Chairwoman of Swedish peace group says human shields being used by Iraqi propaganda
Fri Feb 28,12:40 PM ET
STOCKHOLM, Sweden - The chairwoman of Sweden's largest peace organization on Friday urged peace activists acting as human shields in Iraq to leave the country, saying they were being used for propaganda purposes by Saddam Hussein (Maria Ermanno of the Swedish Peace and Arbitration Society cited reports that Iraqi officials were arranging transportation, accommodations and news conferences for the human shields.
"To go down to Iraq and live and act there on the regime's expense, then you're supporting a terrible dictator. I think that method is entirely wrong," Ermanno told Swedish Radio.
Ermanno, whose 6,000-member organization opposes war in Iraq, said peace activists can do more good in their home countries.
A Swede acting as a human shield in Iraq told Swedish Radio on Friday that Iraqis "in civilian clothing" were providing transportation and hotel rooms for the foreign peace activists.
"If they're from the government? That I haven't asked them. But we get the service we want," Tommy Loeverdahl said. "We have an organization that helps us with buses ... But it's entirely up to us to decide, as human shields, where we want to be. There is no pressure from the outside."
In recent weeks, dozens of people from around the world have arrived in Iraq to act as human shields in strategic locations, such as power plants, water purification facilities and archaeological sites, in case of a U.S.-led attack.
U.S. officials have said that it is a "war crime" to use civilians as human shields and that there's no way of guaranteeing their safety.
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