Reflection by SOA prisoner of conscience, 2003

Report by Joe Mulligan, S.J., on Participation in Demonstration Against the U.S. Army´s School of the Americas, Nov. 21-23, 2003

About 10,000 people of all ages and all walks of life took part in the protest against the U.S. Army´s School of the Americas (SOA, now called the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation -- WHINSEC) during the weekend of Nov. 21-23. SOA/WHINSEC has given military training to thousands of soldiers from Latin America, many of whom have gone on to become notorious torturers, assassins, and other human-rights violators.

CROSSING ONTO THE BASE

Shortly after the start of the solemn procession on Sunday, Nov. 23, during which people responded "presente" to the names of thousands of victims, those who had decided to cross onto the base to present their message swung into action. About 30 protesters were arrested.

Those arrested were first processed by the Military Police, then handed over to U.S. marshalls, and finally incarcerated as federal prisoners in the Muscogee County Jail in Columbus, Ga. They were in a newly-painted section of the jail which some described as quite tolerable. On the afternoon of Monday, Nov. 24, a bond hearing was held before a federal judge. Defendants were assisted by attorneys who volunteer their services with the School of the Americas Watch. All but 3 of the defendants were released after $1000. was deposited on behalf of each one, agreeing to appear in federal court in Columbus, Ga., on Jan. 26, 2004. Charged with criminal trespassing, all face a maximum sentence of 6 months in prison plus a possible fine. Gary Ashbeck, Ben Jimenez, S.J., and Mike O´Grady, S.J., opted to refuse release on bond and thus to remain in jail until trial.

In a separate case, Karl Meyer of Nashville, Tenn., was arrested on Nov. 23 when he refused to submit to an electronic wand search as he entered the area which had been cordoned off for the demonstration, 3 blocks from the gate of Ft. Benning. All those entering this area were required to be searched by local police.

Karl had been arrested last year for the same conscientious action in defense of civil and constitutional rights. His trial on those charges is set for early 2004. On the current charge, he was released on bond until trial.

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This year the U.S. government ratcheted up its hostility toward the peaceful demonstrators in various ways:

1)        During the day of Saturday, Nov. 22, Ft. Benning, site of SOA/WHINSEC, blared loud music at the protesters near the stage outside the gate of the fort, making it impossible for most to hear the speakers. Thus the Army is now turning its Psychological Operations tactics, such as this one which was used to drive the Panamanian strongman Gen. Manuel Noriega out of his political asylum in the Vatican Embassy, against U.S. citizens exercising their democratic rights at home.
After the base was inundated with complaints from around the country, the commandant said they would respect the religious services and solemn procession in honor of the thousands of victims on Sunday by not playing the loud music. He kept his word.

2)       The Military Police of Ft. Benning used excessive force against a peaceful demonstrator after she had been arrested for non-violently walking onto the base. Kathy Kelly, founder of Voices in the Wilderness (a group which has worked for years in solidarity with the people of Iraq against the harmful UN sanctions and against the U.S. invasion), was being woman-handled in a rough way by a female MP, who called Kathy by an obscene name beginning with "b" and shouted at the detainee to spread her legs further apart for the search. Kathy respectfully asked why the lady was using such an aggressive tone, was told to shut up, and then said she could not cooperate with this kind of abusive treatment. Kathy did not go limp or make any move at this moment, but immediately five MPs were all over her and dropped her to the floor. At this point I entered the building in handcuffs to be processed, noticing the soldiers squatting and kneeling, but I did not see Kathy and could not see what the soldiers were doing. I heard some muffled groans and cries. Then I saw Kathy, hog-tied, being carried away by the troops. Later she returned to our area, walking on her own and smiling, and described what had happened.

3)        A minor incident revealed the aggressive and potentially violent attitude of a U.S. marshall who was accompanying us in the bus on our way from the base to the Muscogee County Jail. After we had waited for about 15 minutes for the bus to start and then were on the road for about 5 minutes, some of the shackled passengers politely asked him if the air conditioning could be turned down a bit. He said his only concern was to get us to the jail. Someone asked again, and the young marshall said it felt fine to him. Could the marshall adjust the direction of the air outlets on the ceiling so that the cold air would not be coming right at us (we were without our outer shirts and jackets)? He said he would have to get up to do that and chose not to, counseling us that there was one way we could have avoided all this. When the marshall was asked by a prisoner if he himself could stand up to adjust the vent, the marshall responded: "not unless you want to be laying on the floor."
(It should be noted that in general the MPs, marshalls, sheriff´s deputies, and jail guards treated us with respect and some with courtesy.)

4)       At our bond hearing on Monday, Nov. 24, the federal judge increased by 100% the cash amount which each defendant would have to pay to walk out and be free until trial: from last year´s $500. to $1000.

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The following is the statement of some of the defendants:

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

STATEMENT ON PARTICIPATING IN THE PROTEST AGAINST SOA/WHINSEC

November 23, 2003

There are many and varied reasons for opposing the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC, 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 SOA's 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/WHINSEC has to do with the recruitment of Latin American troops into the military strategies and operations of the U.S. government. SOA/WHINSEC 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/WHINSEC 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, for they shall be called children of God" (Matthew 5).

Of course, this year the demonstration against SOA/WHINSEC 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 they seem to 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
Rev. Don Beisswenger
David Corcoran
Scott P. Diehl
Faith Fippinger
Father Benjamin Jimenez, S.J.
Kathy Kelly
Father Joseph E. Mulligan, S.J.
Brother Mike O´Grady, S.J.
Father Bernard Survil
Rich Wekerle
Father Jerry Zawada, OFM