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[ Presenting plain-text part of multi-format email ] Well, I'm sorry you didn't like my suggestion Gabriel, and while I'm certainly thankful for groups such as Voices in the Wilderness who are doing what they can, I honestly don't believe the presence of a few "seasoned protestors" will be enough to stop the US from dropping those bombs. It has already been shown that the US government does not particularly value the lives or civil or human rights of professional protestors. It was shown in Seattle, at the WTO protests, it is shown to be the case when Green Peace protestors are shot at, or run over, by the coast guard, it was shown to be the case, as far back as the Vietnam war, when unarmed college protestors were gunned down by the National Guard. Over 40 children, at Waco, each and every one of them American citizens, was not enough to stop swat teams from setting the compound on fire, and burning everyone alive. There was no compassion shown for mothers and infants at Ruby Ridge. I'm not sure why you say it would be a "PR disaster". (Maybe you could explain that one to me, a little better?) Whatever works, I think, is what's important, whatever stops those bombs from falling, whatever prevents another Iraqi child from dying of starvation, bad water, or lack of medical care. I'm not sure "PR" should be the top priority here, since the people involved would not be doing it, to further their political or "professional activist careers", they would be doing it, out of a strong sense of urgency and need to save these peoples lives, through whatever means necessary. The kind of protest I am talking about, would be more like a massive exodus of American, British, and other foreign citizens, who would not necessarily be professional activists, just ordinary people who care very much about what is going on there. (enough to risk their lives, in fact) I don't personally believe small groups of professional protestors will ever be enough to prevent "Uncle Sam" from nuking Baghdad, or completely annihilating the Iraqi people, they will just call that "collateral damage", or "unavoidable civilian casualties", and move on. However, if a very large number of ordinary citizens (men, women, and children) were to protest in such a manner, that would be a bit different scenario. Of course, it would not be easy, it would be very difficult, it would require the cooperation of the Iraqi government, and quite a bit of help from them, as well. Imagine, if you will, tent cities encamped all around Iraq, full of foreign citizens, thousands of people, entire families, saying, "if you bomb them, you bomb us", now THAT would make a statement, that would be harder for the US government to ignore, or to pass off as "acceptable casualties". Of course, only people with a truly serious commitment to this cause, would be able to do this, it would not be a job for "career activists", who intend to live on, to protest again, somewhere else, this would only be for those who are willing to risk their very lives, as there is no guarantee that Uncle Sam will not drop the bomb on it's own, at this point. _______________________________________________ Sent via the discussion list of the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq. To unsubscribe, visit http://lists.casi.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/casi-discuss To contact the list manager, email casi-discuss-admin@lists.casi.org.uk All postings are archived on CASI's website: http://www.casi.org.uk