THE HUMAN SHIELDS
A 40 minute Documentary
PHOTOGRAPHER: Jolly good. Lovely. Oh, flag's out, that's brilliant. Just there, mate.
TELEVISION NEWS REPORT: Up next - a Fox exclusive. We'll show you how far some anti-war activists want to go to protest a possible clash with Saddam. Ken, thanks for being with us.
KEN O'KEEFE: Thank you for having me.
INTERVIEWER: Where are you going to go in Iraq? Are you going to pick a missile silo? Some kind of a weapons storage?
KEN O'KEEFE: Absolutely not. I intend to be with the Iraqi people. The Iraqi people who have been victimised by their own government and our government. That's who I intend to be with. We're not going to be there to protect Saddam's resources. We're there to stand with the Iraqi people and that's most important.
Former US marine Ken Nichols O'Keefe fought in the last Gulf War but now he has embarked on a very different campaign.
KEN O'KEEFE: I'll tell you what. We the people can stop this war. We need to get down to Iraq right now. 10,000-plus Western citizens down there right now. We can stop this war, and if we can stop this war, we can stop any war.
INTERVIEWER: Ken Nichols O'Keefe, good luck in Iraq.
KEN O'KEEFE: Thank you.
KEN O'KEEFE: I think I got in as much as I possibly could in a short time frame. It's fast-food American-style television and it's not easy to get any real depth in that kind of time frame. But what can I say - I do the best I can.
Ken O'Keefe quit the army 10 years ago and dedicated himself to a life of activism - for marine conservation, Hawaiian independence and the struggle against US imperialism. He has gone so far as to burn his passport and renounce his citizenship.
KEN O'KEEFE: George Bush has signed more death warrants than any other president - 135 death warrants. 135 people put to death while he was governor in Texas. This man doesn't care about killing people. If you're waiting for him to have some sort of consciousness, that's foolish - he's not, he's not. I feel sorry for the man - I mean, I pity him. But he is definitely lost in the darkness and the only way to stop him basically, is to expose him for what he is and to confront him on their weakness because obviously there's no way anyone's going to win a war against the US. Does anyone realistically think that by dropping bombs on Iraq, somehow, in some way, this world is going to be safer and more secure. It's an insult to our intelligence to even suggest that that would be the case. This is about oil and global domination and all thinking people know this.
In a remarkable exercise in direct action, Ken is loading up three London buses with activists from all over the world. They're going to Baghdad to be human shields, to sit on civilian sites that are bomb targets - in effect to say "If you bomb here, you will have our deaths on your conscience."
KEN O'KEEFE: I think the only thing that could possibly stop this war is to make it politically impossible for the US to carry it out, and the only way to do that is to get enough Western lives at stake, because once Western body parts start flying, people back home are going to be really upset.
The loosely organised group have paid $850 each for a place on the bus. Former British colonial administrator Godfrey Mennell has never done anything like this before.
GODFREY MENNELL: Well, I'm an Arabic speaker with experience of the Middle East - not a very good Arabic speaker - and I'm going to be with my brothers and sisters of the book, the Christians and Muslims of Baghdad.
All of the human shields have read about the planned Cruise missile blitz on Baghdad. They know the mission is dangerous, possibly suicidal - a point not lost on Godfrey's son.
GODFREY'S SON: Well, I'm very proud of him and I think his convictions are making the world a safer place. I think if we could all get out of our armchairs when we see bombs dropping in Baghdad and we're feigning concern for children and women. You know, if we could all have those convictions and actions the world would be a safer place. But I'm obviously very worried that he's going to come home safely.
GIRL IN CROWD: Ken, you're inspiring and I just want to shake your hand and give you a hug on your journey, because you are...fantastic.
KEN O'KEEFE: Cool. Have fun, man, I'll see you guys soon.
Also on the bus is Gordon Sloan, an Australian architect and ex-'Big Brother' contestant who dropped everything and flew in yesterday to join the bus.
GORDON SLOAN: I don't really know why he's going through it. I'm just really upset at the moment, you know. He's leaving all of us behind. What happens if he doesn't come back - do you know what I mean. I'm thinking the worst. I'm hearing people say "I'm ready to die for this, I'm ready to give up my body, I'm a human shield." I don't know.
MAN IN CROWD: Malcolm X would be proud of you - I mean, that's the right spirit.
KEN O'KEEFE: Yeah, I love brother Malcolm. Wait, is my mum on board? Is she in here? She is up there, OK.
Crowd wishes them good luck.
HELEN: What more can you do to try and stop a war than this?
SONG: I am the passenger and I'm riding around, right through the city skies.
KEN O'KEEFE: That's it, folks, welcome to la Hare - we're here.
Rajia is a Palestinian who left her hairdressing job in London for the trip.
SONG: The passenger, he rides and he rides.
New Zealander Christian Briggs was the first to join as a human shield and is fiercely loyal to Ken.
CHRISTIAN BRIGGS: I haven't felt so alive for a long time. So, I'm, you know, I'm prepared to die but only because I'm not prepared to stand by and watch others die in my name.
As the buses crawl across Europe, numbers swell. In Milan, 12 more shields join. Organising such a disparate group is proving difficult.
KEN O’KEEFE: Are people kind of scattered to the wind here?
JOE LETTS: I don't know - I want to leave straightaway. I'm Joe the bus driver, the two red buses are my buses, and I'm responsible for this in some part. So, most of the time Gary is driving it, but he's very tired so I'm driving this one at the moment.
Before operating buses, Joe Letts was a cameraman in Baghdad immediately after the last Gulf War. Affected by that experience, he's chartered his buses to Ken. The two men do not get on. They've already argued about the route, about the anti-American rhetoric and about Ken's autocratic style.
JOE LETTS: The worst part of it has been the rancour really, the sort of the bad atmosphere between Ken and me. And it's been horrendous, really.
In Rome, Ken's black bus breaks down. The prospect of delay brings simmering tensions into the open.
KEN O’KEEFE: The goal that I have is the same one I had from the day that I conceived this whole thing - a mass migration to Iraq - and if you want to go to Iraq you're going to find your way down there with or without me and I'm not going to hold anyone back. Now, for those of you who thought you were going to come in and have…
SAM: Nobody's questioning you at all.
KEN O’KEEFE: Well, I think people are and I think people... SAM: I'm not questioning you at all. SAM: I have not spoken enough until I decide I've spoken enough. This is not a fucking - I can say any goddamn thing I want to anybody I want any fucking time I want because I've got a fucking mouth!
LEONID: You shouldn't swear so much.
SAM: Fuck this shit about I can't speak. I can speak whenever I want.
LEONID: Of course, you can, everyone can.
SAM: OK, well, don't tell me I cannot speak!
KEN O’KEEFE: I can't believe you're doing this to an older man. This is very...
LEONID: I can't believe you're doing this to an older man either.
SAM: Don't tell me I'm fucking...
LEONID: Don't point your finger at any of us. Don't point your finger.
KEN O’KEEFE: You're right, you are right, I'm sorry, that's a good point.
LEONID: Don’t touch me.
KEN O’KEEFE: I tell you what, if you do that again, you're off, right now. I'll tell you what, you're off.
LEONID: Stop the evil guys. Die for goodness, love, understanding, philosophy, culture, flowers.
It is decided that Ken will stay behind to get the bus repaired while the rest of the group presses on to Turkey.
GORDON: Obviously no-one actually wants to split up but it kind of has to happen. So a few of us are staying behind and we're not really sure when we'll get back together, whether it will be Istanbul.
GODFREY: The trouble to me is that you will be the last out and that's what I'm worried about because you're the one who really got the guts and the heart for it. Anyway, God bless you, and I know you'll come and I don't have to say that.
MAN: There's two animal rights activists on this bus right here who I was going to coordinate with and my girlfriend, she works for In Defence of Animals and she's going to contact with the group they did in Afghanistan and coordinate a rescue of the zoo animals in Iraq.
Three days later the two buses arrive in Turkey. With relentless American pressure to let their troops in and over 90% of Turks opposed to the war, the human shields are greeted as heroes. Ken flies into Istanbul to rejoin the convoy after abandoning the black bus, and runs straight into trouble. Ken is travelling on a passport issued to refugees called a ‘world citizen passport’. Many countries accept them, but the Turkish authorities don't, and deport him.
KEN O’KEEFE: You know who I am. I'm obviously who I say I am. Well then, we have a problem.
WOMAN: You have to go back to Italy?
KEN O’KEEFE: They're telling me I have to go back. It's my lawful peaceful right to travel through this country in opposition to a war that could very well lead us into World War III. It is a major mistake on behalf of the Turkish Government and I don't believe it's representative of the Turkish people.
TOLGA TEMULGE: We learned that Kenneth Nichols is now in custody in Rome and is likely to be deported back to United States of America. Kenneth Nichols started this but he is not the icon, he is not the leader. We all are Kenneth Nichols, we are all individual human shield activists and we will go to Baghdad, with Kenneth or without Kenneth. They will not stop us.
Turkish activist Tolga Temulge quit his job at Greenpeace to join the shields.
TOLGA’S GIRLFRIEND: I'm anxious, of course. I'm scared, probably more than he is. But at the end of the day, I believe in what he is doing, I really believe in what he is doing and I believe that this war can be stopped.
GODFREY: Are you coming, Ryan, or not?
RYAN: Yep.
GODFREY: You are - on the bus then.
CARPET SELLER: All I want to say is America's just taking piss out of fucking all around the world. We just don't want you - take your fucking dirty hands off the world! Fuck off! My best friend, can I sell you some carpet?
Geir Angel, a Norwegian sociology professor, was one of 36 others who joined in Istanbul.
GEIR ANGEL: We leave those tens of hundreds of thousands of people that were going to stop the war in Iraq that was coming from everywhere. But we are actually on this bus, 60 persons. Of how many...is it 5 billion around the planet? There has to be something, some kind of madness that we share on this bus and I'm probably one of them.
CHRISTIAAN: Ken, Ken, Ken, Ken, Ken, I'm not listening, man. Let me ask my question. If the bus does not come to Damascus, what shall I do, get off?
Ken has flown into Damascus and wants the buses diverted to pick him up. But Joe the bus driver won't have a bar of it.
CHRISTIAAN: What we're saying is that... Hey, fucking hell, man - you've got to listen to me man, you've got to stop talking. The other option is that we pick you up, we send a car to pick you up in Damascus.
REPORTER: Why doesn't he just like come to the bus and we all go with the Turks and we all go to Baghdad?
GORDON: Because Joe already refused to have them anywhere near them.
CHRISTIAAN: It's not a reality. Joe has already said he's not getting on the bus.
BEN: Why wouldn't he want Ken on the bus?
CHRISTIAAN: Why wouldn't he? Because he wants to distance himself from Ken's message.
BEN: But what's his message?
CHRISTIAAN: Truth, justice and peace.
BEN: But why would he have a problem with that?
CHRISTIAAN: Because as I've said all along, I think Joe's intentions are genuine but he's got an agenda on top of that and that's to take over the action and make it a little more sugar coated and not so, you know, punchy and in your face.
JOE: When Ken comes back, the dynamic of this group will change, and I think...
With the prospect of Ken returning to the group, Joe insists on a meeting.
BEN: It's 1am. This meeting could go for half an hour, it could go for two. I think we need to decide tonight whether or not there is a seat for Ken on the bus.
CHRISTIAAN: I will be standing with Ken no matter what any other decision is made, because he's the most articulate person I've met and he articulates my view of the world, period.
JOE: I think Sue and I are probably quite happy to - in the sense of, actually, we don't need much leadership anyway - but I think we have over the last three weeks built up a consensual way of making decisions which actually is quite effective.
GORDON: The latest as it was from last night is that anyone who supports the original action which is TJP human shields action founded by Ken O'Keefe will no longer be welcome on the chartered vehicles - the so-called red buses which are owned and operated by Joe.
REPORTER: What are you reading there?
GORDON: 'Animal Farm' so I can learn about group dynamics, politics and basically back-stabbing.
GORDON: He's already told me don't to...
CHRISTIAAN: You can't spoil the punch line.
GORDON: Well, he's already told me not to spoil the story, but I fear that some of the developments towards the end will be tragically familiar.
It's February 15. After three weeks on the road, and on the very day that millions around the world march against the war, the buses roll across the border into Iraq.
JOHN ROSS: I like it! I like to see resistance on a part of the world's people against US imperialism.
Poet John Ross says he was the first American jailed for refusing the Vietnam draft. He's a lifelong activist.
JOHN ROSS: When bombs start to fall or bombs are threatened by somebody that's 10,000 miles away, these people are going to choose Saddam as a symbol, you know. He becomes a symbol of the resistance to those bombs. It strengthens Saddam Hussein and Bush doesn't, of course, understand this, Bush doesn't understand anything.
MAN: United States of Amnesia? That's what it is.
JOHN ROSS: My poetry book 'Against Amnesia'. That's what it's called.
Reads: "In my own country, amnesia is the norm. The past will never go away. The past is like a boomerang. It will always return. It is always present. It is always future. It is the most fundamental human right. Memoria. What belongs to us all."
GORDON: Welcome to Baghdad. We thought we'd lost you.
REPORTER: How's it going?
MAN: Yeah, good, good. We're kind of just arriving somewhere for the first night and I have no idea what it is and who's paying for it so... which seems a bit kind of uncomfortable actually.
ABDUL AL-HASHIMI: First of all, I would like to welcome the newcomers that they have arrived early this morning.
The human shields are welcomed by Dr Abdul Al-Hashimi from the Solidarity, Peace and Friendship Society. He is, in fact, a high ranking Iraqi official.
ABDUL AL-HASHIMI: Some of you will tell me "Hey, we did not come to sit in the hotels." But what can we do if Bush postpones his war?
He makes it clear who's in control from now on.
ABDUL AL-HASHIMI: So we will arrange for you the sites in Baghdad - a refinery, a water treatment plant, food storage, communication centre and electrical power plant.
JAKE: They pretty much have it figured out for us and that's the way it's going to be, in the nicest possible way, if you know what I mean.
The first stop on Dr Hashimi's guided tour is the Al-Amariyah bomb shelter where civilians were massacred by an American missile in the first Gulf War. The shields are invited to a commemoration of the attack.
MAN: ...His Excellency, President Saddam Hussein, to the royal martyrs who will remain the high typical example...
But Gordon's not buying the propaganda.
GORDON: Well, the only useful thing about being here is actually doing an action rather than listening to speeches. So I think the Norwegians have got the best idea, which is a sort of lie in action to commemorate the fact that a whole lot of innocent people got blown away because of American so-called intelligence. So, I think I'll join in.
As the ceremony at the bomb shelter continues, there's a late arrival. Ken has driven all night from Damascus. How are you doing? When did you get here?
KEN O’KEEFE: Good. Late last night. Actually, early this morning. All things are in perspective now, I think.
CHRISTIAAN: Let's cut to the chase, hey. Yeah, it's been pretty much taken over. Joe...well, Joe's been "elected"...
KEN” Has he? He's talked to you? "I'm really sorry and da di da di da..."
CHRIS: Well, he's been "elected" in a meeting in the leadership role with Sue and Benjamin.
KEN: Well then, that's fine...anyway, that's all ridiculous - I have things that I intend to do and I'm focused on the bigger picture. If they want to have a group, that's great.
Next obligatory stop on the tour is the Saddam Children's Hospital where the patients and doctors suffer the shortages of sanctions and the crush of Western visitors.
REPORTER: But aren't you risking these children's lives by allowing us here?
DOCTOR: They are at risk with contact with any person. I know what you mean. To this moment, in the last two hours, we have received 150 person from many organisation.
REPORTER: OK, thank you.
JAKE: I'm not very happy about being here and I'm not very happy about what happened in the hospital with that ridiculous frenzy. It was a zoo and the amount of disrespect that people showed towards the sick children there is disgusting
We've been shuttled around on these buses on this Kontiki tour, it may as well be, I'm not gonna partake in it anymore. So yeah, we'll see you at 4:15.
But there's one last stop. A so-called student's peace conference that turns into a Saddam rally.
GORDON: He said this is an international students festival for peace. This is just a forum I'm not interested in being in. So I'm out of here.
Tonight is Ken's first opportunity to address the group. And the main item on the agency is who's in charge.
NATHAN: I would like to welcome back Ken.
KEN O’KEEFE: When this thing was initiated, it was hard to get one person, now we can't accommodate everyone that's coming and that is a wonderful thing but with that comes some problems and I apologise for having to get into this just a little bit and I won't be long. But there are some problems when something like this grows so fast. This bus trip, make no mistake about it. It was me, I started that bus trip and it was Christiaan. We worked night and day before any other people who go on that bus, almost all of them. We were the ones and I was definitely in control of that trip. But it was subverted from the first moment I got away from the buses and I've had to battle this from the first moment when the media started storming around the whole thing, and it was clear to me that this was not being done to further the issue, but for political reasons for people to bolster their own name and that's what I've had to fight from the entire time we left London.
JOHN ROSS: Human shields that have arrived here are here to stop a war. This is not about Ken O'Keefe's sense of being excluded or his bad feelings. We got here because Joe drove those buses and got those buses here. Division will not help us. I endorse everything that Salam said. Forgive. Forgiveness that is what we need here. Not additional threats to put people out of the action.
KEN O’KEEFE: I really need to respond to that. I think we've heard enough from you now. I really do. I asked the group not to be vindictive to you. And I'm asking you to stop being vindictive. You're a great leader. You're an inspiration to people, but you've got to grow up and you've got to let this thing go and you've got to get on with what you are good at, which is inspiring people and let the people who are good at other things get on with that. There are a lot of us who feel like that and if you're going to undo all the good that's been done, you will undo the good that you've done as well. I'm sorry to be angry, but I see no point in allowing this - I feel ashamed for our group.
KEN: OK, I’ll be down there then, all right?
BEN: Has there been any resolution from last night's meeting?
KEN: You know, I think so. Yeah, because everyone is going to get what they want, so I think it's all resolved. I think, as best it can be. Yeah.
MAN: This is can Kenneth and this is Benjamin.
KEN: I can tell all Americans if you want to be treated as a person who the truly appreciated and express your humanity there is no better place to be than Baghdad right now.
REPORTER: Do you think you're mad?
GODFREY: Well I do really. I've sort of blundered into this and I don't know how my courage will hold. I don't feel afraid at the moment. I just feel rather grieved about my family and so on. I also think, actually the greatest danger to us is not probably from the bombs, but from the fallout of the whole situation. Once the spooks of one side might do one an injury and try to pretend it was the spooks on the other side. I think we are in danger of being pawns.
The first deployment site is the Baghdad South power station. For the Iraqis it's another media opportunity. For the human shields, it's the moment of truth.
KEN: I just wanted to say a few quick words and then leave it to the people who will be staying here. When I conceived of this just two months ago, I had every belief that people would respond but I couldn't have known for sure and it has really hit home today what kind of commitment people have decided to make, and along this road, we've had a lot of challenges. I have been tested. Everyone here has been tested. There have been doubts, there have been arguments. There have been all sorts of things that have happened along the way but at the end of the day, everyone who is here in my opinion deserves absolute respect. I am in awe that these people care enough to do what they're doing right now. To sit here in this place and I want the world to know that there is no such thing as collateral damage. If any of these people are harmed, it is murder, absolute murder.
MAN: I'm not sleeping next to him because he snores.
ANGEL: My feelings to be here? Actually, well I don't like to be here. But I think it's - and I don't know if I believe in it, that we can stop people from going to this war, but I think ate worth a try and we promised during our trip through Europe that we were going to be a human shield, so now we are going to deliver it.
The next morning Angel notices troop movements around the power station.
ANGEL: Perhaps they are moving their troops to places where we are staying, you know, since we are a kind of safe haven for them, or perhaps that those barracks or army base was already there before we came here. We don't know, actually. We don't know. But that's delicate.
Suspicious of the Iraqis intentions, the shields insist on vetting each site.
GORDON: We're heading down to three new sites, two water facilities and a power station, basically just to check out the opportunities for us to base shields there and also check out any possible dangers there might be sort of the in the surrounding area. A lot of the human shields are worried about sites like these being close to military sites.
It's not long before the Iraqis place a group in a water plant, adjacent to a large military base. Gordon quickly removes them from the site and an angry Dr Hashimi summons the shields to a meeting.
DR HASHIMI: You are in Iraq and you have to obey Iraqi rules.
This meeting is filmed and later smuggled out of the country by Gordon.
DR HASHIMI: So Mr Kenneth, we are asking you to leave, please, and we appreciate very much what you have done.
Ken is ordered to leave Iraq.
KEN: You're ordering me to leave, you're ordering me to leave?
DR HASHIMI: So you are no longer welcome.
KEN: Who else? Who else?
DR HASHIMI: You too. You are no longer welcome.
You too, you too.
Gordon goes next.
DR HASHIMI: It's over and those people will leave tomorrow.
GORDON: I said “Who’s on the list?” and he turned around and pointed to me and said “You’re on the list to.
By meetings end John Ross, Tolga and Christiaan are also asked to leave.
WOMAN: Go to hell, get out. Go you piece of shit.
Another hundred shields have arrived independently. They place their faith in Dr Hashimi and decide to stay.
KEN: You seem to think that I'm more of a threat to your safety than the Iraqi man who got up there tonight.
KARL: I do.
KEN: Well that is amazing.
More shields continue to arrive every day. All of the shields who came on the buses have now left Iraq - with the lone exception of Angel.
ANGEL: My father met my mother when he was working on a power plant. They made me on another power plant and I was born on a third power plant. So I'm here to defend this power plant thing, but of course I don't like the thought to die here of course. But on the other hand if you say that you're going to deliver something, you know, you have to deliver it. It's a question of honesty. So if you talk the talk, you walk the walk. So I'm going to stick to that. Get me out of here. I can't use that. The last words.
SBS
REPORTER: Bentley Dean
A 40 minute Documentary
PHOTOGRAPHER: Jolly good. Lovely. Oh, flag's out, that's brilliant. Just there, mate.
TELEVISION NEWS REPORT: Up next - a Fox exclusive. We'll show you how far some anti-war activists want to go to protest a possible clash with Saddam. Ken, thanks for being with us.
KEN O'KEEFE: Thank you for having me.
INTERVIEWER: Where are you going to go in Iraq? Are you going to pick a missile silo? Some kind of a weapons storage?
KEN O'KEEFE: Absolutely not. I intend to be with the Iraqi people. The Iraqi people who have been victimised by their own government and our government. That's who I intend to be with. We're not going to be there to protect Saddam's resources. We're there to stand with the Iraqi people and that's most important.
Former US marine Ken Nichols O'Keefe fought in the last Gulf War but now he has embarked on a very different campaign.
KEN O'KEEFE: I'll tell you what. We the people can stop this war. We need to get down to Iraq right now. 10,000-plus Western citizens down there right now. We can stop this war, and if we can stop this war, we can stop any war.
INTERVIEWER: Ken Nichols O'Keefe, good luck in Iraq.
KEN O'KEEFE: Thank you.
KEN O'KEEFE: I think I got in as much as I possibly could in a short time frame. It's fast-food American-style television and it's not easy to get any real depth in that kind of time frame. But what can I say - I do the best I can.
Ken O'Keefe quit the army 10 years ago and dedicated himself to a life of activism - for marine conservation, Hawaiian independence and the struggle against US imperialism. He has gone so far as to burn his passport and renounce his citizenship.
KEN O'KEEFE: George Bush has signed more death warrants than any other president - 135 death warrants. 135 people put to death while he was governor in Texas. This man doesn't care about killing people. If you're waiting for him to have some sort of consciousness, that's foolish - he's not, he's not. I feel sorry for the man - I mean, I pity him. But he is definitely lost in the darkness and the only way to stop him basically, is to expose him for what he is and to confront him on their weakness because obviously there's no way anyone's going to win a war against the US. Does anyone realistically think that by dropping bombs on Iraq, somehow, in some way, this world is going to be safer and more secure. It's an insult to our intelligence to even suggest that that would be the case. This is about oil and global domination and all thinking people know this.
In a remarkable exercise in direct action, Ken is loading up three London buses with activists from all over the world. They're going to Baghdad to be human shields, to sit on civilian sites that are bomb targets - in effect to say "If you bomb here, you will have our deaths on your conscience."
KEN O'KEEFE: I think the only thing that could possibly stop this war is to make it politically impossible for the US to carry it out, and the only way to do that is to get enough Western lives at stake, because once Western body parts start flying, people back home are going to be really upset.
The loosely organised group have paid $850 each for a place on the bus. Former British colonial administrator Godfrey Mennell has never done anything like this before.
GODFREY MENNELL: Well, I'm an Arabic speaker with experience of the Middle East - not a very good Arabic speaker - and I'm going to be with my brothers and sisters of the book, the Christians and Muslims of Baghdad.
All of the human shields have read about the planned Cruise missile blitz on Baghdad. They know the mission is dangerous, possibly suicidal - a point not lost on Godfrey's son.
GODFREY'S SON: Well, I'm very proud of him and I think his convictions are making the world a safer place. I think if we could all get out of our armchairs when we see bombs dropping in Baghdad and we're feigning concern for children and women. You know, if we could all have those convictions and actions the world would be a safer place. But I'm obviously very worried that he's going to come home safely.
GIRL IN CROWD: Ken, you're inspiring and I just want to shake your hand and give you a hug on your journey, because you are...fantastic.
KEN O'KEEFE: Cool. Have fun, man, I'll see you guys soon.
Also on the bus is Gordon Sloan, an Australian architect and ex-'Big Brother' contestant who dropped everything and flew in yesterday to join the bus.
GORDON SLOAN: I don't really know why he's going through it. I'm just really upset at the moment, you know. He's leaving all of us behind. What happens if he doesn't come back - do you know what I mean. I'm thinking the worst. I'm hearing people say "I'm ready to die for this, I'm ready to give up my body, I'm a human shield." I don't know.
MAN IN CROWD: Malcolm X would be proud of you - I mean, that's the right spirit.
KEN O'KEEFE: Yeah, I love brother Malcolm. Wait, is my mum on board? Is she in here? She is up there, OK.
Crowd wishes them good luck.
HELEN: What more can you do to try and stop a war than this?
SONG: I am the passenger and I'm riding around, right through the city skies.
KEN O'KEEFE: That's it, folks, welcome to la Hare - we're here.
Rajia is a Palestinian who left her hairdressing job in London for the trip.
SONG: The passenger, he rides and he rides.
New Zealander Christian Briggs was the first to join as a human shield and is fiercely loyal to Ken.
CHRISTIAN BRIGGS: I haven't felt so alive for a long time. So, I'm, you know, I'm prepared to die but only because I'm not prepared to stand by and watch others die in my name.
As the buses crawl across Europe, numbers swell. In Milan, 12 more shields join. Organising such a disparate group is proving difficult.
KEN O’KEEFE: Are people kind of scattered to the wind here?
JOE LETTS: I don't know - I want to leave straightaway. I'm Joe the bus driver, the two red buses are my buses, and I'm responsible for this in some part. So, most of the time Gary is driving it, but he's very tired so I'm driving this one at the moment.
Before operating buses, Joe Letts was a cameraman in Baghdad immediately after the last Gulf War. Affected by that experience, he's chartered his buses to Ken. The two men do not get on. They've already argued about the route, about the anti-American rhetoric and about Ken's autocratic style.
JOE LETTS: The worst part of it has been the rancour really, the sort of the bad atmosphere between Ken and me. And it's been horrendous, really.
In Rome, Ken's black bus breaks down. The prospect of delay brings simmering tensions into the open.
KEN O’KEEFE: The goal that I have is the same one I had from the day that I conceived this whole thing - a mass migration to Iraq - and if you want to go to Iraq you're going to find your way down there with or without me and I'm not going to hold anyone back. Now, for those of you who thought you were going to come in and have…
SAM: Nobody's questioning you at all.
KEN O’KEEFE: Well, I think people are and I think people... SAM: I'm not questioning you at all. SAM: I have not spoken enough until I decide I've spoken enough. This is not a fucking - I can say any goddamn thing I want to anybody I want any fucking time I want because I've got a fucking mouth!
LEONID: You shouldn't swear so much.
SAM: Fuck this shit about I can't speak. I can speak whenever I want.
LEONID: Of course, you can, everyone can.
SAM: OK, well, don't tell me I cannot speak!
KEN O’KEEFE: I can't believe you're doing this to an older man. This is very...
LEONID: I can't believe you're doing this to an older man either.
SAM: Don't tell me I'm fucking...
LEONID: Don't point your finger at any of us. Don't point your finger.
KEN O’KEEFE: You're right, you are right, I'm sorry, that's a good point.
LEONID: Don’t touch me.
KEN O’KEEFE: I tell you what, if you do that again, you're off, right now. I'll tell you what, you're off.
LEONID: Stop the evil guys. Die for goodness, love, understanding, philosophy, culture, flowers.
It is decided that Ken will stay behind to get the bus repaired while the rest of the group presses on to Turkey.
GORDON: Obviously no-one actually wants to split up but it kind of has to happen. So a few of us are staying behind and we're not really sure when we'll get back together, whether it will be Istanbul.
GODFREY: The trouble to me is that you will be the last out and that's what I'm worried about because you're the one who really got the guts and the heart for it. Anyway, God bless you, and I know you'll come and I don't have to say that.
MAN: There's two animal rights activists on this bus right here who I was going to coordinate with and my girlfriend, she works for In Defence of Animals and she's going to contact with the group they did in Afghanistan and coordinate a rescue of the zoo animals in Iraq.
Three days later the two buses arrive in Turkey. With relentless American pressure to let their troops in and over 90% of Turks opposed to the war, the human shields are greeted as heroes. Ken flies into Istanbul to rejoin the convoy after abandoning the black bus, and runs straight into trouble. Ken is travelling on a passport issued to refugees called a ‘world citizen passport’. Many countries accept them, but the Turkish authorities don't, and deport him.
KEN O’KEEFE: You know who I am. I'm obviously who I say I am. Well then, we have a problem.
WOMAN: You have to go back to Italy?
KEN O’KEEFE: They're telling me I have to go back. It's my lawful peaceful right to travel through this country in opposition to a war that could very well lead us into World War III. It is a major mistake on behalf of the Turkish Government and I don't believe it's representative of the Turkish people.
TOLGA TEMULGE: We learned that Kenneth Nichols is now in custody in Rome and is likely to be deported back to United States of America. Kenneth Nichols started this but he is not the icon, he is not the leader. We all are Kenneth Nichols, we are all individual human shield activists and we will go to Baghdad, with Kenneth or without Kenneth. They will not stop us.
Turkish activist Tolga Temulge quit his job at Greenpeace to join the shields.
TOLGA’S GIRLFRIEND: I'm anxious, of course. I'm scared, probably more than he is. But at the end of the day, I believe in what he is doing, I really believe in what he is doing and I believe that this war can be stopped.
GODFREY: Are you coming, Ryan, or not?
RYAN: Yep.
GODFREY: You are - on the bus then.
CARPET SELLER: All I want to say is America's just taking piss out of fucking all around the world. We just don't want you - take your fucking dirty hands off the world! Fuck off! My best friend, can I sell you some carpet?
Geir Angel, a Norwegian sociology professor, was one of 36 others who joined in Istanbul.
GEIR ANGEL: We leave those tens of hundreds of thousands of people that were going to stop the war in Iraq that was coming from everywhere. But we are actually on this bus, 60 persons. Of how many...is it 5 billion around the planet? There has to be something, some kind of madness that we share on this bus and I'm probably one of them.
CHRISTIAAN: Ken, Ken, Ken, Ken, Ken, I'm not listening, man. Let me ask my question. If the bus does not come to Damascus, what shall I do, get off?
Ken has flown into Damascus and wants the buses diverted to pick him up. But Joe the bus driver won't have a bar of it.
CHRISTIAAN: What we're saying is that... Hey, fucking hell, man - you've got to listen to me man, you've got to stop talking. The other option is that we pick you up, we send a car to pick you up in Damascus.
REPORTER: Why doesn't he just like come to the bus and we all go with the Turks and we all go to Baghdad?
GORDON: Because Joe already refused to have them anywhere near them.
CHRISTIAAN: It's not a reality. Joe has already said he's not getting on the bus.
BEN: Why wouldn't he want Ken on the bus?
CHRISTIAAN: Why wouldn't he? Because he wants to distance himself from Ken's message.
BEN: But what's his message?
CHRISTIAAN: Truth, justice and peace.
BEN: But why would he have a problem with that?
CHRISTIAAN: Because as I've said all along, I think Joe's intentions are genuine but he's got an agenda on top of that and that's to take over the action and make it a little more sugar coated and not so, you know, punchy and in your face.
JOE: When Ken comes back, the dynamic of this group will change, and I think...
With the prospect of Ken returning to the group, Joe insists on a meeting.
BEN: It's 1am. This meeting could go for half an hour, it could go for two. I think we need to decide tonight whether or not there is a seat for Ken on the bus.
CHRISTIAAN: I will be standing with Ken no matter what any other decision is made, because he's the most articulate person I've met and he articulates my view of the world, period.
JOE: I think Sue and I are probably quite happy to - in the sense of, actually, we don't need much leadership anyway - but I think we have over the last three weeks built up a consensual way of making decisions which actually is quite effective.
GORDON: The latest as it was from last night is that anyone who supports the original action which is TJP human shields action founded by Ken O'Keefe will no longer be welcome on the chartered vehicles - the so-called red buses which are owned and operated by Joe.
REPORTER: What are you reading there?
GORDON: 'Animal Farm' so I can learn about group dynamics, politics and basically back-stabbing.
GORDON: He's already told me don't to...
CHRISTIAAN: You can't spoil the punch line.
GORDON: Well, he's already told me not to spoil the story, but I fear that some of the developments towards the end will be tragically familiar.
It's February 15. After three weeks on the road, and on the very day that millions around the world march against the war, the buses roll across the border into Iraq.
JOHN ROSS: I like it! I like to see resistance on a part of the world's people against US imperialism.
Poet John Ross says he was the first American jailed for refusing the Vietnam draft. He's a lifelong activist.
JOHN ROSS: When bombs start to fall or bombs are threatened by somebody that's 10,000 miles away, these people are going to choose Saddam as a symbol, you know. He becomes a symbol of the resistance to those bombs. It strengthens Saddam Hussein and Bush doesn't, of course, understand this, Bush doesn't understand anything.
MAN: United States of Amnesia? That's what it is.
JOHN ROSS: My poetry book 'Against Amnesia'. That's what it's called.
Reads: "In my own country, amnesia is the norm. The past will never go away. The past is like a boomerang. It will always return. It is always present. It is always future. It is the most fundamental human right. Memoria. What belongs to us all."
GORDON: Welcome to Baghdad. We thought we'd lost you.
REPORTER: How's it going?
MAN: Yeah, good, good. We're kind of just arriving somewhere for the first night and I have no idea what it is and who's paying for it so... which seems a bit kind of uncomfortable actually.
ABDUL AL-HASHIMI: First of all, I would like to welcome the newcomers that they have arrived early this morning.
The human shields are welcomed by Dr Abdul Al-Hashimi from the Solidarity, Peace and Friendship Society. He is, in fact, a high ranking Iraqi official.
ABDUL AL-HASHIMI: Some of you will tell me "Hey, we did not come to sit in the hotels." But what can we do if Bush postpones his war?
He makes it clear who's in control from now on.
ABDUL AL-HASHIMI: So we will arrange for you the sites in Baghdad - a refinery, a water treatment plant, food storage, communication centre and electrical power plant.
JAKE: They pretty much have it figured out for us and that's the way it's going to be, in the nicest possible way, if you know what I mean.
The first stop on Dr Hashimi's guided tour is the Al-Amariyah bomb shelter where civilians were massacred by an American missile in the first Gulf War. The shields are invited to a commemoration of the attack.
MAN: ...His Excellency, President Saddam Hussein, to the royal martyrs who will remain the high typical example...
But Gordon's not buying the propaganda.
GORDON: Well, the only useful thing about being here is actually doing an action rather than listening to speeches. So I think the Norwegians have got the best idea, which is a sort of lie in action to commemorate the fact that a whole lot of innocent people got blown away because of American so-called intelligence. So, I think I'll join in.
As the ceremony at the bomb shelter continues, there's a late arrival. Ken has driven all night from Damascus. How are you doing? When did you get here?
KEN O’KEEFE: Good. Late last night. Actually, early this morning. All things are in perspective now, I think.
CHRISTIAAN: Let's cut to the chase, hey. Yeah, it's been pretty much taken over. Joe...well, Joe's been "elected"...
KEN” Has he? He's talked to you? "I'm really sorry and da di da di da..."
CHRIS: Well, he's been "elected" in a meeting in the leadership role with Sue and Benjamin.
KEN: Well then, that's fine...anyway, that's all ridiculous - I have things that I intend to do and I'm focused on the bigger picture. If they want to have a group, that's great.
Next obligatory stop on the tour is the Saddam Children's Hospital where the patients and doctors suffer the shortages of sanctions and the crush of Western visitors.
REPORTER: But aren't you risking these children's lives by allowing us here?
DOCTOR: They are at risk with contact with any person. I know what you mean. To this moment, in the last two hours, we have received 150 person from many organisation.
REPORTER: OK, thank you.
JAKE: I'm not very happy about being here and I'm not very happy about what happened in the hospital with that ridiculous frenzy. It was a zoo and the amount of disrespect that people showed towards the sick children there is disgusting
We've been shuttled around on these buses on this Kontiki tour, it may as well be, I'm not gonna partake in it anymore. So yeah, we'll see you at 4:15.
But there's one last stop. A so-called student's peace conference that turns into a Saddam rally.
GORDON: He said this is an international students festival for peace. This is just a forum I'm not interested in being in. So I'm out of here.
Tonight is Ken's first opportunity to address the group. And the main item on the agency is who's in charge.
NATHAN: I would like to welcome back Ken.
KEN O’KEEFE: When this thing was initiated, it was hard to get one person, now we can't accommodate everyone that's coming and that is a wonderful thing but with that comes some problems and I apologise for having to get into this just a little bit and I won't be long. But there are some problems when something like this grows so fast. This bus trip, make no mistake about it. It was me, I started that bus trip and it was Christiaan. We worked night and day before any other people who go on that bus, almost all of them. We were the ones and I was definitely in control of that trip. But it was subverted from the first moment I got away from the buses and I've had to battle this from the first moment when the media started storming around the whole thing, and it was clear to me that this was not being done to further the issue, but for political reasons for people to bolster their own name and that's what I've had to fight from the entire time we left London.
JOHN ROSS: Human shields that have arrived here are here to stop a war. This is not about Ken O'Keefe's sense of being excluded or his bad feelings. We got here because Joe drove those buses and got those buses here. Division will not help us. I endorse everything that Salam said. Forgive. Forgiveness that is what we need here. Not additional threats to put people out of the action.
KEN O’KEEFE: I really need to respond to that. I think we've heard enough from you now. I really do. I asked the group not to be vindictive to you. And I'm asking you to stop being vindictive. You're a great leader. You're an inspiration to people, but you've got to grow up and you've got to let this thing go and you've got to get on with what you are good at, which is inspiring people and let the people who are good at other things get on with that. There are a lot of us who feel like that and if you're going to undo all the good that's been done, you will undo the good that you've done as well. I'm sorry to be angry, but I see no point in allowing this - I feel ashamed for our group.
KEN: OK, I’ll be down there then, all right?
BEN: Has there been any resolution from last night's meeting?
KEN: You know, I think so. Yeah, because everyone is going to get what they want, so I think it's all resolved. I think, as best it can be. Yeah.
MAN: This is can Kenneth and this is Benjamin.
KEN: I can tell all Americans if you want to be treated as a person who the truly appreciated and express your humanity there is no better place to be than Baghdad right now.
REPORTER: Do you think you're mad?
GODFREY: Well I do really. I've sort of blundered into this and I don't know how my courage will hold. I don't feel afraid at the moment. I just feel rather grieved about my family and so on. I also think, actually the greatest danger to us is not probably from the bombs, but from the fallout of the whole situation. Once the spooks of one side might do one an injury and try to pretend it was the spooks on the other side. I think we are in danger of being pawns.
The first deployment site is the Baghdad South power station. For the Iraqis it's another media opportunity. For the human shields, it's the moment of truth.
KEN: I just wanted to say a few quick words and then leave it to the people who will be staying here. When I conceived of this just two months ago, I had every belief that people would respond but I couldn't have known for sure and it has really hit home today what kind of commitment people have decided to make, and along this road, we've had a lot of challenges. I have been tested. Everyone here has been tested. There have been doubts, there have been arguments. There have been all sorts of things that have happened along the way but at the end of the day, everyone who is here in my opinion deserves absolute respect. I am in awe that these people care enough to do what they're doing right now. To sit here in this place and I want the world to know that there is no such thing as collateral damage. If any of these people are harmed, it is murder, absolute murder.
MAN: I'm not sleeping next to him because he snores.
ANGEL: My feelings to be here? Actually, well I don't like to be here. But I think it's - and I don't know if I believe in it, that we can stop people from going to this war, but I think ate worth a try and we promised during our trip through Europe that we were going to be a human shield, so now we are going to deliver it.
The next morning Angel notices troop movements around the power station.
ANGEL: Perhaps they are moving their troops to places where we are staying, you know, since we are a kind of safe haven for them, or perhaps that those barracks or army base was already there before we came here. We don't know, actually. We don't know. But that's delicate.
Suspicious of the Iraqis intentions, the shields insist on vetting each site.
GORDON: We're heading down to three new sites, two water facilities and a power station, basically just to check out the opportunities for us to base shields there and also check out any possible dangers there might be sort of the in the surrounding area. A lot of the human shields are worried about sites like these being close to military sites.
It's not long before the Iraqis place a group in a water plant, adjacent to a large military base. Gordon quickly removes them from the site and an angry Dr Hashimi summons the shields to a meeting.
DR HASHIMI: You are in Iraq and you have to obey Iraqi rules.
This meeting is filmed and later smuggled out of the country by Gordon.
DR HASHIMI: So Mr Kenneth, we are asking you to leave, please, and we appreciate very much what you have done.
Ken is ordered to leave Iraq.
KEN: You're ordering me to leave, you're ordering me to leave?
DR HASHIMI: So you are no longer welcome.
KEN: Who else? Who else?
DR HASHIMI: You too. You are no longer welcome.
You too, you too.
Gordon goes next.
DR HASHIMI: It's over and those people will leave tomorrow.
GORDON: I said “Who’s on the list?” and he turned around and pointed to me and said “You’re on the list to.
By meetings end John Ross, Tolga and Christiaan are also asked to leave.
WOMAN: Go to hell, get out. Go you piece of shit.
Another hundred shields have arrived independently. They place their faith in Dr Hashimi and decide to stay.
KEN: You seem to think that I'm more of a threat to your safety than the Iraqi man who got up there tonight.
KARL: I do.
KEN: Well that is amazing.
More shields continue to arrive every day. All of the shields who came on the buses have now left Iraq - with the lone exception of Angel.
ANGEL: My father met my mother when he was working on a power plant. They made me on another power plant and I was born on a third power plant. So I'm here to defend this power plant thing, but of course I don't like the thought to die here of course. But on the other hand if you say that you're going to deliver something, you know, you have to deliver it. It's a question of honesty. So if you talk the talk, you walk the walk. So I'm going to stick to that. Get me out of here. I can't use that. The last words.
SBS
REPORTER: Bentley Dean