No doubt Saddam Hussein and his cronies will feel gratified to know that half a dozen South African anti-war ideologues have joined his PR team by flying into the country and spending a few days as human shields.

They stuck it out for their short sojourn but then decided, quite wisely too, to put personal safety above political conviction and caught the first flight back home.

Apparently, we are told, they were prepared to be human shields but not targets. I would have thought the distinction was more about semantics than cold reality. Semantics are not really suited to the broad divisions of war. Anyway, at the risk of being obtuse, I fail to see how you can be a human shield if you are not mindful of the less-than-remote possibility that you may perhaps become a target too.

It is also said that the Iraqis welcomed their South African acolytes but asked them if they didn't mind being human shields for military installations and government sites rather than human shields for humans. The visitors were rather taken aback as this request didn't quite accord with their expectations and the extent of their moral support.

What a pity they didn't first phone to find out before going to all the trouble of booking a flight. Anyway, now they are back home, somewhat the wiser and more inclined to express their solidarity from the safety of their homes rather than at the front-line of what is becoming a drawn-out, messy and dangerous war for all concerned and sadly, for civilians too.

One of their number, interviewed on her arrival at Durban International Airport, shed tears in abundance and said how sad she was not to have been able to stay on. But she added that she felt gratified by the fact that her group had expressed their support to the Iraqis in person and had also forged meaningful interpersonal links.

No doubt those thousands of innocent Iraqi civilians who cannot be blamed for the maniacal excesses of their leaders and who are suffering the agony of war as a result, will gain strength from such magnanimous gestures.

But alas, there's no room for ambivalence or equivocation when it comes to ideology and war. It's a case of in for a penny, in for a pound or else do what everyone else does and watch the war from the CNN grandstand.

Of course there's always a further option for those who feel strongly enough. It seems the floodgates have been opened for a multitude of wannabe suicide bombers who are prepared to donate their lives on Saddam's behalf.

Now there's an authentic and convincing way to demonstrate one's solidarity.