Arab and Western human shields stream into Baghdad in a last bid of protest against an impending Anglo-American military onslaught. Omayma Abdel-Latif talked to key organisers on both sides Magdi El-Kurdy has signed himself up to go to Baghdad, but he will not be acting as a human shield. "Europeans who sympathise with the Iraqis could go as human shields," the 47-year-old entrepreneur told Al-Ahram Weekly. "But we Egyptians will go to Baghdad as fighters. We named the first battalion after President Gamal Abdel- Nasser." El-Kurdy, who has a wife, two sons and a daughter, said on Sunday that his family understands why he needs to do this. Thousands of Egyptian volunteers have signed up to go to Iraq, El-Kurdy said, because they strongly believe that "in defending Iraq, they are defending Egypt". The campaign to gather volunteers to act as human shields or become potential fighters in Iraq was launched by Al-Karama group, a Nasserist- oriented movement. Other Egyptian NGOs have initiated similar campaigns to attract volunteers to go to Baghdad. This week a petition has been circulating on the Web to sign more people up. The Egyptian effort is part of an international campaign also aimed at bringing in the greatest number of volunteers willing to go to Iraq. With the prospect of war looming, there has been a spur of activity to send more anti-war activists from around the world to Baghdad. This week saw the launch of the first convoy from London with about a dozen human-shield volunteers headed by Ken Nichols , a former US marine who is considered the brain behind the launch of the international human shield campaign. The convoy will pick-up more volunteers en route and is due to arrive in Baghdad on 8 February. The second convoy will depart to Baghdad from London on 15 February and is expected to bring in hundreds of volunteers. Speaking to the Weekly on Sunday, said he received an overwhelming response from Europe. "We have received hundreds of requests from people willing to join us," he said. The sole motivation behind this popular support, said, was that "people don't want to be complacent in the killing spree that will take place in Iraq." But though the volunteers' spirit was "very high", he said at least 10,000 Westerners need to show up at the gates of Baghdad to stop the war from happening. The idea of sending human shields to Iraq, which was first floated some three weeks ago, has gained swift momentum among European anti-war activists and organisations. The campaign, headquartered in London, has now grown to be an integral part of the anti-war activities, which were confined to mass protests and anti-war petitions. The Web has been utilised as a meeting point for global grassroots sentiments opposing the war and has proved to be a good recruitment tool for volunteers. Meanwhile, the campaigns have not gone unheeded by US officials. In statements to reporters last week, Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff General Richard Myers said that using human shields in Iraq amounts to "committing a war crime". Myers described the efforts to dispatch hundreds of volunteers to Baghdad to act as deterrents against any attacks as "a deliberate recruitment of innocent civilians in order to put them in harm's way". He said it was "illegal under the international law of armed conflict to use non- combatants as a means of shielding potential targets". said these statements show that the movement was growing to be a threat to US interests, because it reflected the depth of public scepticism over the war. His argument was supported by what an official at the Human Shields headquarters in London said about the hundreds of people coming to sign up as volunteers. "We receive hundreds of supportive e-mails per day. We have more volunteers than we can handle. This is the real people power," she said. The movement, however, has been accused in some circles of defending Saddam's regime. "This is nonsense," the Human Shields official said. "On the contrary, we are supporting and protecting the people he is ruling over. When the Americans bomb Iraq, they are not going to bomb Saddam, who will be safe in a bunker somewhere, they will bomb the people." and his comrades understandably want to distance themselves from the Iraqi government. Although they made arrangements with Iraqi officials regarding accommodation, said they wanted to stay in places of their own choice. "We had contacts with the Iraqi government and they said they will prepare accommodation for us, but we wanted to stay with Iraqi families and make our own choices of the places we want to protect," he said. The Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz has reportedly told visiting anti-war activists that Iraq would need close to 5,000 human shields to protect its most important sites. Unlike Western activists, the head of the committee for Egyptian human shields has no qualms about coordinating with the Iraqi government. "We cannot organise these activities without their assistance," Ahmed Abdel-Salam told the Weekly. "But we are going to defend the Iraqi people." One of the criteria the volunteers are being classified under is whether they have a military background. "Some of those who signed up have previously fought within the ranks of the Iraqi army and they are willing to join it again. Another group will act as human shields and a third category will join the popular resistance," he said. The lists of volunteers are submitted to a committee in Baghdad, which is composed of both official and non-government members. Abdel-Salam said that once the classification and approval process is completed, the convoys will be on their way to Baghdad. At a time when the Egyptian government is trying to contain overt signs of simmering popular anger, are such acts likely to be seen as provocative? Abdel-Salam does not think their efforts will be sabotaged by the government. "These are volunteers and no government has the right to stop them from defending Arab land. Because today it is Iraq; tomorrow we know it will be Egypt," he said. Most of the volunteers are travelling at their own expense. Despite the lack of coordination between the international campaign for human shields and its local counterpart, Abdel-Salam said there was close coordination between the Arab groups. "We have volunteers from Syria, Kuwait, Bahrain, the Emirates and Qatar and we hope that this mass migration to Baghdad will put pressure on governments." With the huge military build-up in the Gulf, many doubt that this form of protest will deter a US administration bent on war. Yet both and Abdel-Salam, whose campaigns are crippled by the lack of resources, are united in their belief that even if the growing numbers of anti-war activists were unable to stop this war from happening, they will, in 's words, send a clear message that the people of the world, particularly in the US and the West, will not allow this to happen in their name.
