Local on Human Shields mission in Iraq

http://www.davisenterprise.com/display/inn_news/311NEW1.TXT

Sunday, February 23, 2003

Davis man puts his life on the line in Baghdad

By Crystal Ross O'Hara/Enterprise staff writer

A Davis native has traveled to Baghdad, volunteering to be a
human shield in case of an attack against Iraq.

Sean Logan, 22, a 1998 Davis High School graduate who has been
living in San Francisco for the past three years, arrived in
Baghdad on Feb. 16. He traveled there in a double-decker bus
from Italy with a group of about 150 human shield volunteers
from the London-based group Truth, Justice, Peace Action.

"I'm going to Baghdad to be a human shield. Trying to stop this
war," he said in a phone message last week to his parents, Bob
and Mary Logan of Davis. "Tell everyone not to blow up Baghdad.
I love you. See you if I get back."

In an interview Saturday, Bob and Mary Logan said they were
shocked that their son had made it all the way to Baghdad, but
were not surprised that he would volunteer to do such a thing.

"I was afraid. I was very sad. I was worried," Mary Logan said.
"But then, after I got over that, I was very proud of him."

The Logans -- who include sisters Jenny, 19; Erin, 25; and
Heather, 27 -- say Sean has spent the past several years pursuing
a career in art and music while helping the homeless in San
Francisco. His trip to Iraq is just an extension of that
community-based work, they say.

"His view of globalization is global brotherhood and he wants
to show brotherhood with the Iraqi people," Mary Logan said.

Bob Logan said his son is not a supporter of Saddam Hussein,
rather a supporter of the Iraqi people.

"Sean says an Iraqi life is as important as an American life,"
he said.

He said he does not know at this time where Sean could be placed
in the event of a war, but said it is his son's intention to
become a shield at a hospital or an orphanage. He said Sean hopes
that by placing an American life in danger he can prevent the
American military from firing on civilian targets.

The international group's visit to Iraq is bound to be
controversial. Ken Nichols O'Keefe, a 33-year-old Gulf War
veteran who has renounced his U.S. citizenship, organized it.

On his Web site, O'Keefe states that one of the reasons he is
returning to Iraq is "to pay penance for my participation in
the first Gulf War as a U.S. Marine and personally apologize
to the Iraqi people."

U.S. government officials have harshly criticized Iraqi leader
Saddam Hussein's use of human shields during the Gulf War. At
a news conference Wednesday, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld
said Saddam often constructs military facilities near hospitals,
schools and orphanages.

"Deploying human shields is not a military strategy, it's murder,
a violation of the laws of armed conflict, and a crime against
humanity, and it will be treated as such," Rumsfeld said.

At the same news conference, Gen. Richard Meyers, chairman of
the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said any use of human shields would
be considered a war crime, even if those shields were volunteers.

"(If) death or serious injury to a noncombatant resulted from
these efforts, the individuals responsible for deploying any
innocent civilians as human shields could be guilty of grave
breaches of the Geneva Conventions," Meyers said.

The Logans hope their son will never have to be used in that
way.

"He just wanted to go there to try to stop the war by bringing
attention to it," Bob Logan said.

The Logans have not spoken to their son since he arrived in
Baghdad. However, messages can be sent to him through the TJP
Action Web site at http://www.humanshields.org by clicking on the
"feedback" button on the left side of the page.