Posted on 09/08/2002 6:01:46 AM PDT by zapiks44
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."
We should actually give these guys a lift into baghdad....Slim Pickens style, LOL!
In fact, I cordially invite all who want to defend a brutal dictator who has: gassed, tortured, murdered, and raped thousands of peopel to do the same.
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