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Human Shields, No Resume Needed
NYT
| 2-20-03
| Neil MacFarquhar
Posted on 02/21/2003 5:03:00 AM PST by at bay
Human Shields, No Résumé Needed
AGHDAD, Feb. 20 A rather jaunty sign advertising the grimmest of tasks was pinned up on a small notice board labeled "Human Shields" in the airy lobby of the Andalus Hotel Apartments here this morning.
It sought three additional volunteers to join the 13 already committed to living at the Baghdad South Power Plant to try to prevent its being bombed in the event of war. "There is no more important place for a shield to be," the notice read.
Volunteers from half a dozen nations expect to move into a large, collective dormitory room on Sunday at the power plant, a site they said was suggested to them by the Iraqi government. Since arriving earlier this month they have been touring hospitals, water treatment plants and other installations critical to the civilian population.
"They have shown us a number of sites and one of them was this power station," said Godfrey Meynell, a 68-year-old antiwar activist from Britain. "I have been pushing for this site because it seems to me that if the electricity is cut, then water treatment suffers, hospitals suffer. Of course America appears to have become so immoral now that there are few chances of it making it the slightest bit of difference."
Like much of the current confrontation with Iraq, the issue of human shields carries an echo from the Persian Gulf war of 1991. After its 1990 invasion of Kuwait, the Iraqis rounded up hundreds of oil workers, bankers and other expatriates, forcing them to live for months at scores of sites including Iraqi military bases and industrial plants. They were eventually released, before the war.
The United States has warned repeatedly that even though the shields this time are volunteers, their use would still be considered a war crime. "Deploying human shields is not a military strategy, it's murder, a violation of the laws of armed conflict and a crime against humanity, and it will be treated as such," Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said on Wednesday.
The participants took exception. "That is ridiculous," said Ken Nichols O'Keefe, a 33-year-old gulf war Marine veteran who initiated the idea. "They are not using me. I am here voluntarily. What is Saddam Hussein supposed to say? `No, they can't do it'? "
Earlier this month, Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz said the foreign volunteers were welcome. "They should come and set themselves up around places that we need to survive, to aid civil defense," he said.
The Iraqi government is paying to house the volunteers in a smattering of small hotels around downtown Baghdad and setting up free international telephone lines and special Internet access so they can lobby the folks back home.
Western diplomats are unsure, though, that the Iraqi government, once besieged, will want the public relations headache the shields will undoubtedly carry, and some of the volunteers themselves have their doubts.
"We fear they will keep us together and then push us out at the last minute," Mr. Meynell said.
Others have become aware of the sinister side of what some say they naïvely interpreted as a kind of extraordinary war protest. "I think the Iraqi government is potentially putting us in a dangerous position," said a young Australian who said he had decided to leave.
The shields stress that they came to protect civilians and not to support the Iraqi government, but the Iraqis inevitably blur such distinctions.
One American peace advocate recalled a typical march where the Westerners were chanting antiwar slogans and were suddenly joined by dozens of Iraqis hoisting pictures of Mr. Hussein. "It changed the spirit of the march," said a recent college graduate who is one of the volunteers. "That wasn't what we expected."
The number of human shields remain fluid.... Organizers brashly predict that the numbers will catapult to the thousands.
TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Front Page News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: blunderama; cannonfodder; idiots; losersonparade; organfarm; shields
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Cannon fodder by any other name. Too bad their organs can't be harvested first so they would actually do some good before they blow themselves up.
1
posted on
02/21/2003 5:03:00 AM PST
by
at bay
To: at bay
Organizers brashly predict that the numbers will catapult to the thousands As Sir Isacc Newton once said:
"What goes up, must come down."
2
posted on
02/21/2003 5:08:20 AM PST
by
Izzy Dunne
(Hello, I'm a TAGLINE virus. Please help me spread by copying me into YOUR tag line.)
To: at bay
I hope these "human shields" have their affairs in order.
To: at bay
"I think the Iraqi government is potentially putting us in a dangerous position," said a young Australian Brain cells.
Magnificent things.
Everybody should have some.
4
posted on
02/21/2003 5:11:36 AM PST
by
Izzy Dunne
(Hello, I'm a TAGLINE virus. Please help me spread by copying me into YOUR tag line.)
To: at bay
"That is ridiculous," said Ken Nichols O'Keefe, a 33-year-old gulf war Marine veteran who initiated the idea. "They are not using me. I am here voluntarily. What is Saddam Hussein supposed to say? `No, they can't do it'? "That would be treason, except that O'Keefe has already renounced his U.S. citizenship.
Earlier this month, Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz said the foreign volunteers were welcome. "They should come and set themselves up around places that we need to survive, to aid civil defense," he said.
And that is a very clear violation of the Geneva Convention.
5
posted on
02/21/2003 5:12:53 AM PST
by
angkor
To: at bay
These human shields will dirty their diapers and quietly scurry away when the first bomb hits. I can't see the problem if some of them get killed - fewer parasites coming back to us.
To: at bay
One American peace advocate recalled a typical march where the Westerners were chanting antiwar slogans and were suddenly joined by dozens of Iraqis hoisting pictures of Mr. Hussein. "It changed the spirit of the march," said a recent college graduate who is one of the volunteers. "That wasn't what we expected." I wonder if "changing the spirit" is code for "revealed our true intentions"?
7
posted on
02/21/2003 5:19:43 AM PST
by
Kawolski
To: at bay
"I think the Iraqi government is potentially putting us in a dangerous position," said a young Australian who said he had decided to leave. What can I say? Leaves me speechless.
To: glockmeister40
These human shields will dirty their diapers and quietly scurry away when the first bomb hits. Except the Iraqis won't let them leave!
To: at bay
"Others have become aware of the sinister side of what some say they naïvely interpreted as a kind of extraordinary war protest. "I think the Iraqi government is potentially putting us in a dangerous position," said a young Australian who said he had decided to leave. " (excerpt from article)
No kidding, Einstein! Duhhhhh. What did you think you were going over there for.....to make burqa's?
I shouldnt be too hard on the kid.....most of his fellow Saddam Suckups havent caught on yet
10
posted on
02/21/2003 5:24:52 AM PST
by
UCFRoadWarrior
(I Wonder What Susan Sarandon Looks Like In A Burqa?)
To: glockmeister40
I couldn't care less if they all got blow away......oh well.....next
11
posted on
02/21/2003 5:26:26 AM PST
by
geege
To: glockmeister40
Glock......I think you are absolutely right. When those bombs start bursting...they will high-tail it out of there. They are pro-Saddam Peaceniks....and the Peacenik-part will take over quickly
12
posted on
02/21/2003 5:27:22 AM PST
by
UCFRoadWarrior
(I Wonder What Susan Sarandon Looks Like In A Burqa?)
To: at bay
The number of human shields remain fluid.... They run in, they run back out...
This article is priceless. Nothing like a brush with the real 3rd world to focus the heretofore unused mental processes.
13
posted on
02/21/2003 5:32:54 AM PST
by
aBootes
(Stock up on popcorn now...)
To: at bay
Looks like we're going to have lots of recipients of the
Darwin Award very soon.
14
posted on
02/21/2003 5:32:55 AM PST
by
RayChuang88
(Clueless bunch aren't they)
To: at bay
Others have become aware of the sinister side of what some say they naïvely interpreted as a kind of extraordinary war protest. "I think the Iraqi government is potentially putting us in a dangerous position," said a young Australian who said he had decided to leave.
Airfare to Europe: $400.00
Busfare and lodging to get to Iraq: $500.00
Realizing you're an idiot who's so very screwed once you get there: PRICELESS!!!
To: at bay
"They are not using me. I am here voluntarily. What is Saddam Hussein supposed to say? `No, they can't do it'? " Yeah! When has Saddam Hussein ever denied anyone the right of free expression? Get real!
To: at bay
Sign up today and win one of these spiffy shirts.
17
posted on
02/21/2003 5:55:48 AM PST
by
Fixit
(Aim Small, Miss Small)
To: GirlShortstop
let's organize a drive to send them marshmallows!
18
posted on
02/21/2003 5:58:50 AM PST
by
glock rocks
(duck and cover, er, stop drop and roll.)
To: GirlShortstop
"Airfare to Europe: $400.00
Busfare and lodging to get to Iraq: $500.00
Realizing you're an idiot who's so very screwed once you get there: PRICELESS!!!"
LOL!!!!!!
To: at bay
Do these idiots really think that Saddam will allow them to be stationed in sensitive areas like power plants? Really now, what's to prevent some US Special Forces personnel from "volunteering" as human shields and then sabotaging the site that they're shielding? That's the way I would think if I was in charge of where the Iraqi's are allowing them to go.
20
posted on
02/21/2003 6:00:43 AM PST
by
par4
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