British peace activists to act as human shields for Baghdad

British peace protesters plan to go to Baghdad to act as voluntary "human shields" during a war against Iraq.

The activists, who have received President Saddam Hussein's blessing for the mission, want to try to deter attacks by "showing solidarity" with the Iraqi people and witnessing "their suffering".

They are willing to risk their lives in the hope that their presence at installations such as power stations might deter American and British bombing raids.

The "Iraq peace team", from the group Voices in the Wilderness, intends to go to Iraq as early as this month alongside volunteers from the United States.

One of the British volunteers, Matt Barr, 21, a student from Chichester, West Sussex, said: "Obviously, it's unpleasant to consider that you could be killed, but it is important to extend the arm of solidarity and brotherhood to a nation that is suffering - to bear witness to what is happening to the ordinary people."

He added: "I believe in the sanctity of human life. I have dedicated the last five years of my life to human rights. If there is a major attack on Iraq it is the innocent civilians who are going to suffer. That is something I cannot stand by and let happen."

Voices in the Wilderness, founded in Britain in 1998, grew out of the peace protests during the Gulf war, when British activists camped in the desert on the Iraqi border.

The group's website admits that members are involved in breaking "criminal" international sanctions against Baghdad. It says they "risk persecution and imprisonment" in doing so.

The "peace team" idea has been welcomed by the Iraqi regime. Kathy Kelly, the US co-ordinator of Voices in the Wilderness, secured agreement for the mission from Tariq Aziz, the deputy prime minister, in Baghdad in May.

She said: "We will tell everybody that goes over that they should be prepared to say that they have had a good life and this could be the last year of their life."

Mudhafar Amin, the diplomat representing Iraq's interests in London, said: "They are real humanitarians and very brave."

Voices in the Wilderness hopes that its peace team will eventually number 100 members, paying their own costs and working in groups of about 10.

Among the buildings they intend to visit are power and sewage plants. Milan Rai, a group co-ordinator, said the team would all be "seasoned non-violent activists" able to cope under "extreme stress".

Mr Rai, 37, a writer from Hastings, East Sussex, said: "I think that if there are Westerners at a power station, the chances of it getting hit will be reduced."

He added: "I don't think the phrase 'human shield' is appropriate. It evokes the way that some people were put at risk involuntarily."

When Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990, troops seized about 1,200 expatriate Britons. On Saddam's orders they were placed at key installations as "human shields". Their presence, Saddam reasoned, would deter allied air strikes.

The tactic prompted worldwide revulsion, especially when Saddam was filmed trying to create favourable propaganda by urging a five-year-old boy, Stuart Lockwood, from Worcester, to sit on his knee. The terrified boy refused.

Diplomatic efforts eventually led to the hostages' release, but many have suffered continuing psychological trauma. Two killed themselves.

Bernard Jenkin, the shadow defence secretary, criticised the planned peace mission. He said: "These people are what the communist Soviet Union used to refer to as useful idiots. They will simply be serving the propaganda interests of an evil dictator."

Desmond Doss was a Medal of Honor winner on Okinawa who was a 7th Day Adventist pacifist. For that reason he was a medic. Part of the Desmond Doss story below:

Enemy artillery, mortars and machinegun fire began to rake into the ranks of Company B, 77th Infantry Division. Japanese soldiers swarmed out of their foxholes and caves in every direction. Almost immediately 75 men fell wounded, and the remaining men were forced to fall back and retreat to the base of the escarpment. The only soldiers remaining at the top of the cliff were the wounded, the Japanese, and Desmond T. Doss.

Heedless of the shells that burst around him and the bullets directed his way, Desmond tended his injured comrades. At the base of the escarpment those few soldiers who had managed to escape the onslaught could only sit helplessly by and hear the sounds of the battle as the wounded struggled to survive atop the cliff. And then...amazingly...a wounded soldier appeared over the face of the escarpment. Dangling from a rope, he slowly descended to the safety of its base as a tall medic fed the rope through his hands from the summit. First one, then another, and another....and another. Heedless of the advancing Japanese, Desmond Doss went about the work of sending the wounded to safety. Reports of that day tell of Japanese advancing with rifles and bayonets to within a few feet of the medic, slowly lowering his men to safety, before one of the wounded could kill the enemy before they shot Doss.

For five hours Doss lowered soldier after soldier down the face of the escarpment, using little more than a tree stump to wind the top edge of the rope around. Throughout the five hours Desmond had only one thought. He prayed, "Lord, help me get one more. Just ONE more!" How many men Doss saved that day, only God knows. One hundred and fifty-five soldiers went up the escarpment that day, and only 55 were able to retreat without assistance. The Army determined the conscious objector who had almost been courts martialed or discharged as unfit for military service, had saved 100 lives. "Couldn't be," Desmond had replied. It couldn't have been more than 50. I wouldn't have had the time to save 100 men." In deference to Desmond's humble estimate, when the citation for his Medal of Honor was written, they "split the difference", crediting the intrepid soldier with saving 75 fellow soldiers.

That night General A.D. Bruce arrived from the 77th Division Headquarters. He was amazed when he heard the story of Desmond Doss and immediately began to prepare paperwork to award him the Medal of Honor. General Bruce missed the opportunity that evening to meet the heroic soldier, however. His incredible mission accomplished, a physically exhausted Desmond Doss had cleaned up as much as his simple surroundings would allow. Then he went off alone with his Bible to read, to pray, and to thank God for all He had accomplished on that day.

The bloody struggle for the Maeda Escarpment continued for weeks. On the night of May 21st the Americans launched a bold attack. When the return fire forced the Americans to take cover, Desmond remained in the open to treat the wounded. Then he, and three other soldiers, crawled into a hole to wait out the darkness. Suddenly a grenade landed among them. Three men scrambled out but Desmond was too late. Reflexively he covered the grenade with his boot, then felt it detonate beneath him and hurl his body into the darkness of night. When he fell back to earth the leg was still there, but bleeding badly from numerous wounds. Rather than call for another medic to leave shelter and risk his own life, Desmond bandaged his own wounds and waited the five hours alone until daylight broke. As the litterbearers arrived with the dawn and began to carry the wounded medic out of danger they passed another critically wounded soldier. Desmond instructed them to put down his litter, then rolled off it and told them to take the other man. While he awaited their return he was joined by yet another wounded soldier. Together the two of them set out for safety, leaning upon each other.

Once again rifle fire split the morning. Pain stabbed Desmond's arm which was curled across the shoulders of his new comrade. The sniper's bullet went into his wrist, exited through his elbow, and then lodged itself in his upper arm. Had the bullet not hit Doss, it probably would have struck his wounded compatriot in the neck. Desmond borrowed his friend's rifle and used the stock to fashion a splint for his useless arm. Then the two continued to crawl to safety.

Seventeen pieces of shrapnel were removed from Desmond's leg and his arm set in a sling. On the hospital ship Desmond was being prepared for the return home. Desmond Doss' war was over. He'd fought a good fight...his own way...without ever compromising his strong beliefs.

On October 12, 1945 Desmond Doss was invited to the White House. President Harry S Truman held a Medal of Honor in his hand as he looked at the brave young medic. "I would rather have this Medal," he said, "than to be the President." Then, with those words, he hung the Medal of Honor around the neck of Corporal Desmond Thomas Doss.

But I don't think Ms Kelly is the moral equivalent of Mr. Doss. He fought evil in his own way, the strict way permitted by his beliefs. Ms Kelly is fighting to protect a mass murderer.

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