"Shocked back to reality"

[Communication]

Some of the deluded "human shields" who let themselves be used by the monster Saddam are coming home with all their blinkered Western naivete stripped away.



A group of American anti-war demonstrators who came to Iraq with Japanese human shield volunteers made it across the border today with 14 hours of uncensored video, all shot without Iraqi government minders present. Kenneth Joseph, a young American pastor with the Assyrian Church of the East, told UPI the trip "had shocked me back to reality." Some of the Iraqis he interviewed on camera "told me they would commit suicide if American bombing didn't start. They were willing to see their homes demolished to gain their freedom from Saddam's bloody tyranny. They convinced me that Saddam was a monster the likes of which the world had not seen since Stalin and Hitler. He and his sons are sick sadists. Their tales of slow torture and killing made me ill, such as people put in a huge shredder for plastic products, feet first so they could hear their screams as bodies got chewed up from foot to head."

http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=...1-023627-5923r

[Communication]

Iraqis cheer American troops while US and UK citizens boo:

The town of Nasiria is all but in American hands, though there are pockets of resistance. But the impression I get is that some Iraqi forces are just drifting away from their units. The two vital bridges in the town which span the river Euphrates have been secured.

I'm looking out now as this large convoy and can see local people in Basra . There are lots of people coming out, lots of children and they are applauding. The people coming out to shake the hands of American forces who are seen as liberating the city of Basra. This has a significant impact on morale.

Coming into Basra as part of a massive military convoy, I encountered a stream of young men, dressed in what appeared to be Iraqi army uniforms, applauding the American marines as they swept past in tanks. American predictions that many here would choose to surrender rather than fight appear to have come true.


Central London:

Outside Downing Street, one woman, overcome with emotion screamed a message through a megaphone - taken to be aimed at Tony Blair: "Stop the War. Do you not understand you are killing innocent people?"



http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/2873651.stm

[Bard Fan]

The Guardian - James Meek

Afraid that the US and Britain will abandon them, the people of Safwan did not touch the portraits and murals of Saddam Hussein hanging everywhere. It was left to the marines to tear them down. It did not mean there was not heartfelt gladness at the marines' arrival. Ajami Saadoun Khlis, whose son and brother were executed under the Saddam regime, sobbed like a child on the shoulder of the Guardian's Egyptian translator. He mopped the tears but they kept coming.

"You just arrived," he said. "You're late. What took you so long? God help you become victorious. I want to say hello to Bush, to shake his hand."

[cerulean]

http://sf.indymedia.org/news/2003/03/1590685/php
was a human shield
by Daniel Pepper • Tuesday March 25, 2003 at 06:19 PM
Why I regret being a human shield.

'I was a fool to be a human shield for Saddam', By Daniel Pepper

...
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 realized 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 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.

Perhaps the most crushing thing we learned was that most ordinary Iraqis thought Saddam 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 Iraqi life. After the first conversation I completely rethought my view of the Iraqi situation. My understanding changed on the intellectual, emotional, psychological levels. . . .

[peacelover]

Communication - happy 22nd for Monday!

As for these anti-war protestors, they ought to realise it's too late. Fair enough, we live in a democracy and I fully defend the right of anyone to have an opinion for or against the war. However, once the war has started, it's not going to stop because some woman screamed at Tony Blair. It's not going to stop because all the beautiful old buildings in Oxford have had "NO WAR" scrawled on them. (I'm sure this is the same in other cities too). It's not going to stop because people march in Hyde Park or wherever. These protests will not change anything.

So what will they achieve?

Not a damn thing except damaging the morale of our troops and instilling a sense of self-righteousness in the minds of those misguided enough to continue with these protests.

Don't get me wrong, I thought it was legitimate to protest when we had not yet begun war and when both civilians and governments were still deciding the best course of action. But now that the war has begun, the protests will do no good whatsoever, but potentially a lot of harm.

Whether or not we wanted this war, it's about time we all got behind our troops - imagine risking your own life, and watching the lives of your fellow soldiers be lost for a cause that your own country was still labelling worthless.

[Communication]

Originally posted by peacelover
Communication - happy 22nd for Monday!

Oh my G-d! Are you reading my profile? I can't believe that you remember something like that from a year ago. YOU ARE GOOD!!!!

Thank you, thank you. How's law school?

[minusthejihad]

Hey Peacelover,

Welcome back! I completely agree. I have been saying for some time that since the war HAS begun, true humanitarians should have or should shift their focus from "stop the war" to "how can I help make sure that a new, liberated, democratic Iraq can function successfully in the future with my help for its people, etc." meaning, since you have no chance to stop the war, at least start thinking about how you can actually help make a real difference.