'Human shields' to leave London for Iraq

A first wave of mainly Western volunteers will leave London this weekend to act as "human shields" at key sites in Iraq in case…

A first wave of mainly Western volunteers will leave London this weekend to act as "human shields" at key sites in Iraq in case of a US-led attack.

"The potential for white Western body parts flying around with the Iraqi ones should make them think again about this imperialist oil war," organiser Mr Ken Nichols, a former US marine, in the 1991 Gulf War, said.

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The potential for white Western body parts flying around with the Iraqi ones should make them think again about this imperialist oil war
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Mr Ken Nichols, "We the People" organiser

His "We the People" organisation will be sending off a first group of 50 human shields from the London's City Hall on Saturday, part of a series of departures organisers say will involve hundreds, possibly thousands, of volunteers.

Mr Nichols denied he was becoming a tool in Saddam's propaganda war. "It's laughable to say that we are working for Saddam when it was the UK and the US who gave him his biological and other weapons in the first place," he said. "The hypocrisy is mind-blowing. The biggest threat to world security at this moment is George W. Bush".

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The planned human shield convoys are one of several such efforts around the world to mobilise activists in Iraq as a deterrent against military strikes on Baghdad.

Mr Nichols's groups intend to drive through Europe and the Middle East en route to Iraq. The first will travel in a pair of double-decker buses, led by a car with a white peace flag on it.

"We the People" organisers said the self-financing human shield volunteers had come forward from a range of Western nations including the United States, Britain, Ireland, Switzerland, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Spain and Denmark. There were also some volunteers from Muslim nation Turkey.

The major rallying point for Muslims, however, is in Iraq's neighbour Jordan, where a campaign led by leftist parties and civic bodies is seeking 100,000 shield volunteers.

Baghdad has welcomed the plans.