{"article":{"id":32852,"heading":"Some British "human Shields" Flee Iraq, Cite Safety Fears","author":"Traveler","created":"2003-03-04 06:03:07","modified":"2003-03-09 18:14:03","last_modified":"Mon, 10 Mar 2003 01:14:03","article":"

Some British \"human Shields\" Flee Iraq, Cite Safety Fears

The Associated Press

Published: Mar 2, 2003

LONDON (AP)

Some of the peace activists who went to Iraq to serve as human shields in the event of war returned

home, fearing for their safety, a spokesman said Sunday.

The human shields are mostly European activists who drove from London to Baghdad in two double-decker buses last month, intending to guard civilian sites from a U.S.-led military attack.

Those who returned home had safety or financial concerns, spokesman Christiaan Briggs said.

\"The aim was always a mass migration and if we had had five to ten thousand people here there would never be a war,\" he said. \"We do not have those numbers.\"

The Sunday Telegraph newspaper reported that nine of the 11 British human shields in the bus convoy had left Baghdad. Briggs said about a dozen Britons remained in Iraq alongside several dozens from other countries.

He told Britain's Press Association news agency that Iraq limited the sites that human shields could visit. \"Now we are being told we cannot go to certain sites, such as hospitals, so we are reassessing our strategy,\" he said.

U.S. officials have said that it is a war crime to use civilians as human shields and that there's no way of guaranteeing their safety.

On Friday, the head of Sweden's largest peace organization urged human shields to leave Iraq, saying they were being used for propaganda purposes by Saddam Hussein.

Maria Ermanno, chairwoman of the Swedish Peace and Arbitration Society, cited reports that Iraqi officials were arranging transportation, accommodations and news conferences for the human shields.

\"To go down to Iraq and live and act there on the regime's expense, then you're supporting a terrible dictator. I think that method is entirely wrong,\" Ermanno told Swedish Radio.

AP-ES-03-02-03 1131EST

<\/p>\n","contact":"","link":"","address":"","phone":"","parent_id":0,"mime_type":"text\/plain","summary":"Mass surender of human shields\r\n","numcomment":10,"fileurl":"\/uploads\/","filesize":null,"article_url":"\/news\/2003\/03\/32852.php"},"attachments":[],"comments":[{"id":33114,"heading":"Mr","article":"Welcome to reality peacenik-plonkers !\r\n\r\n\r\n","author":"Joe S","parent_id":32852,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2003-03-05 18:57:01","modified":"2003-03-05 18:57:01","fileurl":""},{"id":33121,"heading":"Picture of Joe","article":"Found this picture of Joe S.","author":"photographer","parent_id":32852,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","created":"2003-03-05 19:15:35","modified":"2005-08-15 01:14:09","fileurl":"\/usr\/local\/www-domains\/la.indymedia.org\/public\/uploads\/2003\/03\/fugly3.jpg","image":{"original":"\/usr\/local\/www-domains\/la.indymedia.org\/public\/uploads\/2003\/03\/fugly3.jpg"}},{"id":33129,"heading":"Wow","article":"Wow\r\nCleanest shirt Bob ever wore.","author":"WoW","parent_id":32852,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2003-03-05 19:37:42","modified":"2003-03-05 19:37:42","fileurl":""},{"id":33134,"heading":"Mr.","article":"NO need to say anything. These peace activists say it all with their actions.","author":"X","parent_id":32852,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2003-03-05 20:05:00","modified":"2003-03-05 20:05:00","fileurl":""},{"id":33135,"heading":"OneEyedMan","article":"Don't look now halfwit...but you just said something...","author":"KPC","parent_id":32852,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2003-03-05 20:13:14","modified":"2003-03-05 20:13:14","fileurl":""},{"id":33308,"heading":"TLM","article":"But what about Funky Munkyz?

\r\n\r\nhttp:\/\/www.funkymunkyz.com\/<\/a>\r\n","author":"Lizard Master","parent_id":32852,"mime_type":"text\/html","created":"2003-03-06 14:34:17","modified":"2003-03-06 14:34:17","fileurl":""},{"id":34322,"heading":"Useful Action","article":"Instead of thinking up creative and useless ways to stop the war, people sympathetic ith the plight of the Iraqi people ould better serve them by raising money for aid or collecting food, water and other necessities. The Air Force is going to be dropping aid packages, but their efforts will be supplemented by organizations such as UNICEF. I suggest working as a volunteer, raising money for International Relief Organizations or even just donating blood and specifying its use might be more helpful to the Iraqis, who will almost certainly be facing war in the near future.\r\n\r\nSince the United States and most other countries so not actually AIM at (although they unfortunately do sometimes hit) civilian targets, the Human Shields wouldn't really even be preventing much. It's funny that Human Shields, used by other forces in order to further injur (see Bosnian\/Albanian conflicts, and the former practices of the Israeli forces) are supposed to be used to a good end here.\r\n\r\nPlease don't endorse these ex-hippies. Go to Iraq to volunteer if youre needed, raise money, send food and well-wishes, but don't simply stand around acting self-righteous.","author":"Maureen","parent_id":32852,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2003-03-09 13:03:24","modified":"2003-03-09 13:03:24","fileurl":""},{"id":34330,"heading":"What?","article":"You got to be kidding; of course we target civilians.\r\nAnd red cross food banks\r\nAnd wedding parties\r\nWater systems\r\nFUCK THIS SHIT\r\nSlashing someone and then putting bandaids over it\r\nis criminal hypocrisy.","author":"Incredulas in California","parent_id":32852,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2003-03-09 15:28:40","modified":"2003-03-09 15:28:40","fileurl":""},{"id":34356,"heading":"NO!","article":"Dammit! And I was so looking forward to Operation Friendly Fire.","author":"fresca","parent_id":32852,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2003-03-09 18:06:19","modified":"2003-03-09 18:06:19","fileurl":""},{"id":34357,"heading":"And this","article":"I want to thank incredulous for reminding the good folks of the arab world of Rule number 378 from the Handbook of "How to survive a War". It reads as follows. "In the event of a wedding ceremony in a situation where there are liberating air forces conducting KNOWN and VISIBLE missions in the immediate area, the most prudent course of action is to NOT repeat NOT employ the time-honored custom of firing assault rifles and rocket launchers into the air. While this is a fine way of toasting the new Bride and Groom, under these circumstances, it may draw a warranted attack from the pilots who will see nothing but heat sensing images and weapon fire coming at them."","author":"fresca","parent_id":32852,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2003-03-09 18:14:03","modified":"2003-03-09 18:14:03","fileurl":""}]}