Human Shields, Part 1
By Michael R. Bowen (03/11/03)
The self-styled "human shields" are leaving Iraq, having been shocked, shocked! to find that Mr. Hussein appears to be using them. Seems that they weren't being allowed to gather around the baby milk factories and hospitals they had intended to protect; they were given a list of "vital civilian facilities" which they were permitted to guard, but for some reason the facilities always turned out to be right next to a radar station or a military base.
In fact, they weren't even allowed to go to the hospitals they had designated. Now why could that be? Could it be that the "patients" in the "hospitals" all have chemical warheads? Could it be that the beds are occupied by torture victims or political prisoners?
One prominent human shield, finding himself stationed next to a military target, acknowledged that he was leaving out of "cold fear". That fear, while not the height of reason, is the first inkling of common sense we've seen from these people. Maybe there's hope.
But while the concept of "human shields" has always been absurd on its face, and in some cases actually treasonous, true human shields actually do exist. We've had them since the country was founded.
They don't wear Birkenstocks. They don't live on organic food, and they aren't even vegetarians. When they do their job, the cameras aren't rolling and they don't get headlines. They're not quoted in the press. They are for the most part anonymous and, sad to say, all too often forgotten when their work is done. Nonetheless, they are true shields for America. They place their bodies between us and danger. They don't get to choose where they will go; we choose that for them. They, too, experience "cold fear", but they don't get to run away when they don't like the way things are shaping up. Sometimes, they never come home at all.
Those people waving signs-those people saying Bush: the REAL terrorist; the pampered actress, the presidential aspirant with his mouth full of weasel words; the "Reverend" negotiating with tyrants whenever America can be embarrassed thereby -- those aren't human shields. They protect nothing except evil.
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