Article from a human shield

[Mugzy Profile]

A friend sent me this one. Very good read.

Subject: Article from a human shield



I was a naive fool to be a human shield for Saddam
By Daniel Pepper (Filed: 23/03/2003)

I wanted to join the human shields in Baghdad because it was direct
action
which had a chance of bringing the anti-war movement to the forefront of
world attention. It was inspiring: the human shield volunteers were
making a
sacrifice for their political views - much more of a personal investment
than going to a demonstration in Washington or London. It was simple -
you
get on the bus and you represent yourself.

So that is exactly what I did on the morning of Saturday, January 25. I
am a
23-year-old Jewish-American photographer living in Islington, north
London.
I had travelled in the Middle East before: as a student, I went to the
Palestinian West Bank during the intifada. I also went to Afghanistan as
a
photographer for Newsweek.

The human shields appealed to my anti-war stance, but by the time I had
left
Baghdad five weeks later my views had changed drastically. I wouldn't
say
that I was exactly pro-war - no, I am ambivalent - but I have a strong
desire to see Saddam removed.

We on the bus felt that we were sympathetic to the views of the Iraqi
civilians, even though we didn't actually know any. The group was less
interested in standing up for their rights than protesting against the
US
and UK governments.

I was shocked when I first met a pro-war Iraqi in Baghdad - a taxi
driver
taking me back to my hotel late at night. I explained that I was
American
and said, as we shields always did, "Bush bad, war bad, Iraq good". He
looked at me with an expression of incredulity.

As he realised I was serious, he slowed down and started to speak in
broken
English about the evils of Saddam's regime. Until then I had only heard
the
President spoken of with respect, but now this guy was telling me how
all of
Iraq's oil money went into Saddam's pocket and that if you opposed him
politically he would kill your whole family.

It scared the hell out of me. First I was thinking that maybe it was the
secret police trying to trick me but later I got the impression that he
wanted me to help him escape. I felt so bad. I told him: "Listen, I am
just
a schmuck from the United States, I am not with the UN, I'm not with the
CIA - I just can't help you."

Of course I had read reports that Iraqis hated Saddam Hussein, but this
was
the real thing. Someone had explained it to me face to face. I told a
few
journalists who I knew. They said that this sort of thing often happened
-
spontaneous, emotional, and secretive outbursts imploring visitors to
free
them from Saddam's tyrannical Iraq.

I became increasingly concerned about the way the Iraqi regime was
restricting the movement of the shields, so a few days later I left
Baghdad
for Jordan by taxi with five others. Once over the border we felt
comfortable enough to ask our driver what he felt about the regime and
the
threat of an aerial bombardment.

"Don't you listen to Powell on Voice of America radio?" he said. "Of
course
the Americans don't want to bomb civilians. They want to bomb government
and
Saddam's palaces. We want America to bomb Saddam."

We just sat, listening, our mouths open wide. Jake, one of the others,
just
kept saying, "Oh my God" as the driver described the horrors of the
regime.
Jake was so shocked at how naive he had been. We all were. It hadn't
occurred to anyone that the Iraqis might actually be pro-war.

The driver's most emphatic statement was: "All Iraqi people want this
war."
He seemed convinced that civilian casualties would be small; he had such
enormous faith in the American war machine to follow through on its
promises. Certainly more faith than any of us had.

Perhaps the most crushing thing we learned was that most ordinary Iraqis
thought Saddam Hussein had paid us to come to protest in Iraq. Although
we
explained that this was categorically not the case, I don't think he
believed us. Later he asked me: "Really, how much did Saddam pay you to
come?"

It hit me on visceral and emotional levels: this was a real portrayal of
Iraq life. After the first conversation, I completely rethought my view
of
the Iraqi situation. My understanding changed on intellectual,
emotional,
psychological levels. I remembered the experience of seeing Saddam's
egomaniacal portraits everywhere for the past two weeks and tried to
place
myself in the shoes of someone who had been subjected to seeing them
every
day for the last 20 or so years.

Last Thursday night I went to photograph the anti-war rally in
Parliament
Square. Thousands of people were shouting "No war" but without thinking
about the implications for Iraqis. Some of them were drinking, dancing
to
Samba music and sparring with the police. It was as if the protesters
were
talking about a different country where the ruling government is
perfectly
acceptable. It really upset me.

Anyone with half a brain must see that Saddam has to be taken out. It is
extraordinarily ironic that the anti-war protesters are marching to
defend a
government which stops its people exercising that freedom.

[bayotanzk Profile]

Makes you wonder what goes thru some peoples mind. Great post. Kinda nutty people to go to scenic iraq.