we always have Sam to back us up."
As the
annual converging on Fort Benning, Georgia approaches, organized by SOA (School
of the Americas) Watch (November 17-18) it is perhaps helpful to review: the
Salvadoran army officers who murdered Jesuit priests, their housekeeper and
young daughter in 1989, were pardoned in El Salvador. In outrageous contrast the
thirteen U.S. citizens who reenacted
the 1989 murders, as part of a demonstration
against the School of the Americas (S.O.A. - School of Assassins) where the
officers were trained, were sentenced to prison. This has happened every year
since the murders and will continue, according to organizers, until the school is closed.
The
pious, if sleepy, Judge Elliot, who found the defendants guilty April 29, 1998 also imposed on them a telling anecdote: if a man steals bread
for his starving children he has good motives but criminal intent, has broken
the law and therefore should go to prison. Apparently the learned judge has not
read Les Miserable, or perhaps did read the sad tale and identified with the
sociopathic prosecutor, cheering on his obsessive pursuit.
The
defense took two basic strategies: to call for dismissal of the charges (engaging
in banned political activity at Fort Benning where the school is located) on
the grounds that only those opposing the S.O.A. were banned while those in
favor were allowed to express their support; and that a higher moral law
justifies the "illegal" action taken by the group. The analogy was
drawn that citizens would have been breaking German law if they had stopped the
death trains to Auschwitz but a higher moral law would have absolved them.
Reverend
Bill Bichsel, in his eloquent pre-sentencing statement, said, " We are not
afraid of your jails or your police. We will be back to demonstrate on each
anniversary of the murders until that school is closed. I hope one day you
(Judge Elliot) will join us." Spontaneous and sustained applause erupted
in the packed court room, sending the Sheriff in charge of security walking in circles frantically wondering what to do about it.
The
S.O.A. claims that its instruction aims to instill "American" values
in its students. Some folks from the area might point out that they too are
“Americans”, if Central or South Americans. Critics claim that the school
actually teaches torture techniques (verified by the leaking of a manual). The
fact is that many of its graduates have engaged in undemocratic activities,
coups and assassinations, such notorious figures as Manuel Noriega and El
Salvador death squad leader Roberto D'Aubuisson. It is a dubious proposition
that a rigid hierarchical military is the appropriate teacher of democratic
values. The school’s unspoken mission, and one of the reasons it should be
closed, is to establish relationship with Latin American military officers so
as to have coup-influence in the event leaders down there get the idea that democracy is more important than U.S.
corporate interests, as happened recently in Honduras. Our dear Senator
Shameless responded to my letter asking him to push for democracy there by
claiming that the over-thrown president, I paraphrase, had it coming. He was
attempting to extend his term. My! Far worse a crime than violently taking
over a country and banning the legitimate, elected president who may or may not
have been planning to, through legal means, extend his term. His real crime of
course was putting the needs of his fellow citizens before corporate and elite
interests and – shudder – associating with (elected) Venezuelan President
Chavez (routinely referred to as a dictator in mainstream "American" media). U.S. yearning
for democracy and freedom seem to run consistently along these two lines:
flamboyant and self-righteous rhetorical concern contrasted with apparent fear
and loathing of the real thing. The annual SOA event is one opportunity for
citizens to oppose this murderous hypocrisy. www.soaw.org
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