Putting Noncombatants at Risk: Saddam's Use of 'Human Shields'.

摘要

In past confrontations with the West, Iraqi President Saddam Husayn has used thousands of foreign and Iraqi civilians as human shields in bids to manipulate domestic and international opinion and deter military action against his regime. This tactic has produced clear costs and only marginal gains for Saddam, yet he repeatedly has enacted variations of it since Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in August 1990. In the current crisis, Baghdad is encouraging international peace groups to send members to Iraq to serve as voluntary human shields, and the Iraqi military continues its longstanding policy of placing military assets near civilian facilities and in densely populated areas.