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BAGHDAD - With diplomacy over and an all-but-certain
war on the horizon, hundreds of American protesters and peace
activists in Iraq are now acting as "human shields,"
blaming their questionable fate on a failed U.S. foreign policy
and bad advice by school guidance counselors.
"The reason I'm here is because the U.S. policy of aggression
and imperialism has failed," said Brian Ledger of Omaha,
Nebraska. "Also, my guidance counselor suggested this
was something I might be good at."
Other "human shields" told similar stories of how
they wound up halfway across the world and away from their
friends and family.
"During senior year I failed the Peace Corps test and
I was just devastated," Jennifer Snow said as she chained
herself to a hidden nuclear reactor. "Then my college
guidance counselor pulled some strings and got me in here."
Others have recently come to the realization that coalition
soldiers might not stop shooting if they are standing in the
way or their brightly colored clothing won't be seen by high
flying B-2 Bombers as they prepare to drop their payloads.
"I'm not quite sure why I'm here," said 24-year-old
San Francisco native Judy Alexander. "I love traveling
and learning about new cultures, but I was really hoping for
something more in the import/export field. This is okay too,
I guess."
Tensions are high among human shields since last week when
American Rachel Corrie was run over and killed by a renegade
Israeli bulldozer moving at a reckless speed of 1 mile per
hour. Alexander now fears human shield activity in Iraq could
be even more dangerous than in the Palestinian territories
"American tanks also are big and heavy and run over
things. And It's really hard to train for this human shield
stuff. It's sort of hit or miss most of the time."
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