"They (Iraqis) are not a faceless mass who don't matter if they die," said a British pacifist

LONDON, January 25 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) – As the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog warned it needs several more months to complete weapons inspections in Iraq, 50 British "human shields" are setting out Saturday, January 25, for Iraq.

The British pacifists will drive through Europe to drum up support for their anti-war drive, the BBC news online reported.

Among the 50 "human shield" protesters is veteran peace campaigner Grace Trevett who stressed "there are big questions over whether an invasion is necessary."

"I was in the U.S. in April to take part in a peace march, but while I was there the people of Iraq were being demonized and their children were said to be spies.

"I believe human beings are equally precious, equally important wherever they come from. They are not a faceless mass who don't matter if they die."

Ms Trevett and her fellow campaigners say they are willing to put themselves in the front line of firing should U.S. and British forces strike Iraq.

They plan to identify potential bombing targets such as power stations and bridges and act as human shields to protect them.

The group will collect aid for the Iraqi people on their 3,000-mile journey before setting themselves up at key installations in Baghdad.

A second convoy is planning to leave on 15 February, with more than 600 peace activists expected to join hands.

In a separate related peace effort, veteran Labor politician Tony Benn, 77, announced Friday, January 24, traveling to Baghdad to meet with Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

"The purpose is to explore the prospects for peace," stressed the former Cabinet minister whom met with Saddam in 1990 to try to avoid the escalation of the crisis over the Iraqi occupation of Kuwait into a war.

"We hear (U.S.) President (George) Bush and (Prime Minister) Tony Blair every day but we don't hear from Saddam Hussein," said Benn

"That is why I went in 1990, and it is important now when you hear America speaking about weeks not months" remaining before a possible military strike on Iraq, said the staunch pacifist.

Benn, 77, said Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz has assured him of a meeting with Saddam, adding: "It is a good sign that he may be willing to meet me.

"We hear (U.S.) President (George) Bush and (Prime Minister) Tony Blair every day but we don't hear from Saddam Hussein."

Benn, who served as a cabinet minister in Labor governments in the 1960s and 1970s, retired in 2001 from the House of Commons to which he was first elected in 1950.

A number of current Labor MPs have also expressed their opposition to a war on Iraq and Blair's strong support of U.S. policy on the crisis. 

IAEA Wants Months More for Inspections

A spokesman for the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said Friday at the body's Vienna headquarters that the watchdog would ask the U.N. Security Council Monday, January 27, for several more months to complete inspections in Iraq.

"In our briefings at the Security Council and in our meetings with senior U.S. leaders," said IAEA spokesman Mark Gwozdecky, "we have been told we enjoy their full confidence, that they have no time deadline on us. We take that at face value.

"Monday's report (to the Security Council) will stress that we are still not running at capacity, and once we get at capacity you have got to maintain that intensity over a period of time," he added.

World Countries Press for Peaceful Settlement of Crisis

Egypt and Germany called on Iraq not to waste the chance to avert a looming war, saying it was the responsibility of everyone to do all they could until the very last moment to avoid war.

"We are at a very serious juncture," Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher warned after talks in Cairo late Friday with German counterpart Joschka Fischer.

He urged Iraq "to show even more cooperation with (U.N. weapons) inspectors.

Fischer said it was "very important that the Iraqi government...understands where we are...(and) fully complies with all the relevant resolutions. This is crucial to ... avoid military action."

With mounting world opposition to a looming U.S.-led war on Iraq, Russian President Vladimir Putin talked by phone with German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder Friday and their message to Baghdad and Washington was that only a diplomatic solution could avert war.

"Both sides underlined the similarity in approach taken by Russia and Germany, who stand in favor of a political settlement to the Iraqi problem within the framework of the United Nations," said a Kremlin statement.

In a related development, Putin and French President Jacques Chirac also had very "very close" positions on the Iraqi crisis.

Over a phone conversation, Putin and Chirac, whose nations are both permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, exchanged views ahead of Monday report, French presidential spokeswoman Catherine Colonna said.

In Athens, European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana watered down the importance of heightening tensions between Europe and the United States over Iraq.

"A rift between the European Union and the United States would be a very, very negative thing and I hope very much that it won't be introduced," Solana told a press conference after talks between the E.U. and Russia.

However, Washington reiterated its growing impatience with Iraq, saying its refusal to allow U.N. inspectors to carry out private interviews with weapons scientists was "unacceptable".

Washington accused Baghdad of blocking private talks between U.N. weapons inspectors and Iraqi scientists and preparing to destroy his country's oil fields during any war.

"Saddam Hussein is engaging in a constant pattern now, and an increasing pattern, of defying the inspectors, refusing to cooperate," claimed White House spokesman Ari Fleischer.

Saddam was "making the end of the line come even closer by his unacceptable behavior," he added.