The United States on Wednesday sneered at foreigners, mainly from western countries, who have volunteered to serve as human shields in the event of war with Iraq, likening them to moths flying mindlessly toward light.
”You might as well ask me why moths fly into porch lights,” a State Department representative said when asked about a group of westerners who arrived in Baghdad on Tuesday to act as human shields at civilian sites.
Despite reading from language approved by the department for release to the media, the spokeswoman declined to be identified, saying she believed it was ”flippant” and did not want her name attached to it.
Richard Boucher from State Department agreed with the representative’s view and later ordered the sentence stricken from the department’s ”guidance,” which provides standard answers to reporters’ questions on various subjects, said a department official.
The representative declined to comment on the motivation of those who volunteered to be ”human shields,” but noted repeated State Department warnings advising US citizens in particular to avoid any travel to Iraq.
”I will let the individuals who choose to travel to Iraq for this purpose characterise their motivations for doing so,” she said. On Tuesday, 14 foreigners — 11 Italians, two Canadians and a Spaniard — arrived in Baghdad with a Saint Bernard dog to serve as shields.
The group leader said they hoped to set themselves up in the area of civilian sites such as schools, hospitals, and water treatment plants within Iraq.
In January, Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz said Baghdad welcomed the presence of human shields, although he preferred to call them ”civil defenders.”
Aziz invited them to Iraq to group around food warehouses, oil refineries and electricity power plants. – Sapa-AFP