Fear grips as 62 y.o. "human shield" faces jail (And such a sweet,Judy Colins-type face,too!)

BBc On-Line ^ | Sunday, 21 September, 2003 | Fergal Parkinson

[yankeedame]

Last Updated: Sunday, 21 September, 2003, 00:14 GMT 01:14 UK

Fear as human shield faces jail

By Fergal Parkinson
BBC correspondent in Florida

Fippinger will now probably lose her home,
her pension, even her freedom.

Sitting in her modest two-bedroom home on the west Florida coast, Faith Fippinger begins to cry as she talks about the prospect of going to jail.

This spring, the 62-year-old retired schoolteacher decided to travel to Iraq as a human shield.

To many she is a humanitarian, but in the eyes of the US Government she is a criminal.

By the standards of most Americans Faith Fippinger is well-travelled.

Over the past few years she has visited almost every continent and the souvenirs dotted around the house prove it.

High penalties

But it was her decision to travel to Iraq to try to prevent the war which has got her into trouble.

Dozens of people
travelled to Iraq as human shields

"War is carnage, I understand that," she says.

"War is death, I understand that. In my opinion though this war was illegal, unjust and unnecessary," she told me.

For three months she travelled around Iraq, guarding oil refineries, teaching in schools and working in hospitals.

But when she returned home there was a letter waiting for her from the US Treasury Department.

"It was a requirement to send information as to why I was in Iraq," she says.

"It also said the penalties for being there could be as high as a million dollars and up to 12 years in jail."

'Freedom of speech'

By going to Iraq Faith Fippinger had broken the US economic embargo on Iraq, which had been in place for many years.

The letter explained that by travelling to the country and spending money there, Miss Fippinger was now liable for prosecution.

It's in regimes like Saddam Hussein's where that freedom is not allowed

Faith Fippinger

Supporters argue that she was simply exercising her right to freedom of travel and speech and accuse the Bush administration of trying to make an example of her.

"You know, part of what democracy is all about is that you can have varying opinions and that we can express them," she says.

"It's in regimes like Saddam Hussein's where that freedom is not allowed."

But the US Treasury Department is standing firm.

In a statement to the BBC it said that to express one's freedom of speech is a right but breaking the law of the United States is not a privilege.

It says it fully intends to proceed with her prosecution.

For travelling to Iraq Faith Fippinger will now probably lose her house, her pension and go to jail.

[finnman69]

Too bad. Break the law, pay the price.

[DC native]

Can I have her house?

[MizSterious]

(sniff, sniff) So this woman works against her own country, then whines when it's time to pay the piper? Didn't this ex-school teacher think to check the laws about traveling to Iraq before departing? My guess is--she knew it was illegal but thought she was above the law.

Now she can be a human shield at the Gray Bars Hotel.

[Uncle George]

True: If you can't do the time, don't do the crime!!!!!!!

[Terry Mross]

If they prosecute this old lady why are they not prosecuting Sean Penn and a couple congressmen. They all spent money in Iraq. I can't stand the "human shields" but I have to agree with her that she had the right to go. If Jesse Jackson can go anywhere he wants why can't she?

[JammingJAY]

Saddam thanks her.

[Balding_Eagle]

lose her house, her pension and go to jail

As I understand her position, she was willing to lose her life in Iraq. What's her beef? she's getting off easy.

[sd-joe]

>> "guarding oil refineries" <<

Guarding. LOL

Faith Flip(the)finger couldn't guard an empty paper bag.

[Rodney King]

"You know, part of what democracy is all about is that you can have varying opinions and that we can express them,"

Nobody is punishing her for expressing her opinion. My only question is why we are not charging Jane Fonda while we are at it.

[PaulJ]

Did she travel to Iraq during the Clinton bombing campaigns? Did she go to Bosnia or Kosovo or Somalia or Haiti during those years? If not, she's just another bag of wind that deserves what she gets.

[Servant of the 9]

For travelling to Iraq Faith Fippinger will now probably lose her house, her pension and go to jail.

GOOD

Stupidity has always been a Capital Crime.

SO9

[NautiNurse]

She is from the wrong coast of Florida, far outnumbered by conservatives.

[ThreePuttinDude]

For travelling to Iraq Faith Fippinger will now
probably lose her house, her pension and go to jail.

I can tell you this, the people that I've talked to about
this, have all agreed, the idiot deserves what she gets.

Thats the opinion here in Sarasota. To hell with her.

[Terry Mross]

Forgot about Jane....I agree with you. Charging this old lady isn't going to be an examle. Charging Penn or Jesse would send a hellofa message.

[ChadGore]

Freedom of speech is not a safe harbor for fabrication.

[mountaineer]

I can picture this BBC writer sobbing greatly as he wrote about this noble woman's plight.

[Dane]

Let her move to the place which believes in her cause, France.

That way when she has a heart attack in August or is stifling in her non air-conditioned apartment, she can wait for 3 hours while the EMT staff is short staffed because nothing gets in the way of a french vacation.

[isthisnickcool]

Looks to me like the BBC reporter is jumping to conclusions. The woman got a letter. So far, the feds have not done anything to her. It's a stretch to say she is going to lose her house or anything else.

[liberty or death]

If we lost any soldiers in an attempt to not harm the "shields" than they should also be charged with murder.