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On January 25, 2003 an international group of volunteers left London and headed for Baghdad to act as voluntary human shields, hoping to avert a U.S. invasion.1 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 afterwards, instigated the action with an article in The Observer, titled "Back to Iraq as a human shield".2 The convoy travelled through Europe and Turkey by bus to pick up like-minded people along the way, totaling roughly 75 people.3 It has been estimated that 200-500 people eventually made their way to Iraq before the U.S. invasion in march.4
Human shields black bus, January 25, 2003 Upon reaching Baghdad a strategy was formed on the assumption that there would not be enough people to avert an invasion.4 This was to involve the voluntary deployment of activists to humanitarian sites throughout Baghdad, and possibly Basra, in an effort to avert the bombing of such sites.
There was much internal debate about which sites were to be chosen.5 Some volunteers had travelled to Iraq on the assumption that they were deploying to schools, hospitals or archeological sites. It was eventually agreed that these sites were unsuitable. Schools would be closed, unqualified people were a potential hindrance in hospitals, and archeological sitesalthough potential targetswere 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.6 All these sites were targeted and bombed, most in clear contravention of the Geneva Conventions, by U.S. bombers in the 1991 Gulf War.
During these deployments a small group of volunteers, lead by Gordon Sloan of New Zealand, took on the job of checking proposed sites to ensure they were not military sites or in close vicinity to such. This was to be the cause of some conflict with their Iraqi host, Dr. Abdul Razak al-Hashimi, head of the Friendship, Peace and Solidarity organisation which was hosting the activists, under the authority of the Baathist government.7
Human shields meeting in Iraq, March 1, 2003, at the Palestine Hotel in Baghdad, Iraq With an invasion imminent, and possibly unused to the idea of anarchic decision-making, Hashimi became frustrated by these explorations, called a meeting, and asked the activists to deploy to sites or leave Iraq. This single act is said by some of the leading volunteers to have been a costly political mistake.8 It was the trigger of much anxiety among activists9 and negative reporting in the media, including mis-reports that activists were being forced to deploy to military sites. 10
It was also at this point that some of the British volunteers were to return to London along with the two double-decker red buses and their owner, which were originally meant to have left soon after arrival.11 These acts and the paranoia that rose up around Hashimi's announcement was to slow the influx of activists and cause some of those already there to leave Iraq, believing they had lost credibility through Hashimi's actions. Many activists were to stay on, however, and continue to shield the chosen sites. Of all the sites only one was eventually bombedthe Al Mamun Telecommunications Facilitya day after the human shields pulled out of it,12 arguably a legitimate target under the Geneva Conventions.
It is difficult to say whether the human shield action to Iraq had any effect on the outcome of the U.S. bombing campaign. 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.13 It is possible that, had the human shield action not taken place, and had the world not had such a laser focus on Iraq at the time of invasion, the U.S. government might have bombed civilian infrastructure as they did in 1991.
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References
Note 1: "'Human shields' head for Iraq (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/2693289.stm)." BBC News, 25 January, 2003. Accessed on 30 January, 2005.
Note 2: "Back to Iraq as a human shield (http://observer.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,866254,00.html)." The Observer, 29 December, 2002. Accessed on January 30, 2005.
Note 3: "Volunteer 'human shields' flock to Iraq (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/2771529.stm)." BBC News, 17 February, 2003. Accessed on 30 January, 2005.
Note 4: "The Human Shield Movement (http://zmagsite.zmag.org/Nov2003/simanowitzpr1103.html)." paragraph 8, Z Magazine Online, November 2003, Volume 16, Number 11. Accessed on 30 January, 2005.
Note 5: "The Human Shield Movement (http://zmagsite.zmag.org/Nov2003/simanowitzpr1103.html)." paragraph 6, Z Magazine Online, November 2003, Volume 16, Number 11. Accessed on 30 January, 2005.
Note 6: "Human Shields Put Bush on Notice (http://www.humanshields.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=16)." Human Shield Action to Iraq official website. Accessed on 30 January, 2005.
Note 7: "Body blow as human shields ordered out (http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/03/07/1046826530928.html?oneclick=true)." The Age, 8 March, 2003. Accessed on 30 January, 2005.
Note 8: "Christiaan Briggs Reports On Iraq (http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/HL0303/S00105.htm)." Scoop, 14 March, 2003. Accessed on 30 January, 2005. (A self-citation by an organiser of the human shield action and a contributor to this article.)
Note 9: "Company of a stranger (http://www.guardian.co.uk/weekend/story/0,,999861,00.html)." Guardian Unlimited, 19 July, 2003. Accessed on 30 January, 2005.
Note 10: "The Human Shield Movement (http://zmagsite.zmag.org/Nov2003/simanowitzpr1103.html)." Z Magazine Online, November 2003, Volume 16, Number 11. Accessed on 30 January, 2005.
Note 11: "UK bus owner defends Iraq trip (http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/03/04/sprj.irq.human.shields/)." CNN, Special Report, War in Iraq, 4 March, 2003. Accessed on 30 January, 2005.
Note 12: "Human Shields Put Bush on Notice (http://www.humanshields.org)." Human Shield Action to Iraq official website, front page. Accessed on 30 January, 2005.
Note 13: "Transcript of Lou Dobbs Moneyline (http://cnnstudentnews.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0302/26/mlld.00.html)." CNN, 26 February, 2003. Accessed on 30 January, 2005.
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