my eyes and my sides hurt.
Or get the buses' owner a camel to take him home, with a sign on it that reads "I was a human shield in Baghdad and all I have to show for it is this stupid camel."
Wonder if these morons have heard that Saddam plans to dress up a bunch of his goons in American and British military uniforms and send them out to commit atrocities on his own people and then blame us. Where is the outrage against a dictator who would do such things? Never mind; we're talking about liberals that wouldn't know an intelligent thought if it materialized and walked up and introduced itself.
I would have missed this thread, sweetliberty....thanks for the ping, and I agree....great title for the compilation of this "series" of Comedy of Errors.
. . .bomb here!
"I had promised my wife I would get the buses home," he said. "If I don't get them home, we're absolutely stuck."
Well, you know what, buddy? You should have thought of that BEFORE you agreed to do this.
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