The Argentine "human shield" did not prevent the United States from deposing Saddam Hussein, but he has no regrets, and is even angrier than the day he arrived.

"I'm heading back to Cordoba to bear witness to the crimes of the United States in Iraq," said the 36-year-old office administrator.

"This invasion, and there's nothing else to call it, is an outrage against this nation and has meant the entire destruction of a country. This is what I'm going to recount in Cordoba," he said.

Before the start of the war, the Argentine went to neighboring Jordan in hopes of being a volunteer in Iraq.

"But they explained to me that the only way to enter the country was to be a human shield. Within minutes I decided that was a price worth paying," he said.

Hundreds of people volunteered as human shields in Iraq in hopes of stopping the United States from attacking the country, or at least particular targets of importance to the civilian population.

Sahara spent a month at a power plant with eight other shields from various countries, including France, Japan and Poland. The site was not bombed, but Baghdad's electricity went down nonetheless on April 4 amid heavy US bombing elsewhere in the capital.

Five days later, US forces rolled into the center of Baghdad.

Sahara said his vigil was not futile.

"I leave here happy for this reason: Perhaps if we weren't there, then the site could have been attacked. But what is important is that we defended something that is vital for the Iraqi people," he said.

When he finally left the power plant last weekend, he was shocked to see Baghdad engulfed by chaos and looting in the post-Saddam power vacuum. He was filled with feelings of sadness and impotence.

"This is a crime against this people, who are magnificent," he said.

As he leaves Iraq the authorities he is dealing with are not from Saddam Hussein's regime but US troops who have set up checkpoints and roadblocks across the country.

He did not have any major complaints about his interaction with the soldiers.

"It's not their fault. They only follow orders from a murderer," he said, in reference to US President George W. Bush.

But the memory that remains most etched in this human shield's mind is not from the endless nights at the power plant.

Sahara, who spent four years studying theology in Africa, said he met up this week in Baghdad with a Baptist pastor.

"He took us to visit houses in the south of the city where two families were buried alive when a bomb fell. These were all innocent civilians," he said.

Sahara is not optimistic. In his view, Iraq suffered under Saddam and will suffer under the Americans.

"When I was a student I used to read about the history of invasions and colonization. What's happened in Iraq right now is exactly the same. It makes me so sad. This wasn't a war against a dictator but a complete occupation of a country."

SPACE.WIRE