Human shield action to Iraq

In December 2002, Kenneth O'Keefe, an ex-U.S. marine and Persian Gulf War veteran who had attempted multiple times to renounce his U.S. citizenship, posted a call to action for large numbers of western citizens to migrate to Iraq and deploy themselves as "Human Shields".

O'Keefe believed that protests and petitions had no chance of preventing the invasion and that a large presence of western citizens, strategically placed in Iraq at potential targets, was the only viable deterrent to war.

Consequently, he received no favor from Saddam, his influence within the action declined rapidly as he traveled to Iraq, and eventually he was deported days before the invasion.

Before his deportation he repeatedly alleged Western support for Hussein during some of his most notorious atrocities; ultimately he argued that it was the people of Iraq who would suffer most from war.

Some, including a 21-year-old, Tom Hurndall, a young photo-journalist, who had travelled to observe and work with the human shields, left Baghdad over concerns as to the activities being undertaken.

During their deployments a small group of volunteers led by Gordon Sloan of New Zealand took on the job of vetting sites to ensure they were not in close proximity to military facilities.

[13] With an invasion imminent Hashimi became frustrated by Sloan's explorations, called a meeting, and asked the activists to deploy to sites or leave Iraq.

It was the trigger of much anxiety among the volunteers[15] and negative reporting in the media, including mis-reports that activists were being forced to deploy to military sites.

[16] 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.

[21] Maria Ermanno, chairwoman of the Swedish Peace and Arbitration Society, cited reports that Iraqi officials were arranging transportation, accommodations and news conferences for the human shields and that they were being used for propaganda purposes by Saddam Hussein: "To go down to Iraq and live and act there on the regime's expense, then you're supporting a terrible dictator.

[22] The Iraqi government was also criticized for encouraging and facilitating the human shield actions, since this was a violation of international law and Protocol I, article 20 of the Geneva Convention.

"It was the right thing to do," claimed Eric Levy who was at Dura oil refinery in southern Baghdad for the duration of the air campaign: "The war was illegal and immoral.