According to this report in tomorrow's Guardian in the UK, there are no Western human shields. Iraq is claiming there are, but peace campaigners deny this. There may be Iraqi human shields, but they doubtless won't be volunteers.
Sarah Iraq turns to human shields President boasts of volunteers in war of words with Washington Suzanne Goldenberg in Washington Tuesday December 24, 2002 The Guardian The psychological war games between America and Iraq moved up a notch yesterday when Baghdad announced it was to welcome its first batch of volunteer human shields, ready to fling themselves in front of US bombers in the event of a war. "We are in the process of receiving the first group of volunteers who like to act as human shields," said Saad Qasim Hammoudi, an official of the ruling Ba'ath party. "These people will be distributed to vital and strategic installations in all Iraqi regions." The introduction of an element of choice for human shields is a departure for Iraq from the last Gulf war when hundreds of Iraqis were deployed at Saddam Hussein's palaces in Baghdad and throughout the countryside. Iraq also used civilians as human shields four years ago when the US and Britain launched an extensive air campaign in response to Baghdad's failure to cooperate with the last round of weapons inspections. Mr Hammoudi claimed yesterday that he was expecting volunteers from the US and Europe to risk their lives for President Saddam. However, Mr Hammoudi's news was greeted with distaste yesterday by America's tiny anti-war movement, which has spent months deflecting charges that its activists are prepared to die for the Iraqi leader. Three peace organisations which have been active in humanitarian relief and in organising visits to Iraq in defiance of US law denounced the report as propaganda. The Institute for Public Accuracy, which organised the visit to Baghdad of the actor Sean Penn, as well as a tour by US congressmen, said the stories about foreign human shields were untrue. "I know of groups going over to witness and to educate themselves, but I don't know of anybody going over and saying I am a human shield," a spokesman said yesterday. Members of a US delegation which returned from Baghdad at the weekend said there are about two dozen Western peace activists in Iraq at any one time. "Nobody is naive enough to believe that a superpower like the US is not going to bomb Iraq because there are peace people there," said Mary Trotochaud, who returned on Saturday. The increased sparring between Baghdad and Washington comes at a time when the US is doubling its military forces in the Gulf. On Sunday, an adviser to President Saddam, General Amir al-Saadi, challenged Washington to send in the CIA to investigate Baghdad's claims that it has no secret weapons. Washington dismissed the offer as a "stunt".
