Volume 25, Number 3    December 2003

Kathy Kelly, young CTAers take Gandhian peacemaking to Fort Benning

Kathy Kelly and hundreds of other CTA members, especially young adults like CTA staffers Crystal Chan and Mauro Pineda, were among the 10,000 at the 13th annual protest seeking closure of the U.S. Army School of the Americas at Fort Benning, Ga., Nov. 15-16. Those who “crossed the line” and committed civil disobedience, including Kelly, had a painful chance to practice Gandhian nonviolent resistance.

Kelly tells of her mistreatment by the military police when she quietly refused to continue cooperating with an extremely aggressive search procedure: “I was pushed to the floor, hogtied, kneed while begging for relief because I couldn’t breathe, hauled away while still hogtied, and threatened with pepper spray if I didn’t cooperate when they uncuffed me for fingerprinting.” In an article on her Voices in the Wilderness website (www.vitw.org), she says treatment of Iraqi civilians by U.S. troops is far rougher, and shares a recent account by an Iraqi teenager, recorded by Christian Peacemaker Team volunteers. The boy's entire family was dragged from their beds at 2:30 AM, tied up with no explanation, then left all day squatting in their underwear in the 120 degree heat without water.

Protest military police abuse
Abuses of police power toward nonviolent peace activists are increasing. Jesuit Fr. John Dear was harassed at night by 75 National Guard troops screaming war slogans in front of his home in New Mexico, and chanting, “Swing your guns from left to right, we can kill those guys all night.” (See www.commondreams.org)

To demand an investigation of military behavior at Fort Benning, write Sen. John Warner, chair, and Sen. Carl Levin, the ranking Democrat, at the U.S. Senate Committee on Armed Services, 228 Russell Senate Office Building, Washington DC 20510.

SOA information
Kelly and 44 others arrested Nov. 16 go to federal court in Columbus, Ga. Jan. 26. Each could face six months in federal prison. Meanwhile, the bill to close SOA, HR 1258, has 100 cosponsors. Sponsor Jim McGovern (D-MA) hopes for 150 before bringing it to the House floor. To keep in touch with the prisoners of conscience, and to get involved in the legislative battle, log on to www.soaw.org

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