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A group of Anti-war civilians from Western nations travelled to Iraq in 2003, hoping to serve as Human Shields so that Coalition troops would be unable to bomb certain locations during the opening phase of the Iraq War . Chronology On January 25 , 2003 a group of 50 volunteers from various nations left London and headed for Baghdad with the intention of acting as human shields. The convoy travelled through Europe and Turkey by bus to pick up like-minded people along the way, totalling roughly 75 people. It has been estimated that 200 to 500 people eventually made their way into Iraq before the U.S. invasion in March. The action's primary organiser, Kenneth O'Keefe , a former U.S. Marine who served in the 1991 Gulf War but who renounced his citizenship afterward, initiated The January 25th convoy just one month earlier, with an article in '' The Observer '' titled "''Back to Iraq as a Human Shield''". Upon reaching Baghdad, a strategy was formed on the assumption that there would not be enough human shields to avert an invasion. This was to involve the voluntary deployment of activists to strategic locations throughout Baghdad, and possibly Basra, in an effort to avert the bombing of those locations. There was much internal debate about which locations were to be chosen. Some volunteers had travelled to Iraq on the assumption that they were deploying to schools, hospitals or archaeological sites. It was eventually agreed that these sites were unsuitable, because schools would be closed, unqualified people were a potential hindrance in hospitals, and archaeological sites—although potential targets—were thought to be of too lower priority in comparison to other potential targets. Eventually volunteers deployed to Al Daura Electrical Plant, Baghdad South Electrical Plant, 7th April Water Treatment Plant, Al Daura Water Treatment Plant, Tejio Food Silo, Al Daura Oil Refinery and Al Mamun Telecommunications Facility. All of these sites were bombed in the 1991 Gulf War. During these deployments, a small group of volunteers led by , Saddam Hussein 's spokesman during the first Gulf War, and head of the Friendship, Peace And Solidarity organisation which was hosting the activists, under the authority of the Baathist government. With an invasion imminent, Hashimi became frustrated by Sloan's explorations, called a meeting, and asked the activists to deploy to sites or leave Iraq. Hashimi's meeting is said by some of the leading volunteers to have been a costly political mistake. It was the trigger of much anxiety among the volunteers and negative reporting in the media, including mis-reports that activists were being forced to deploy to military sites. At this point, some of the volunteers who went to Iraq returned to London, along with the two double-decker buses and their owner. The paranoia that rose up around Hashimi's announcement slowed the influx of activists into Iraq, and caused some of those already there to leave Iraq, believing they had lost credibility through Hashimi's actions. The Iraqi authorities, on the other hand, saw O'Keefe and Sloan as constantly challenging Hashimi's authority and being deliberately disruptive, and that some would-be shields were going against the professed intention of acting as shields by asking to stay at locations which were less likely to be bombed than military sites; some human shields were therefore asked to leave the country. Many activists stayed on, however, and continued to shield the chosen sites. It is claimed that eighty human shields stayed in the Baghdad area throughout the bombing campaign. Analysis and Effects of the Human Shields in Baghdad, Iraq]] There is no conclusive evidence either way as to whether the human shield action to Iraq was a factor in the decision not to bomb much of the civilian infrastructure that was bombed in 1991. However on February 26 , 2003 , Senior CNN Pentagon Correspondent, Jamie McIntyre, commented that the "Pentagon says they will try to work around human shields" as long as they were not deployed to military sites. Of all the shielded sites, only one—arguably a legitimate target under the Geneva Conventions —was eventually bombed, the Al Mamun Telecommunications Facility , one day after the human shields pulled out of it. In "Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949 (Protocol 1)" of the Geneva Conventions , Article 52 prohibits attacking civilian infrastructure unless it is of military value, and Article 54 prohibits attacking food and water equipment, unless it is of military value and does not cause civilians to starve or be forced to move. Article 51, however, prohibits civilians such as human shields from being present, "to render certain points or areas immune from military operations, in particular in attempts to shield military objectives from attacks or to shield, favour or impede military operations". For violating the embargo against Iraq, many human shields face fines, loss of retirement benefits, and/or imprisonment. However, for colluding with the Baathists to violate Article 51 of the First Geneva Convention, it appears that no participants in the human shield action will be prosecuted by the USA. The USA only has authority to prosecute its own citizens for war-crimes; The Hague , operated by the UN, also has this right for citizens of any member-nation, if any member-nation cannot or will not prosecute its own citizens. Criticism At Home The Human Shield action was widely criticised for its actions, for what many saw as being an overt act of aiding Saddam Hussein’s regime. Charges of the shields being "dupes" and "useful idiots" for Saddam were widespread. Even Human Rights Watch joined in the criticism of the voluntary human shields. The human shields countered that while various governments around the globe carry out acts of aggression, the human shield action saw fit to defend against this one. Human Rights Watch stated that "civilians acting as human shields, whether voluntary or not, contribute indirectly to the war capability of a state," similar to workers in munitions factories. Human Rights Watch also repeated that the use of voluntary human shields is a violation of international law, citing Protocol I of the First Geneva Convention. Conservative pundit Jonah Goldberg noted after a debate with O'Keefe, that "O'Keefe and his friends are objectively in favour of Saddam Hussein and his murderous regime because they believe he is uniquely worth defending with their bodies. They may be brave, I guess, but they're still idiots, and I'm sure Saddam is grateful for them". citation 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 and that they were being used for propaganda purposes by Saddam Hussein. "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. The Iraqi regime was also criticised for encouraging and facilitating the human shield actions, since this was seen as violation of International Law and Protocol I, article 20 of the Geneva Convention . Possible False Accusations Against the Human Shields in the Media It was reported in the media that some individuals involved with the Human Shield Action admitted that some criticisms of their actions were valid. For example, there was widespread coverage of the criticisms by an Assyrian minister, Ken Joseph, who claimed to have gone to Baghdad as a human shield. However, the organisers of the Human Shield Movement claimed to have no knowledge of Ken Joseph. Joseph said he began to question and eventually reject his activities in Iraq after a being there only a short time. He noted that all foreigners in Iraq are subject to 24 hour surveillance by government minders and that many average Iraqis he spoke with strongly desired military action to depose Saddam Hussein. Another widely reported story was that of Daniel Pepper, a young American photographer who had gone to Baghdad as a human shield on the original convoy. In a piece written by Charlotte Edwardes of the Daily Telegraph and attributed to Pepper, it is claimed that after speaking to Iraqis, Pepper had realised that he had made a dreadful mistake. Pepper later claimed that he had said no such thing and had been the victim of unscrupulous journalism. citations on this section Comparison to Human Shields in The First Gulf War parked next to a historical site near Tallil]] Saddam Hussein's first utilisation of human shields occurred during Iraq's occupation of Kuwait in August 1990 and the international response, Operation Desert Shield. Within hours of the start of the invasion of Kuwait, Iraqi soldiers began taking hostage Western and other noncombatants they encountered as the Iraqi military occupied Kuwait. By late October, 1991, the Iraqis had arrested at least 104 American and more than 700 British, European, Australian, Japanese, and Kuwaiti men and moved them to 70 strategic sites in Iraq and Kuwait as a hedge against possible international military action. The sites included dams, refineries, munitions factories, agricultural sites, and weapons facilities. The Iraqi military had also placed military units in such a close proximity to civilian and humanitarian facilities that any attack on the these military units would virtually guarantee large collateral civilian damages. Aftermath See also
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References # Note|HeadForIraq}} 1 # Note|FlockToIraq}} 2 # Note|Numbers_1}} 3 # Note|Numbers_2}} 4 # Note|BackToIraq}} 5 # Note|Numbers_total}} 6 # Note|Internal_debate}} 7 # Note|HS_sites}} 8 # Note|Hashimi_conflict}} 9 # Note|Hashimi_mistake}} 10 (A self-citation by an organiser of the human shield action and a contributor to this article.) # Note|HS_anxiety}} 11 # Note|Mis-reports}} 12 # Note|Hashimi_Conflict}} 13 # Note|AskedToLeave}} 14# Note|Iraq_buses}} # Note|Mis-reports}} 15 # Note|Military_work_around}} 16 # Note|Bombed_day_after}} 17 # Note|Geneva_Conventions}} 18 # Note|JailFines}} 19 # Note|NoWarCrimesProsecution}} 20 #Note|NoWarCrimesProsecution}} 21 # Note|HRW}} 22 |