51 Busted at U.S. Terrorist Training Camp

by Ciaron - Dublin Catholic Worker Tue Nov 25, 2003 16:17

IS THE CAUSE WORTH A PRECIOUS SOLDIER´S LIFE?"

STATEMENT ON PARTICIPATING IN THE PROTEST AGAINST THE SOA-WHISC

November 22, 2003

There are many and varied reasons for opposing the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHISC, fomerly the School of the Americas -- SOA).

We are here today to repudiate the U.S. Army´s practice in the past of using torture manuals in the training of Latin American soldiers.

We are here today to reject the School of the Americas´ record of training dictators, torturers, and other human-rights violators. Some of its graduates participated in the brutal assassination of the six Jesuit priests and the two women in San Salvador in 1989. These martyrs are present with us here in Columbus, Ga., this weekend as we revere and honor in our Mass and procession a very significant relic of them -- some of the blood which they shed for the people of El Salvador, which was collected from the garden where they had been slain.

In another case, Father James Carney, who had been in basic training at Ft. Benning before serving in Europe during World War II in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, disappeared in Honduras in 1983; some of the Honduran troops alleged to have been involved in his torture and disappearance were products of the SOA.

But we are not concerned only about past atrocities. And our concern goes beyond the question of whether a few human-rights units are included in the institute´s curriculum. Indeed, when Father Joseph Mulligan visited the SOA in 1990, some instructors told him that some mention was being made of the notion of human rights but that the trainees did not take it seriously, throwing in the teachers´ faces the facts of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and other U.S. atrocities.

One of our main reasons for demanding that the U.S. government close SOA-WHISC has to do with the recruitment of Latin American troops into the military strategies and operations of the U.S. government. SOA-WHISC is a symbol and instrument of this, as its very name indicates. Other countries of the hemisphere have been pressured into sending token forces (about two hundred from each of several nations) to cooperate in a military occupation which the Bush administration has defined as necessary for U.S. security. Do the people of Latin America need to participate in this kind of "security cooperation"?

Troops from Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, and the Dominican Republic have joined U.S. soldiers in Iraq, which we find very sad and ironic. It is especially ironic in the case of Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic, since those countries were occupied by the U.S. military in the early 20th century.

Another reason for closing SOA-WHISC has to do with the nature and purpose of the Latin American military forces. They do not exist primarily to defend one nation against another, but rather to protect an unjust and inequitable distribution of resources within each country against movements of social and political change. By training and equipping the armed forces of Latin America, the U.S. military is strengthening the hand of the privileged elites in their efforts to repress unions, farmers, students, and others struggling for justice. The most needed priority for Latin America is not further militarization.

As Christians we hope and struggle for a world of justice and peace:

"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for justice, for they shall be satisfied.... Blessed are the peacemakers; they shall be called children of God" (Matthew 5).

Of course, this year the demonstration against SOA-WHISC is an occasion to express opposition to the invasion and the current occupation of Iraq as well as the growing militarism of the U.S.

We grieve for the U.S. soldiers who have been killed in Iraq, and our hearts go out to their loved ones. We are also profoundly saddened by the far greater number of Iraqi deaths resulting from the U.S. invasion and military occupation. And we are deeply concerned about the troops from Latin American countries and from other nations who are in Iraq.

We support these troops, but we want to do more than pray for them and send condolences to their families when they die. And so we say: bring them home, save their lives.

They are seen by many as foreign invaders in Iraq, and the Iraqi militants consider themselves patriotic freedom-fighters struggling against the occupiers. Our forces will be killing more and more innocent civilians in their pursuit of the guerrilla combatants.

To the U.S. and Latin American soldiers in training at Ft. Bennett, Ft.Bragg, and other military installations, we say: please reflect seriously on the reasons which have been given for the war in Iraq. Weapons of mass destruction? Ties between Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda terrorists? Or does it have more to do with oil and other natural resources in the Middle East, and lucrative construction contracts for well-connected U.S. corporations, and privatizing the Iraqi economy for American companies?

Do you want to risk your life, and risk leaving your family without you, and kill Iraqi militants and civilians for such purposes of the Bush administration? If not, please consider applying for conscientious objector status.

Vernon Baker, who received the Medal of Honor for his bravery as a 2nd Lt. in World War II, has said: "Before we fight a war, we have to ask ourselves a basic question: Is the cause worth a precious soldier´s life? Each of our soldiers has loved ones, and if you can´t answer the question `yes,´ then don´t fight the war" (Chicago Tribune, Veterans Day, Nov. 11, 2003).

Let us all follow our conscience, being faithful to the truth as we see it. As Jesus said: "if you live according to my teaching, you are truly my disciples; then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free" (John 8:31-31).

Gary Ashbeck

Father Benjamin Jimenez, S.J.

Kathy Kelly

Father Joseph E. Mulligan, S.J.

Brother Mike O´Grady, S.J.

by Jonah Tue Nov 25, 2003 16:23

things are getting brutal in Miami for the FTAA protests

http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2003/11/281420.html

by Jonah Tue Nov 25, 2003 16:27

Among those arrested at SOA was Gary Ashbeck from Jonah House. He prepared for the action with a number of other people and he and two of them – Ben Jimenez, S.J. and Mike O’Grady, S.J. – are refusing to post bail and thus remaining in the local jail awaiting trial and sentencing.

Earlier today we learned from the SOA legal team that bail was set at $1,000 for most of the 51 who were arrested going into the SOA. All but the three named above intend to pay the bond. They are being held at the Muscogee County Jail; they may remain there until trial (and even beyond) or they may be moved. We will try to keep you au courant. Their address is:

Name, no number needed

Muscogee Co. Jail

700 10th St

Columbus, Georgia, 31901

Send only letters; the jail accepts nothing else.

by Eoin Dubsky Tue Nov 25, 2003 18:17

Song for the SOA #2
David Rovics

Well I pulled up there at the gate
Had to come and keep a date
With ten thousand of my friends
Here to right some wrongs and make amends
Folks came in buses, bikes and cars
With voices, fiddles and guitars
And all kinds of people, shapes and styles
Burned those frequent flyer miles

First thing I see's a singing nun
At the frisky age of 91
She's here fresh out of jail
Told the judge "I ain't got no bail
"I'm bearing witness right here and now
'Cause we've got to change the world somehow
So with you all right here I pray
WE'LL SHUT DOWN THE SOA

There's this year's crop from Oberlin
And there's the folks from Warren-Wilson
But they're not all eighteen to twenty-two
They brought along their neighbors too
There's grandpa, baby, mom and dad
An ARA kid, fighting mad
What are we gonna do today?
WE'LL SHUT DOWN THE SOA

There's some in pink, some in black
There's one wrapped in a coffee sack
There's t-shirts, stickers, pins and more
Saying we don't want your oil war
There's a labor lawyer from Walla Walla
With some Mayan folks from Guatemala
See, north and south the people say
WE'LL SHUT DOWN THE SOA

Pouring blood, crossing lines
Holding crosses, making signs
There's priests and punks in groups and pairs
Along with a gang in wheelchairs
There's Josh and Abi, Bill and Sue
Charlie, Tao and you know who
Giant puppets, paper mache
Saying WE'LL SHUT DOWN THE SOA

Yes, we'll keep coming to this town
Til this torture school's shut down
Then we'll march as we intone
You do not walk alone
To the next symbol in our sights
In the global fight for human rights
But for now we're here in this Georgia clay
Saying WE'LL SHUT DOWN THE SOA

by Bernie B Wed Nov 26, 2003 06:48

It;s just GREAT to see the police cracking down on those losers in Miami. You have no idea how much I despise these creeps.

Don't these people know that there's a war on?

Every incident like this makes it easier for terrorists to attack America and Europe.

Those pictures fill my heart with joy and pride.

by Rhino Thu Nov 27, 2003 00:38

School of Americas Demo 2003
by Rupert Fike, Special to Rhino's Blog, 11/25/03
Rolling into Columbus Ga. on a sunny Saturday morning for the annual School of Americas demonstration and vigil at the gates of Fort Benning I park downtown and hop on a shuttle bus that will take us to the Fort. Suddenly I am in a kind of middle-America we all need to remember is out there - a busload of the sweetest protestors imaginable - from a Church of Christ in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. They talk like the good folk of Lake Woebegone. They are shortish, stocky, grey-haired. They look as if they had just walked out of a Wal-Mart sale on hand towels. They group around me, a curiosity, someone from the South. They want to know why I am there. I tell them I am part of The extended Farm community who did soy, water and medical work in Guatemala in the 70s. Some smile and nod, filling in the others who can't hear me. I hear, "Well isn't that something!" several times.


Outside, the scenery of an Army base town floats by - pawn shops, ammo stores, surplus outlets. I ask them why they are there. A slightly built man in a plaid shirt answers - Their congregation had begun a church-to-church outreach program with a village in Chiapas, Mexico back in the early 80s. He spoke proudly of their accomplishments before bad things began to happen. Like the massacre of 21 women, 15 children and 9 men by Mexican paramilitary forces. And on the Oshkosh group's last visit to Chiapas, they asked what would be the best thing they could do for the village. The answer across the
board was, "Close down the School of Americas." So here they are for the fifth straight year.


As usual there is a stage set up outside the Ft Benning gates, but this year the Army blasts (and I mean BLASTS) a Kafkaesque tape loop of "patriotic music" including marches, anthems, country and western kick-some-3rd world-butt ballads, etc. On the one hand it is an admission that after 12 years, the demonstration has gotten to them and that they feel threatened by it, but on the other hand, the zillion decibels are just plain obnoxious - a Psychological Operation designed to wear down the senses of anyone in the vicinity of their speakers. Father Roy Bourgeois gives a stirring welcoming, shouting over the blasting 1984 soundtrack just behind him. He notes that this new Army strategy is a sign of weakness rather than strength on their part. Other speakers and musicians follow. UAW to Argentinan nuns. Pete Seeger gets everybody going. The sun beats down. The Puppitistas, over a hundred stilt walking, banner-waving, helicopter holding, drum beating performers. Veterans from the recent Miami's WTO protests circulate and tell their stories.


Mid-afternoon, a woman from Where Are the Children campaign speaks as best she can (some due to emotion, some due to the Army speakers) of her two boys who were taken out of her home in El Salvador never to be seen again. It is a moment. It is a scene even Michael Moore could not have choreographed. "They busted into our home in the middle of the night," she says, working to keep her throat from closing. From behind the stage during her pause, the strains of America the Beautiful smash aggressively over the crowd, " . . . America, America, . . " She gets it together to go on. "The last I saw of my boys they were crying to me for help . . . " Speakers- "God shed his grace on thee . . . " The mother then turned and pointed to the Benning Gates, "And later I was to find out that the men who took my
boys were trained right there, in that place!" Speakers - " . . . and crown thy good with brotherhood from sea to shining sea."


Later I flag down a cab to take me back downtown. The cabbie is a sad-looking, ciggie smoking woman, another snapshot of middle America. We drive in silence for a bit before she says, "Mind if I ask you a question?" "Shoot." "Do they ever give reasons for not closing down that School?"

by Vitw Fri Nov 28, 2003 17:47

"What Country Is This?"

Hogtied and Abused at Fort Benning

By KATHY KELLY

On Sunday, November 23, I took part in a nonviolent civil disobedience
action at Fort Benning, GA, to protest the U.S. Army´s School of the
Americas (SOA, now called the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security

Cooperation -- WHISC)

Shortly after more than two dozen of us entered Fort Benning and were
arrested, US Military Police took us to a warehouse on the base for
"processing." I was directed to a station for an initial search, where
a
woman soldier began shouting at me to look straight ahead and spread my

legs. I turned to ask her why she was shouting at me and was ordered to

keep
my mouth shut, look straight ahead, and spread my legs wider. She then
began
an aggressive body search. When ordered to raise one leg a second time,

I
temporarily lost my balance while still being roughly searched and, in
my
view, 'womanhandled.' I decided that I shouldn't go along with this
dehumanizing action any longer. When I lowered my arms and said,
quietly,
"I'm sorry, but I can't any longer cooperate with this," I was
instantly
pushed to the floor. Five soldiers squatted around me, one of them
referring
to me with an expletive (this f_ _ _ er) and began to cuff my wrists
and
ankles and then bind my wrists and ankles together. Then one soldier
leaned
on me, with his or her knee in my back. Unable to get a full breath, I
gasped and moaned, "I can't breathe." I repeated this many times and
then
began begging for help. When I said, "Please, I've had four lung
collapses
before," the pressure on my back eased. Four soldiers then carried me,
hogtied, to the next processing station for interrogation and propped
me in
a kneeling position. The soldier standing to my left, who had been
assigned
to "escort" me, gently told me that soon the ankle and wrist cuffs,
which
were very tight, would be cut off. He politely let me know that he
would
have to move my hair, which was hanging in front of my face, so that my

picture could be taken. I told him I'd appreciate that.

I was then carried to the next station. There, one of the soldiers
who'd
been part of pushing me to the floor knelt in front of me, and, with
his
nose about two inches from mine, told me that because I was combative I

should know that if I didn't do exactly as instructed when they
uncuffed one
hand, he would pepper spray me. I asked him to describe how I'd been
combative, but he didn't answer.

After the processing, I was unbound, shackled with wrist and ankle
chains,
and led to the section where other peaceful activists, also shackled,
awaited transport to the Muskogee County jail.

At our bond hearing on Monday, Nov. 24, a military prosecutor told the
federal judge that the military was considering an additional charge
against
me for resisting arrest. I explained my side of the story to the judge,

grateful that there are at least sevreal witnesses upon whom I could
call.

The federal judge determined that most of us were "flight risks" and
increased by 100% the cash bond required before we could be released,
from
last year´s $500. to $1000.

Today I have a black eye and the soreness that comes with severe muscle

strain. Mostly, I'm burdened with a serious question, "What are these
soldiers training for?" The soldiers conducting that search must have
been
ordered not to tolerate the slightest dissent. They were practicing
intimidation tactics far beyond what would be needed to control an
avowedly
nonviolent group of protesters who had never, in thirteen years of
previous
actions, caused any disruption during the process of arrest.
Bewildered,
most of us in the "tank" inside the Muskogee County jail acknowledged
that
during the rough processing we wondered, "What country do we live in?"
We
now live in a country where Homeland Security funds pay for exercises
which
train military and police units to control and intimidate crowds,
detainees,
and arrestees using threat and force.

This morning's aches and pains, along with the memory of being hogtied,

give
me a glimpse into the abuses we protest by coming to Fort Benning, GA.
As we
explore the further invention of nonviolence in our increasingly
volatile
time, it's important that we jointly overcome efforts to deter our
determination to stand together against what Martin Luther King once
called,
"the violence of desperate men," -- and women.

Kathy Kelly is director of Voices in the Wilderness.