| “Some British ‘human Shields’ Flee Iraq, Cite
Safety Fears.” Tampa Bay Observer (AP). March 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 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."
…
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.
|
