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."
Uh,no, man, you know, I gotta go get my unemployment check and score some weed and some food stamps and. . . .
Just long enough to say that he was there, right? Of course these losers bugging out only shows that they knew all along that the good guys would not target civilians and civilian infrastructure, so they felt safe in pretending to be so courageous -- until Saddam Hussein's boys forced them to guard real targets or leave.
I hope they write large enough for the planes to see from 30 000 feet up, and/or the missles can read the signs.
"The activists also counted on being joined by thousands of protesters from all over the world. But the big numbers never materialized, and Iraq has limited the sites they can visit.
Some activists rightfully questioned whether accepting accommodations, transportation and other perks from Iraq amounted to supporting the Iraqi dictator more than peace.
It apparently only dawned on some of the activists that, rather than human shields, they had become human pawns in the Saddam Hussein public relations game.
What did you do in the war, Daddy?
"I was a human shield, son -- until the shooting started. Then I got the hell out of there. I may be liberal but I'm not crazy."
They must have realized they had more feedoms in their own homelands than in Iraq. heeheheeee
Someone should paint a Star of David and maybe some Hebrew words on those buses. Or wherever the shields are staying.
They thought they would stop the bombing.
A martyr's death? Geeze, that's a 15th century concept, dude. We just wanted to stop the bombing. Dying sucks.
Ya know?
Pass the bong.
/sarcasm
I think it would make a great movie. National Lampoon's Bagdad Vacation.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.