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| Fifth Column |
| Human Shield Buses Stuck in Beirut, Seek Fare Home |
| 2003-03-05 |
| Put down your coffee... BEIRUT (Reuters) - Two red double decker buses and a white London taxi that ferried anti-war activists to Baghdad to serve as "human shields" are stranded in Beirut with their owner short of the $5,500 it costs to ship them home. You didn't really think this all through, did you? (snicker) "The buses have to be shipped back. It's just not practical to drive them... I am not even really sure how much money I've got, but I'm sure it's not enough," said owner Joe Letts, adding that he would fly to London on Thursday to try to raise cash. "I thought I would let people know it's a problem," he added, sitting in a makeshift kitchen on his bus in central Beirut. "I'm broke. Please give me money" Letts said about 200 human shields, including many who traveled on his bus, remained in Baghdad when he left. But he said that although he stayed on as a shield for a week, he had no intention of staying in Baghdad for the duration of a war. "I own these buses and they are my livelihood and my family's livelihood. And all along I was there really to take the people down and then come back," he said. Now that's some real dedication to the cause. "I had promised my wife I would get the buses home," he said. "If I don't get them home, we're absolutely stuck." If his wife is like my wife she'll be filing for divorce within the week. |
| Posted by:Scooter McGruder |
| #17 To qoute the illustrious J.D.Clampet:"Petiful,just plain petifull" Long walk from Beruit tp London |
| Posted by: raptor 2003-03-06 06:27:03 |
| #16 Ah, yes. Human shields on a red double-decker bus. An oddesy from Europe to Baghdad ending on the dock of the bay in Beruit. A source of innocent merriment. I feel a ballad coming on......give me a little creative time..... |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2003-03-05 22:24:15 |
| #15 He came. He saw. He left. |
| Posted by: RW 2003-03-05 20:50:55 |
| #14 This is just hilarious and proves my point, that these people are not capable of thinking anything through: either morally or in this case, logistically. They're critical faculties are totally impaired. Too much weed probably to go along with their peace symbols. |
| Posted by: jonesy 2003-03-05 18:10:57 |
| #13 I've long since learnt to watch the drinks when reading Rantburg. If the articles don't get you, the comments will. |
| Posted by: Kathy K 2003-03-05 15:50:24 |
| #12 I'm just glad I heeded the warning and put my coffee down... |
| Posted by: PoliBlogger 2003-03-05 14:28:28 |
| #11 "You mean we gotta take a stand? That wasn't in the flyer." What a waste of human skin. But then what did we expect. |
| Posted by: tu3031 2003-03-05 12:13:51 |
| #10 "I don' care how much I pay gonna ride that bus every day..." -- The Who |
| Posted by: mojo 2003-03-05 11:55:49 |
| #9 True German has made an interesting point that I've also seen others make; however, this was in the context of what the UN can do for peace. The UN has numerous workers now in PA territory, feeding terrorists, letting terrorists read bomb manuals, etc. as well as doing genuine humanitarian work. If the UN could assign several thousand people to simply ride the buses in Israel, it would actually do quite a bit to make the world safer. |
| Posted by: mhw 2003-03-05 11:53:13 |
| #8 You know, they could alway turn around and park in front of that command and control cen.., I mean, hospital. No, no, the one on the right. See the laser dot? Park right there... |
| Posted by: grillmaster 2003-03-05 11:39:52 |
| #7 And these are the people whose opinions on foreign policy and international relations we are asked to consider; reminds of that saying "he could screw up a one-car funeral"! |
| Posted by: Jeff Brokaw 2003-03-05 11:31:53 |
| #6 Redefining Stoopid on a daily basis. There's a reality TV show somewhere in all this. |
| Posted by: Rex Mundi 2003-03-05 11:25:11 |
| #5 Has Mel Brooks been filing these stories? C'mon, Mel. 'Fess up... |
| Posted by: Fred 2003-03-05 11:23:43 |
| #4 Jeez, can we divert a ro-ro to pick him up? Or, at least a ferry from Bangladesh? The moron went all the way to Baghdad and never planned how he'd get home? What, he figured we'd pop them in the back of a C-5A and fly them out gratis after we liberate the country? And... {sputter, sputter} he risked his family's livelihood on this? Well, he can always go on the dole. |
| Posted by: Chuck 2003-03-05 11:22:25 |
| #3 I think I said before - this farcical sideshow is going to make a great film. He'll be able to buy a fleet of brand spanking new buses when he's sold the film rights. But then he'll probably blow all that on Prozac... |
| Posted by: Bulldog 2003-03-05 11:21:41 |
| #2 I'd have a great idea for jobless Human Shields. Go to Israel, ride the local buses there. Hamas wouldn't bomb buses with peace loving Human Shields now would they?? |
| Posted by: True German Ally 2003-03-05 11:20:19 |
| #1 Crap, I pasted one sentence twice. Say Fred, how's that editing function coming along? :-) |
| Posted by: Scooter McGruder 2003-03-05 11:10:49 |