Volunteer human shields' to head for Iraq; US Marine's regrets
Iraq-Regional, Politics, 1/22/2003

A first wave of mainly Western volunteers will leave London this weekend on a convoy bound for Iraq to act as "human shields" at key sites and populous areas in case of a U.S.-led war on Baghdad.

"The potential for white Western body parts flying around with the Iraqi ones should make them think again about this imperialist oil war," organizer Ken Nichols, a former U.S. marine in the 1991 Gulf War, told Reuters.

His "We the People" organization will be sending off a first group of 50 human shields from the London mayor's City Hall building Saturday, part of a series of departures organizers say will involve hundreds, possibly thousands, of volunteers.

Nichols' planned human shield convoys are one of several such efforts around the world to mobilize activists in Iraq as a deterrent against military strikes on Baghdad.

In Bucharest, more than 100 Romanian diehard communists said Tuesday they would travel by bus to Iraq to act as human shields in case of a U.S. attack.

Members of the Romanian Workers Party said they would set off next month to support "the cause of the people."

Nichols' groups intend to drive through Europe and the Middle East en route to Iraq. The first will travel in a pair of double-decker buses, led by a car with a white peace flag on it.

"We are on the verge of something big," said volunteer Christiaan Briggs, 26, from New Zealand. He argued that the stream of human shield volunteers was symptomatic of radicalizing anti-war opinion around the world. "People know this is wrong. It is just so blatantly transparent how the U.S. is trying to impose its hegemony."

"We the People" organizers said the self-financing human shield volunteers had come forward from a range of Western nations including the United States, Britain, Ireland, Switzerland, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Spain and Denmark.

There were also some volunteers from Turkey.

Washington and London are sending troops to the Gulf and threatening military action against Saddam unless he admits to possessing weapons of mass destruction and disarms.

"The hypocrisy is mind-blowing. The biggest threat to world security at this moment is (U.S. President) George W. Bush," says Nichols.

Nichols said his involvement in the human shield program was in part "penance" for his participation in the Gulf War when a U.S.-led force drove Saddam's troops out of Kuwait.

Previous Stories:
  Al-Hayat: AL: 15 Arab experts join the UN inspection teams   (1/18/2003)
  France warns against a separate action against Iraq, Baghdad delegates an envoy to the Arab states   (1/18/2003)
  Turkey calls for regional summit in Ankara on the Iraqi crisis   (1/17/2003)

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