Nine of the 11 "human shields" who traveled from the U.K. to Iraq to act as human shields to protect Iraq assets have fled Iraq. Why? They were stunned that they could not pick and choose the sites they would guard (being assigned to oil refineries, not orphanages, imagine that!) They were stunned that they could not "negotiate" with the Iraqi government.
The left's unlimited capacity for naive idiocy continues to amaze me. Here's a story from the UK's Daily Telegraph: Inside the deluded world of the 'human shields'
My favorite quote? This one perfectly captures the misguided innocence of the group. In explaining the financial problems plaguing the group as they traveled from the UK to Baghdad, this telling anecdote: "a £500 donation from a well-wisher in Istanbul was squandered on boxes of Prozac in a misguided attempt to cheer up the war-weary Iraqi civilians." Do they get it yet?
Full Version: Human shields get a reality check
This is just a riot! 
Did they honestly not expect Saddam to manipulate them?
Did they honestly not expect Saddam to manipulate them?
Which page of the _Telegraph_ do you read? Another site comes up with some different numbers. Note that Charlotte Edwardes has a byline in both articles.
>>
Human shields scramble out rather than face the danger
Baghdad/London |By Philip Sherwell and Charlotte Edwardes | 03-03-2003
Almost all of the first British "human shields" to go to Iraq were on their way home Saturday after deciding that their much-heralded task was now too dangerous.
Two red double-decker buses, which symbolised the hopes of anti-war activists when they arrived to a fanfare of publicity a fortnight ago, slipped quietly out of Baghdad on the long journey back to Britain, carrying most of the 11 protesters with them.
Nine out of the original 11 activists decided to pull out after being given an ultimatum by Iraqi officials to station themselves at targets likely to be bombed in a war or leave the country. Two left immediately by taxi and a further six were last night on the buses, bound initially for Syria.
Among those departing Saturday was 68-year-old Godfrey Meynell, who received a farewell from workers at the Baghdad power plant where he has slept for the past week. Meynell, a former High Sheriff of Derbyshire, admitted that he was leaving out of "cold fear".
He had been summoned, along with 200 other shields from all over the world, to a meeting at a Baghdad hotel Saturday. Abdul Hashimi, the head of the Friendship, Peace and Solidarity organisation that is officially hosting the protesters, told the shields to choose between nine so-called "strategic sites" by Sunday or quit the country.
The Iraqi warning follows frustration among Saddam's officials that only about 65 of the volunteers had so far agreed to take up positions at the oil refineries, power plants and water-purification sites selected by their hosts.
....
Some shields said they were leaving because they had run out of money or needed to return to their families, while a further 20 Britons are remaining in Baghdad after two new groups arrived by bus from Jordan last week.
....
© The Telegraph Group Limited, 2003 London
<<
So, if I get this all straight:
1) almost all the first Britons to arrive have boogied out of there.
2) there are some 200 in total from all countries.
3) new Britons have just arrived.
I imagine that by tomorrow, some more will have left, and some more will have arrived. I still wouldn't want to be one.
I Googled for "human shields Iraq" to find that article.
[ March 02, 2003, 11:06 PM: Message edited by: twin58 ]
>>
Human shields scramble out rather than face the danger
Baghdad/London |By Philip Sherwell and Charlotte Edwardes | 03-03-2003
Almost all of the first British "human shields" to go to Iraq were on their way home Saturday after deciding that their much-heralded task was now too dangerous.
Two red double-decker buses, which symbolised the hopes of anti-war activists when they arrived to a fanfare of publicity a fortnight ago, slipped quietly out of Baghdad on the long journey back to Britain, carrying most of the 11 protesters with them.
Nine out of the original 11 activists decided to pull out after being given an ultimatum by Iraqi officials to station themselves at targets likely to be bombed in a war or leave the country. Two left immediately by taxi and a further six were last night on the buses, bound initially for Syria.
Among those departing Saturday was 68-year-old Godfrey Meynell, who received a farewell from workers at the Baghdad power plant where he has slept for the past week. Meynell, a former High Sheriff of Derbyshire, admitted that he was leaving out of "cold fear".
He had been summoned, along with 200 other shields from all over the world, to a meeting at a Baghdad hotel Saturday. Abdul Hashimi, the head of the Friendship, Peace and Solidarity organisation that is officially hosting the protesters, told the shields to choose between nine so-called "strategic sites" by Sunday or quit the country.
The Iraqi warning follows frustration among Saddam's officials that only about 65 of the volunteers had so far agreed to take up positions at the oil refineries, power plants and water-purification sites selected by their hosts.
....
Some shields said they were leaving because they had run out of money or needed to return to their families, while a further 20 Britons are remaining in Baghdad after two new groups arrived by bus from Jordan last week.
....
© The Telegraph Group Limited, 2003 London
<<
So, if I get this all straight:
1) almost all the first Britons to arrive have boogied out of there.
2) there are some 200 in total from all countries.
3) new Britons have just arrived.
I imagine that by tomorrow, some more will have left, and some more will have arrived. I still wouldn't want to be one.
I Googled for "human shields Iraq" to find that article.
[ March 02, 2003, 11:06 PM: Message edited by: twin58 ]
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