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10,000th Human Shield volunteer for Iran

Human Shield Movement - Iran | 10.05.2008 00:55

The 10,000th human shield volunteer today pledged himself to travel to Iran to try an stop illegal military intervention.


The Human Shield Movement to Iran today claimed its 10,000th pledge volunteer and warned President Bush that any attempt at military intervention against Iran would be met by a massive mobilisation of human shields.

The human shield movement to Iran has been mobilizing for over three years now using online mechanisms such as Pledge Bank to secure volunteers willing to travel to Iran to position themselves around civilian infrastructure sites in order to try and prevent what they believe would be a catastrophic and unjustified attack. Whilst it is expected that most missiles will be directed at military installations the human shields are concerned that sites in the Iranian capital will also be targeted. Today Steven Morris from Birmingham was the 10,000th person to pledge himself as human shield volunteer. Volunteers from 22 countries have already pledged themselves to the mission and are currently in the latter stages of preparation in order to be ready to travel to Iran "at very short notice".

The Human Shield Movement gained global prominence in the 2003 when several hundreds Western civilians of all ages, backgrounds and nationalities descended on Iraq in an attempt to prevent the invasion. The movement came out of hibernation in President Bush's State of the Union in Februrary 2005 and have been collecting pledges of people willing to go to Iran should an invasion look imminent.

Organisers hope that by organising early they will be able to mount a sizeable group of volunteers willing to try and stop a future destructive folly in the Middle East. The Human Shield Mission to Iraq only had a matter of weeks to organise before the start of 'Operation Shock and Awe' and as a result the number of human shields in Baghdad was not great enough to provide an effective deterrent.

Today, a powerfully-worded warning was sent to the White House listing the shields who are willing to risk their lives to try and prevent further illegal military intervention in the Gulf.

Steven Morris, the 10,000th plege member of the movement said today

"I am fully committed to going to Iran to try and stop an attack on Iran. I demonstrated against the Iraq war and it made no difference. Having ten thousand Westerners will make the war-mongers think twice before they attack Iran. I do not support the Amadinejah regime but if we ignore international law and start bombing a sovereign nation that has not deviated from its obligations under the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty and offers no direct threat to any nation, the world will be an much more dangerous place."

A spokesperson for the movement, David Tyler said today;

"Travelling to Iran as human shields is the 'last resort' but it seems that an attack on Iran is not just a real possibility but an imminent reality. The military and political manoeuvres all seem to point to one thing, The unproven allegations that Iran is arming insurgents in Iran, the labelling of the Revolutionary Guard as terrorists, the increased military spending, the build up of forces on the Iranian borders and the unverified and unverifiable claims about Irans nuclear weapons programme have left us in little doubt that time is running out. Traditional methods of protest are ineffective in the face of the neo-Con determination to implement their global vision.

We now have our 10,000th pledge member and whilst we recognise that many of these people will not be able to actually travel to Tehran, many have already arranged Iranian visas and are ready to travel to Iran at short notice. None of the shields want to die but all are unwilling to sit by and wait for politicians to launch another disastrous war in their name. It is up to each and every one of us to do everything in our power to prevent a dangerously misguided foreign policy. Many people cannot join the movement because of commitments to family and dependents but it is incumbent on all of us to do something to our opposition to war which will once again be carried out in our name.”

For more information contact  humanshieldsiran@hotmail.co.uk

If you would like to pledge yourself as a human shield contact  humanshieldsiran@hotmail.co.uk

Human Shield Movement - Iran

Comments

Hide the following 2 comments

'I do not support the Amadinejah regime '

10.05.2008 02:18

'I do not support the Amadinejah regime '

this is silly. It shows this human shield is still a victim of US/israel etc propaganda campaign that is being used to justify the bombing of Iran!

Remember this:


''Wiped off the Map' – The Rumor of the Century

by Arash Norouzi
Across the world, a dangerous rumor has spread that could have catastrophic implications. According to legend, Iran's president has threatened to destroy Israel, or, to quote the misquote, "Israel must be wiped off the map." Contrary to popular belief, this statement was never made.

On Tuesday, October 25th, 2005 at the Ministry of Interior conference hall in Tehran, newly elected Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad delivered a speech at a program, reportedly attended by thousands, titled "The World Without Zionism." Large posters surrounding him displayed this title prominently in English, obviously for the benefit of the international press. Below the poster's title was a slick graphic depicting an hour glass containing planet Earth at its top. Two small round orbs representing the United States and Israel are shown falling through the hour glass' narrow neck and crashing to the bottom.

Before we get to the infamous remark, it's important to note that the "quote" in question was itself a quote – they are the words of the late Ayatollah Khomenei, the father of the Islamic Revolution. Although he quoted Khomeini to affirm his own position on Zionism, the actual words belong to Khomeini and not Ahmadinejad. Thus, Ahmadinejad has essentially been credited (or blamed) for a quote that is not only unoriginal, but represents a viewpoint already in place well before he ever took office.

The Actual Quote:

So what did Ahmadinejad actually say? To quote his exact words in Farsi:

"Imam ghoft een rezhim-e ishghalgar-e qods bayad az safheh-ye ruzgar mahv shavad."

That passage will mean nothing to most people, but one word might ring a bell: rezhim-e. It is the word "regime." pronounced just like the English word with an extra "eh" sound at the end. Ahmadinejad did not refer to Israel the country or Israel the land mass, but the Israeli regime. This is a vastly significant distinction, as one cannot wipe a regime off the map. Ahmadinejad does not even refer to Israel by name, he instead uses the specific phrase "rezhim-e ishghalgar-e qods" (regime occupying Jerusalem).

So this raises the question.. what exactly did he want "wiped from the map"? The answer is: nothing. That's because the word "map" was never used. The Persian word for map, "nagsheh" is not contained anywhere in his original Farsi quote, or, for that matter, anywhere in his entire speech. Nor was the western phrase "wipe out" ever said. Yet we are led to believe that Iran's president threatened to "wipe Israel off the map." despite never having uttered the words "map." "wipe out" or even "Israel."

The Proof:

The full quote translated directly to English:

"The Imam said this regime occupying Jerusalem must vanish from the page of time."

Word by word translation:

Imam (Khomeini) ghoft (said) een (this) rezhim-e (regime) ishghalgar-e (occupying) qods (Jerusalem) bayad (must) az safheh-ye ruzgar (from page of time) mahv shavad (vanish from).

Here is the full transcript of the speech in Farsi, archived on Ahmadinejad's web site


etc
 http://www.mohammadmossadegh.com/news/rumor-of-the-century/

brian


Other reasons...

10.05.2008 19:01

There are plenty of other reasons to not support the Iranian regime. The treatment of homosexuals in Iran comes to mind.

Numerous people within Iran don't support the Ahmadinejad regime, as evidenced by recent election results. To say that anyone who doesn't support Ahmadinejad is buying into American/Israeli lies is ludicrous,

It is entirely reasonable to say, "The American government is crap; the Israeli government is crap; the Iranian government is crap. But I'll be damned if I'll sit back as they endanger us all by blowing each other up."

Yes, the Americans are making up many of their allegations against Iran, but to say that Iran's regime is 100% honest and open is simply naive.

Devious


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