[R-G] Human Shields In Iraq

[DavidMcR at aol.com]

Dear friend - please forward to others

Whatever we think of those now going to Iraq, whether they are foolish, are 
"witnessing", etc. the point is people are going - are there already. This 
clearly will not deter Bush - increasingly one has the impression that things 
are really out of control in the White House. But we should let our friends 
know, our local media, and try to focus concern on the fact that Bush's bombs 
(and Britain's as well) will not only hit Iraqis, faceless, evil, all of them 
no more than clones of Saddam, but will hit people from many parts of the 
world who are trying to speak with their bodies.

And whose reports from Iraq thus far suggest that these clones of evil are 
actually real people, real children, real mothers and fathers, students, 
teachers.

Peace, still possible,
David McReynolds

<< 
 Please dissemenate to all interested parties:
 
 
 From Pat McSweeney:
 Peacemakers  -
 
 We must help to spread the word about the Human
 Shield to Promote Peace.
 Pat
 
 (snipped)
  - from Jean Maryborn
 
 I have had a post from a friend in Kuwait saying
 tell them not to come,
 their lives will be wasted. The UU former Pres.
 John Beuren (sp?) just
 back
 from Iraq spoke against martyrdom.  And I am cozy
 in my home, not in
 Iraq.
 
 But since we expect our young men and women to
 risk their lives for war
 without question, how  can we not honor those who
 choose risk their lives
 for peace?  This is a growing movement, alongside
 a nascent unarmed peace
 force.  We can help by being their voices here in
 the heartland the
 world's most potent war machine, intent on making
 of Baghdad "another
 Hiroshima."   not my words, but those of a U. S.
 military strategist.
 
 
 Live K. Aleo's Message:
 
 BecomeTheChange is coordinating a massive,
 international human shield to
 prevent the loss of life and spread of war and
 terrorism around the world
 and to motivate nonviolent resolutions to the
 conflict we face with Iraq
 at
 this time. We and the UK Society have made a
 strong alliance.
 Approximately
 20 other organizations around the world are
 forming shields in Iraq.
 Among
 us all, we probably have at least 1,000
 individuals from around the world
 who are - right now - in Iraq or actively
 preparing to go shortly to join
 the shield. And counting!! Thousands more are very
 interested and likely
 to
 join. There might eventually be tens of thousands
 of us. It's a
 spontaneous
 global phenomenon.
 
 But we are of course afraid, and many potential
 shield members who are so
 excited by the idea are also very worried for
 their safety, and this fear
 might prevent them from helping us to stop this
 war and save the hundreds
 of
 thousands of people who depend on such efforts as
 the human shield for
 their
 lives.If enough people answer to our call to join
 or support the shield,
 we
 will achieve our purpose of peace, and in a
 lasting way. The world is
 ready
 for this. I'm sure you have followed this crisis,
 and maybe recently the
 development of the human shield in response; maybe
 by now it's clear to
 you
 that we almost certainly will form a massive human
 shield, and it is
 already
 a force to be reckoned with. The question in my
 mind is not so much
 whether
 it will work, but how many of us will come back
 alive. 100%? 99%?
 50%?...10%? The answer is as much up to you as it
 is, to each of us.
 
 We are asking the world community to step up to
 protect us as we step up
 to
 protect Iraq. Please help by spearheading (a big
 word, but not much time
 or
 effort is actually required) an initiative to make
 a global declaration
 (by
 various groups, like professional and academic
 associations, the Nobel
 Laureates that just signed the declaration against
 the war, itself,
 etc.)that neither the innocents of Iraq, nor their
 shield, are to be
 harmed.
 
 Please consider using your very interesting and
 expansive contact list to
 begin this initiative, and spread this message to
 every association,
 society, journal, and national and local
 government you can. It will then
 cultivate itself being emailed around through
 other concerned
 organizations.
 Once someone the declaration is written, it can be
 signed by thousands
 and
 delivered to the United States and British
 governments in a matter of
 days.
 
 Such a simple action - such a powerful way to save
 lives.One of the best
 things about nonviolence is the creative ingenuity
 that it motivates.
 This
 is one example of the kind of nonviolent but *very
 effective* action that
 we
 need on the part of the world to stay the hands of
 those who would harm
 innocent people, including ourselves. Such
 reassurances as the
 international
 declaration/s that you can (so easily!) arrange
 will inspire many, many
 more
 to join the shield, feeling shielded, ourselves. I
 know you are aware
 that
 you are in a strong position to do so much,
 through so little effort, to
 make our shield work, ultimately preventing the
 war and saving the people
 of
 Iraq and their shield. I don't want to die in Iraq
 in the effort of
 saving
 lives. I especially don't want the shield to
 scatter because we start to
 suffer losses (though we must all remember that
 even the winning side
 loses
 people in any war) and then for our government to
 continue, unimpeded, in
 its violence. The situation might get out of hand,
 in any case, of
 course.
 There are a lot of uncertainties involved. But we
 need to act now while
 we
 still have the power to act at all, and the
 scarier things get, the more
 we
 must rally, stand together, and find a way to slow
 down and contain the
 dangerous runaway powers of our government at this
 time.
 For more information, please visit
 www.BecomeTheChange.org
 <http://www.becomethechange.org/>,
 www.humanshields.org
 <http://www.humanshields.org/>,
 and email info at becomethechange.org
 <mailto:info at becomethechange.org>.
 
 Please help get the shield back alive and help to
 assure that we achieve
 our
 purpose of peace.
 
 Thank you very much for your help.
 
 Sincerely,
 
 Liev K. Aleo
 Founder & Director, BecomeTheChange (.org)
 
 "We must become the change we want to see in the
 world."
 - Mahatma Gandhi
  >>