News release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 26, 2008
Contact in Tucson: Jack or Felice Cohen-Joppa, 520-323-8697

JUDGE REJECTS PLEA AGREEMENT IN TORTURE PROTEST CASE

At Friday morning's (January 25) hearing in federal court in Tucson, Magistrate Jacqueline Marshall rejected a proposed plea agreement between Army prosecutor Capt. Evan Seamone and Torture on Trial defendant Frances Elizabeth (Betsy) Lamb. The agreement, sought by Lamb so she might leave prison to be with her family at a time of need, would have had Lamb change her plea to guilty of trespass and failure to obey, while continuing to trial with her two codefendants on the conspiracy charge.

In rapid succession, Marshall outlined four objections to the proposed agreement. She sharply criticized the prosecutor for incorporating an intermittent jail sentence that is simply "not doable" by the Bureau of Prisons; for the length of the proposed sentence that approximated the maximum possible were Lamb to be convicted at trial, and for refusing to acknowledge and give credit for Lamb's time served in prison since December 4. "That's illegal," Marshall stated, cutting off Seamone as he sought to clarify the government's position by quoting back to him the particular problematic statement in the proposed plea agreement. "What were you thinking?" she exclaimed.

Marshall also expressed serious concern that because the conspiracy charge would remain to be prosecuted, Lamb's guilty plea to trespass and failure to obey presented such serious potential conflicts that a standard waiver signed by each defendant might not be enough to ensure a fair trial for each.

"I'm going to pretend this plea doesn't exist," she concluded with evident impatience.

Representing the defendant, attorney Meredith Little asked Marshall whether the court would consider a revised plea agreement later in the day.

The magistrate agreed, but in the end, no revised agreement could be reached. The prosecutor would not agree to a home confinement option, instead seeking a full six months incarceration on the two guilty pleas, in return for dropping the conspiracy charge. Lamb was returned to prison until trial.

The schedule for the trial has changed slightly. Motions will be heard in court beginning at 1:30 p.m. Monday, February 4, and trial is now set to begin at 9 a.m. Tuesday, February 5.

Among the motions recently submitted by the defense is one to quash the misdemeanor conspiracy charge as an "over-criminalization" of the nonviolent protest that resulted in the arrest of Lamb, Fr. Jerry Zawada and Mary Burton Riseley last November 18 at Ft. Huachuca. A memo in support of the motion declares that, "Research has discovered not one reported federal criminal case of a conviction for conspiracy misdemeanor trespass."

For prison addresses for Lamb and the other three Ft. Huachuca prisoners of conscience, go to http://tortureontrial.org/support.html Background information can be found at http://tortureontrial.org

Back to Top

News release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 6, 2007
Contact in Tucson: Jack or Felice Cohen-Joppa, 520-323-8697

TUCSON JUDGE DENIES BAIL; DECLARES TWO WHO PROTEST TORTURE "...A DANGER TO THE COMMUNITY"
At a detention hearing today in federal court in Tucson, Betsy Lamb, a retired Catholic lay leader, and Franciscan Fr. Jerry Zawada were jailed without bail until their trial. Lamb, Zawada and Mary Burton Riseley were arrested on November 18 at Fort Huachuca, home of the U.S. Army Intelligence Center and School, during a protest of military use of torture against war detainees.

Magistrate Hector Estrada was concerned by evidence that both Lamb and Zawada had failed to heed an order of the court in cases pending in other jurisdictions.

Betsy Lamb is awaiting trial for a September anti-war protest outside the office of Rep. Greg Walden, in Bend, Oregon. As a standard condition of release on her own recognizance, Lamb had promised not to commit any other crime while awaiting trial. Fr. Zawada has an outstanding bench warrant for failure to appear for a court date in Washington, D.C., where he has been arrested several times in recent years for anti-war protest.

Army Prosecutor Capt. Evan Seamone came to court with three witnesses in dress uniform, several poster-sized photo enlargements and a videotape of the arrests. But the magistrate said he already knew the defendants' intent, and would only listen to Seamone's summation. Seamone described the defendants' peaceful passage through police barricades at the gate of Fort Huachuca as a violent act because it had to be met by police, who were forced to go face to face with the unarmed protesters and lift them from a kneeling position. In the eyes of the law and legal precedent, Seamone argued that such violent trespass warranted pretrial detention for the safety of the community. Were the court to release Zawada and Lamb, "their blatant defiance is likely to happen again" Seamone warned, gravely predicting that "all kinds of chaos" would ensue at the gate to Fort Huachuca.

Attorney Rachel Wilson, representing the defendants, objected repeatedly without success to Seamone's arguments. Wilson told the court that Ms. Lamb had "learned her lesson" and was willing to post bond along with her promise to return to court for trial.

Estrada was unmoved. He told the defendants he didn't trust them and that he believed they were right where they wanted to be--before him in chains. Protest is brinksmanship, and the point is to not be arrested; better to organize a conference or seminar, he chided.

Estrada then ordered that Lamb and Zawada be kept in custody until their February 4 trial because they "remain a flight risk, and are a danger to the community." Not even Capt. Seamone had suggested that the defendants were a "flight risk."

Responding to the court's conclusion, Felice Cohen-Joppa said of her friends, "Betsy Lamb and Jerry Zawada are not a danger to the community--they, along with Mary Burton Riseley, are the conscience of the community. They are shining a light on the involvement of military intelligence in torture around the world. Their nonviolent acts are no more a danger to the community than were the nonviolent acts of Cesar Chavez and Martin Luther King, Jr."

Lamb and Zawada are not the only people now in prison for peaceful protest of U.S. torture practices. On October 17, Magistrate Estrada sent Frs. Steve Kelly and Louie Vitale to prison for five months in prison for a similar protest at Fort Huachuca in November, 2006. They are scheduled to be released in mid-March.

For more information, visit tortureontrial.org



--30--
Back to Top

News release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 4, 2007
Contact in Tucson: Jack or Felice Cohen-Joppa, 520-323-8697

TWO JAILED PENDING BAIL HEARING AT FT. HUACHUCA TORTURE PROTEST
A Tucson magistrate has jailed an Oregon peace activist and a Franciscan priest from Nevada following their arrest at Fort Huachuca on November 18 for acting against the torture of military detainees. This afternoon at their arraignment in federal court, U.S. Magistrate Judge Jacqueline Marshall ruled that because Frances Elizabeth "Betsy" Lamb and Fr. Jerry Zawada had each failed to heed court orders in pending cases in other jurisdictions, they should each be held in custody pending trial. Magistrate Marshall set a detention hearing for both defendants before Magistrate Hector Estrada at 10:30 a.m. on Thursday, December 6, when bail will likely be set.

Lamb and Zawada, together with a third defendant, Mary Burton Riseley of Cliff, New Mexico, entered pleas of not guilty to charges of trespass, conspiracy, and failure to obey an officer. Their November arrest came while 300 people demonstrated outside Fort Huachuca, Arizona, home of the U.S. Army Intelligence Center and School where all Army interrogators are trained. (Fr. Louie Vitale and Fr. Steve Kelly were arrested during a similar November, 2006 protest at Fort Huachuca, and are currently serving five months in prison for trespass and failure to obey.)

Military prosecutor Capt. Evan Seamone informed the court that at the time of the Fort Huachuca arrests, Betsy Lamb was awaiting trial for a September anti-war protest outside the office of Rep. Greg Walden, in Bend, Oregon. As a standard condition of release on her own recognizance, Lamb had agreed not to commit any other crime while awaiting trial.

Seamone also told the court that among Fr. Zawada's decades' long record of resistance to nuclear weapons and war was an outstanding warrant for failure to appear in court for an anti-war arrest in Washington, D.C.

Seamone repeatedly declared that these records of protest and defiance created a "danger to the community" that Lamb and Zawada would again return to Fort Huachuca. Ignoring the fact that police had barricaded the main gate on November 18 and that a second, nearby gate remained open for the duration of the protest, Seamone said such actions would keep families out of their homes, and ailing veterans from medical care. Significantly, Seamone said that more protest threatened to "disable the ability to train" interrogators at Fort Huachuca.

These incidents provided sufficient reason for Magistrate Marshall to grant Seamone's motion for pretrial detention of defendants Lamb and Zawada. Because Ms. Riseley's record of nonviolent protest did not include any outstanding obligations, she remains free on her own recognizance.

Supporter Jack Cohen-Joppa said, "Today confirms that there is indeed a price to be paid to preserve whatever virtue this country has in the world. People with less of a criminal record than Jerry and Betsy have been held in isolation at Guantanamo under the control of military intelligence for almost six years now. The three defendants were called by their conscience to speak out against torture. Although they do not desire to spend time in prison, they feel that it is a necessary risk to try to stop brutal and inhumane treatment of detainees in Guantanamo, Iraq and Afghanistan."

Lamb and Zawada were represented in court by Dan Gregor. Meredith Little represented Mary Burton Riseley.

Fr. Jerry Zawada's statement follows. For more information, visit www.tortureontrial.org

-30-

Fr. Jerry Zawada prepared the following statement today, but was not permitted to read it in court.

"Judge Marshall, Prosecutor Evan Seamone, all of this courtroom and beyond:

"I stand in awe and gratitude to so many who showed me how to live and act in these days --courageous people, some who have already moved on to the other side of this life, who continue to bring to this earth a powerful message of what is needed to be done at this ominous juncture in human history--a thorough commitment to nonviolence, to a world where people of all backgrounds, nations and ways of life are respected and cherished, people who say NO, absolutely NO, to all forms of torture, all forms of dehumanizing practices, NO to warfare of any kind, certainly to one which is unprovoked and based on falsehood, NO to sanctions which bring about the deaths of thousands of innocents... and YES to the reality that we are to live as one family on this planet.

"It is on account of the example of these courageous people that I have acted with others to draw attention to what is happening at Ft. Huachuca and its participation in bringing about a regime that condones unmitigated abuse of truth and opens the door to physical and psychological torture and warfare.

"For this reason, at this time, I refuse to promise that I would refrain from acting (in a nonviolent manner) to take whatever risks needed to stop the warfare and abuse carried on in our name in Iraq and other places of the Middle East and, if the financial means were provided, I would go anywhere to join other people of conscience to change the downward course our nation and its leaders have taken.

"As a follower of Francis and Clare of Assisi, I long to spread peace, justice and care for all creatures in our earth-home. At the sacred season of ADVENT, it is HOPE that looms large in many a heart -- a good time to spend in or out of prison, if the message of this season becomes reality for a world sickened by violence. Thank you."

-30-
Back to Top

News release
from the Nuclear Resister newsletter

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 18, 2007
Contact in Tucson: Jack or Felice Cohen-Joppa, 520-323-8697

THREE ARRESTED AS 300 PROTEST TORTURE AT FORT HUACHUCA
More than three hundred people rallied against torture today outside the gates of Ft. Huachuca, Arizona, home of the U.S. Army Intelligence Center and school for interrogation. Three people were arrested during the rally as they tried to enter the base and meet with enlisted personnel and officers to continue a dialogue begun three days earlier about the interrogation techniques taught there.

Betsy Lamb, Mary Burton Riseley, and Franciscan Fr. Jerry Zawada were taken into custody at the main gate about 1 p.m., and charged with criminal trespass on a military installation (18 USC 1382), conspiracy (18 USC 371), and failure to comply with a police officer (Arizona Revised Statutes 28-622, as assimilated by the Federal Assimilative Crimes Act 18 USC 13 & 7). They were released a few hours later with a summons to appear in federal court in Tucson on December 4 for their arraignment.

Last Thursday, Riseley and Zawada met with officers at the base and began the dialogue they sought to continue today. Before the three entered the Fort, Betsy Lamb explained the concern for the soldiers that she shares with Riseley and Zawada: "Torture is inhuman. It is too 'up close and personal' for either victim or perpetrator to escape unharmed. For me, it represents an ultimate hardening of its perpetrators, leaving little left they couldn't be talked into doing. It is a morally bereft act capable of creating morally bereft people.

Biographical information about the three people arrested follows this press release along with the text of the flyer they brought onto the Fort to distribute.

Today's demonstration at Ft. Huachuca took place in conjunction with the annual vigil at Ft. Benning, Georgia, where 25,000 people vigiled today and 11 were arrested as they called for closing the infamous School of the Americas (now named the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation). Dozens of Latin American military leaders who trained at the "School of Assassins" have since been convicted of torture, murder, and other heinous crimes in their own countries.

Fr. Louie Vitale and Fr. Steve Kelly, two priests who were arrested at last year's demonstration at Ft. Huachuca, are currently serving a five month prison sentence. For more information see http://tortureontrial.org.


BIOGRAPHIES

Mary Burton Riseley, 65 years old
Mary is a fourth generation New Mexican, a Quaker and a war tax resister. She has been active in peace and anti-nuclear issues since 1970. She was the co-founder of the Los Alamos Study Group in 1990, and spent five weeks in Iraq with Voices in the Wilderness in the winter of 2003. She's a member of an agricultural land trust community on the Gila River in Cliff, New Mexico. She has one wonderful daughter who does community garden support work in New York City.

Betsy Lamb, 69 years old
Extensive travel in Latin America made Betsy aware of the violence--including torture--being perpetrated on the people there in support of U.S. interests. In 1989, Betsy first risked arrest in nonviolent direct action when six Jesuits, their housekeeper and her daughter were ruthlessly massacred in El Salvador by soldiers trained at the School of the Americas.

With a M.A. in Theology, Betsy then worked for many years developing small parish-based Catholic communities for putting faith into action. In 2004, she completed a six-month prison sentence for her nonviolent action to close the School of the Americas/WHINSEC at Ft. Benning, Georgia. "Retired," she is currently involved in the peace community in Bend, Oregon, serves on the Witness for Peace Northwest board of directors, and is a war tax resister.


Jerry Zawada, 70 years old
A Franciscan priest currently living in Las Vegas, Nevada. His first years in the priesthood were spent in the Philippine Islands. From the 1980's through to the present, he has joined others in acting to end torture, the nuclear threat and the wars in the Middle East and other forms of violence both locally and abroad. Among his involvements were the sanctuary movement, joining Voices in the Wilderness for several months in Iraq, and working to close the U.S. Army's School of the Americas. His activities have earned him 4 and 1/2 years in federal and county prisons and jails.


Text of flyer brought to Ft. Huachuca:
November 18, 2007

Today we join many who call for an end to our country' s use of torture in interrogations at Guantanamo Bay, in Iraq, Afghanistan and in secret prisons elsewhere. We stand near the main gate of Ft. Huachuca, a U.S. Army post in southern Arizona, home base for Army intelligence and where all Army interrogators are trained.

We are here because we can no longer tolerate violations of fundamental human rights such as detention without trial and acts of torture committed in our names behind the vast secrecy which the present administration has instituted. Although Colonel Jeff Jennings and other training staff at the fort seemed sincere in telling some of us that waterboarding, sleep deprivation and stress positions are prohibited at Ft. Huachuca, we continue to believe that these brutal and dehumanizing methods are still happening at the hands of U.S. interrogators deployed abroad.

These acts and the secrecy surrounding them contradict our understanding of the U.S. Constitution and our treaty obligations as a signatory to the Geneva Conventions of 1949. They are deeply unacceptable to our personal moral consciences.

There has been widespread opposition to our current government's imperial policies of pre-emptive war, unwarranted telephone and Internet-based surveillance, the sending of invasive national security letters, rendition of many times mistakenly suspected foreigners to countries known to practice torture and the selective abolition of civil rights like habeas corpus. We have filled the streets; we have filled the Internet and telephone lines, the op-ed and letters to the editor columns as well as Congressional mail bags. Some of us have refused war taxes. And yet unspeakable, illegal and immoral acts are committed daily in our names as American citizens.

Gates and sentry posts always relate to greed, the desire to hold on to what we have and to keep people less fortunate than we are from claiming their share. It is not true that military people are more greedy than the rest of us, but they have accepted the charge of protecting our abundance with weapons of unprecedented killing power. They are enforcing the projection into the world of our unwillingness to share. We cannot reconcile gates, guns or sentry posts with the Sermon on the Mount.

Gandhi spoke of nonviolent direct action as an experiment in truth or satyagraha. We ask ourselves: how can we best honor our need to withdraw our complicity with our government's actions?

Our simple ritual of approaching the gate of Ft. Huachuca expresses our willingness to undergo suffering rather than to inflict it, and our longing to bring our country to openness and accountability. We seek to meet with enlisted personnel and officers on Ft. Huachuca to continue a dialogue about the interrogation techniques they are learning, how easy it has been for others trained before them to fall into cruelty, and to explore with them what they each might do to prevent themselves from repeating the horrible errors of Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib.

We may be arrested. We ask for your prayers, and we ask also that you escalate--in any nonviolent way you are led--your own efforts to end torture and the wars of Iraq and Afghanistan.

Love, peace, joy.
Betsy Lamb
mary burton riseley
Jerry Zawada, OFM


-30-
Back to Top

News release
from the Nuclear Resister newsletter

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 17, 2007
Contact in Tucson: Jack or Felice Cohen-Joppa, 520-323-8697

PRIESTS IMPRISONED FOR FIVE MONTHS IN TORTURE PROTEST
Fr. Louis Vitale, OFM, (75) and Fr. Stephen Kelly, SJ (54) today were sentenced to five months in prison for attempting to deliver a letter to then-commander Major General Barbara Fast at Fort Huachuca, Arizona, denouncing torture and the Military Commissions Act of 2006. Today is the first anniversary of the signing of the Military Commissions Act.

The priests were represented by human rights attorney Bill Quigley. At the beginning of the hearing, the men had changed their pleas to no contest, and later told the court they could not accept any sentence that included supervision, a fine, or compulsory community service. They were taken into custody immediately after sentencing.

In a statement read to supporters who gathered outside the courthouse and then filled the courtroom of Magistrate Hector Estrada, Frs. Vitale & Kelly declared:

"The real crime here has always been the teaching of torture at Fort Huachuca and the practice of torture around the world. We sought to deliver a letter asking that the teaching of torture be stopped and were arrested. We tried to put the evidence of torture on full and honest display in the courthouse and were denied. We were prepared to put on evidence about the widespread use of torture and human rights abuses committed during interrogations at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo in Iraq and Afghanistan. This evidence was gathered by the military itself and by governmental and human rights investigations. Because the court will not allow the truth of torture to be a part of our trial, we plead no contest. We are uninterested in a court hearing limited to who was walking where and how many steps it was to the gate. History will judge whether silencing the facts of torture is just or not. Far too many people have died because of our national silence about torture. Far too many of our young people in the military have been permanently damaged after following orders to torture and violate the human rights of other humans. We will keep trying to stop the teaching and practice of torture whether we are sent to jail or out. We have done our part. Now it is up to every woman and man of conscience to do their part to stop the injustice of torture."

Following their arrest in November, 2006, the men were charged with one federal count of trespass (USC 18-1382), and later with an additional Arizona state count of "Failure to Comply with Police Officer" (ARS 28-622). Their sentence is three months in prison for the federal conviction, plus two months for the state conviction, to be served consecutively.

After court, a dozen supporters drove to Sierra Vista, Arizona, to hold signs and banners opposing torture outside the main gate of Ft. Huachuca.

On November 18, in solidarity with the School of the Americas Watch vigil and protest at Ft. Benning Georgia, hundreds of people from around the country will gather at Fort Huachuca to continue the nonviolent witness against U.S. policy sanctioning torture.

For more information, visit http://TortureOnTrial.org
Back to Top



MEDIA ADVISORY from the Nuclear Resister newsletter
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 15, 2007

Contact in Tucson:
Jack or Felice Cohen-Joppa 520-323-8697, (cell through 10/17--520-603-1917)

ON FIRST ANNIVERSARY OF LAW APPROVING TORTURE, PRIESTS TO PLEAD NO CONTEST IN FT. HUACHUCA PROTEST CASE; ASK FOR IMMEDIATE SENTENCING
Two Catholic priests facing charges from a protest against torture last year plan to forgo a bench trial, and instead change their pleas from not guilty to no contest at a hearing set for 8:30 a.m. Wednesday, October 17, in U.S. District Court, Tucson. After a September pretrial ruling forbid all facets of their planned defense, their attorney William Quigley has told Magistrate Hector Estrada that Fr. Louis Vitale, OFM, and Fr. Stephen Kelly, SJ will change their plea, and would like to be sentenced immediately.

Both men have served time in federal prison for their nonviolent acts for peace, and these prior convictions add to the likelihood of another prison sentence on Wednesday morning. Supporters will rally with the priests outside the Courthouse beginning at 7:30 a.m.

Frs. Kelly (58) and Vitale (74) are each charged with one federal count of trespass (USC 18-1382), (six-month maximum jail sentence), and one Arizona state count of "Failure to Comply with Police Officer" (ARS 28-622) (four month maximum). The priests were arrested last November 19 as they attempted to enter Fort Huachuca, in Sierra Vista, Arizona, and deliver a letter to then-commander Major General Barbara Fast, denouncing torture and the Military Commissions Act of 2006.

Coincidentally, their October 17 court date is also the anniversary of the signing of the Military Commissions Act, which sanctions evidence gained from the torture of terror suspects and suspends habeus corpus for so-called "enemy combatants."

On Tuesday evening, October 16, the public is invited to a free program at 7:00 p.m. at First Christian Church, 740 E. Speedway at Euclid. "Putting Torture on Trial" will feature Nobel Peace Prize nominee Kathy Kelly and human rights attorney William Quigley. Tucson musician Ted Warmbrand will perform. Because the court has forbidden the defense from even mentioning issues related to torture, the Military Commissions Act, international law, etc. during a trial, these issues and more will be addressed at the program.

"Magistrate Hector Estrada has a great opportunity to mark this dark legal anniversary," said Jack Cohen-Joppa, a Tucson supporter of the California-based clergymen. "Within the law, he could also declare that 'though their acts be criminal' and the Law would not permit the priests to present their defense, the interests of Justice compel him to commend their intent, and suspend any sentence."

For more information, visit http://TortureOnTrial.org

- 30 -

After the first Gulf War against Iraq, Kathy Kelly led dozens of delegations that delivered medical and humanitarian aid to the Iraqi people in violation of the U.S. led-sanctions regime, earning her repeated nominations for the Nobel Peace Prize and civil prosecution and fines from the U.S. government. Ms. Kelly is cofounder of Voices for Creative Nonviolence.

Attorney Bill Quigley is a noted human rights advocate and law professor at Loyola University, New Orleans. Mr. Quigley will outline the legal case against coercive military "interrogation" methods that amount to torture, and their connection to activities at Fort Huachuca.

Franciscan Father Louie Vitale served as the provincial of the California Franciscan Friars from 1979 to 1988. He is cofounder of the Nevada Desert Experience, a faith-based movement to end nuclear weapons testing. Jesuit Father Steve Kelly worked with the Jesuit Refugee Service in Central America for many years. In December, 2005, he served as chaplain for Witness Against Torture, a peaceful march across Cuba to the gates of the Guantanamo prison camp. Both have a long record of nonviolent protest and subsequent imprisonment.
- 30 -
Back to Top



FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 12, 2007

Contact in Tucson:
Jack or Felice Cohen-Joppa 520-323-8697

"PUTTING TORTURE ON TRIAL" PUBLIC EVENT ON EVE OF PRIESTS' NO CONTEST PLEA FOR FT. HUACHUCA PROTEST
Nobel Peace Prize nominee Kathy Kelly, human rights attorney William Quigley, Fr. Louis Vitale, OFM and Fr. Stephen Kelly, SJ will speak next Tuesday evening, October 16, at a public program in Tucson, Arizona. The two Roman Catholic priests are due in U.S. District Court in Tucson the following morning to face federal and state charges resulting from their arrest last November at Ft. Huachuca, in Sierra Vista, Arizona, during a protest of the Fort's connection to U.S. military use of torture.

The program, "Putting Torture on Trial" begins at 7:00 p.m. Tuesday, October 16 at First Christian Church, 740 E. Speedway at Euclid. Tucson musician Ted Warmbrand will perform.

After the first Gulf War against Iraq, Kathy Kelly led dozens of delegations that delivered medical and humanitarian aid to the Iraqi people in violation of the U.S. led-sanctions regime, earning her repeated nominations for the Nobel Peace Prize and civil prosecution and fines from the U.S. government. Ms. Kelly is co-founder of Voices for Creative Nonviolence.

Attorney Bill Quigley is a noted human rights advocate and law professor at Loyola University, New Orleans. Mr. Quigley will outline the legal case against coercive military "interrogation" methods that amount to torture, and their connection to activities at Fort Huachuca.

Franciscan Father Louie Vitale served as the provincial of the California Franciscan Friars from 1979 to 1988. He is cofounder of the Nevada Desert Experience, a faith-based movement to end nuclear weapons testing. Jesuit Father Steve Kelly worked with the Jesuit Refugee Service in Central America for many years. In December, 2005, he served as chaplain for Witness Against Torture, a peaceful march across Cuba to the gates of the Guantanamo prison camp. Both have a long record of nonviolent protest and subsequent imprisonment.

Court for Frs. Vitale and Kelly will begin at 8:30 a.m. October 17 (the first anniversary of the signing of the Military Commissions Act) before Magistrate Hector Estrada in Courtroom 3A of the Federal Courthouse at 405 W. Congress St. Tucson. Supporters will rally outside the Courthouse beginning at 7:30 a.m.

Last month, the court granted a government motion in limine, removing the heart of the priests' intended defense. The order forbids any mention at trial of issues related to torture, the Military Commissions Act of 2006, or international prohibitions of torture. In light of this legal gag, both priests plan to change their pleas from "not guilty" to "nolo contendere" (no contest), which the court has agreed to accept. Frs. Vitale and Kelly will ask to be sentenced immediately. They are facing a maximum 10 month prison sentence.

For more information, visit http://TortureOnTrial.org

- 30 -
Back to Top

NEWS RELEASE from the Nuclear Resister newsletter
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 22, 2007

Contact in Tucson:
Jack or Felice Cohen-Joppa 520-323-8697

COURT FURTHER RESTRICTS PRETRIAL RELEASE OF TORTURE PROTEST DEFENDANT; "NO CONTEST" PLEAS CONSIDERED
Fr. Louis Vitale, one of two Roman Catholic priests arrested at Fort Huachuca, Arizona while protesting torture last November, appeared in U.S. District Court in Tucson, Arizona for a pretrial release hearing. At the September 21 hearing, Magistrate Estrada restated his earlier order that defendants Fr. Vitale and Fr. Stephen Kelly not break any federal, state or local laws before their trial, which he originally gave when the pair had refused to sign onto the conditions of release at their April arraignment.

Estrada criticized Fr. Vitale's participation in and resulting citation for an August 9 line crossing at the Nevada Nuclear Test Site, noting that if Vitale were imprisoned elsewhere or facing new charges when this pending trial begins, it would greatly complicate his case and inconvenience both attorneys, possible witnesses, and the court. Estrada also expressed his interest in keeping pretrial defendants out of jail and more readily available to meet with their attorney to prepare their defense.

Bill Quigley, attorney for Fr. Vitale, told the court that because Fr. Vitale's sister is in grave health in California, and Vitale has committed to be with her during the next few weeks before his October 17 trial, the priest would agree not to be arrested at a federal military or nuclear installation during that time, to restrict his travel to California and Arizona unless the court agrees otherwise, and to report any law enforcement contact immediately. The court then imposed these further restrictions, which were signed by Fr. Vitale.

Because the court had granted the prosecution motion in limine earlier in September, effectively gutting their defense, Quigley then told the court that on October 17 both priests are willing to consider a change of plea from "not guilty" to "nolo contendere" (no contest), with the desire that verdict and sentencing would proceed immediately. However, military prosecutor Capt. Evan Seamone told the court that it is a complicated matter, and that federal procedure states he "may not consent to a plea of nolo contendere except in the most unusual circumstances" and with the approval of a senior Justice Department official. Consultation with defense attorney Quigley had still not identified such circumstances, Seamone told the court.

Magistrate Estrada encouraged both sides to continue pursuing the question, and offered his assistance if necessary to help expedite matters before the scheduled trial.

Trial for Frs. Vitale and Kelly is scheduled to begin at 8:30 a.m. October 17 before Magistrate Estrada in Courtroom 3A of the Federal Courthouse at 405 W. Congress St., Tucson.

For more information, visit http://TortureOnTrial.org
- 30 -
Back to Top

NEWS RELEASE from the Nuclear Resister newsletter
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 5, 2007

Contact in Tucson:
Jack or Felice Cohen-Joppa 520-323-8697

EFFORT TO PUT TORTURE ON TRIAL SUFFERS MAJOR SETBACK
Three weeks after the conclusion of a pretrial motions hearing for two priests facing November, 2006 arrest at Ft. Huachuca, U.S. Magistrate Hector Estrada issued his rulings on the various motions before his Tucson, Arizona court. He denied the defense requests for a jury trial and dismissal of the charges against Jesuit Fr. Stephen Kelly and Franciscan Fr. Louis Vitale. He also denied the government's motion to use Fr. Vitale's prior arrests and convictions as prima facie evidence of trespass.

In a significant order that effectively gags the defense, Estrada granted the government's motion in limine to preclude defenses. The gag order forbids the defendants from introducing evidence at trial, either documentary or testimonial, about: the defenses of duress, justification, necessity, or self-defense; the morality or immorality of the government's use of interrogation techniques, training of soldiers in interrogation techniques; the legality of the wars in Iraq or Afghanistan; any military actions to support interrogations in any foreign countries; the legality of the Military Commission Act of 2006; the defense of international law; or the wisdom of any political question or government policy.

Magistrate Estrada also ordered Fr. Vitale to report to court on September 21 for a hearing on his conditions of pretrial release. Because of the unavailability of his attorney, Bill Quigley, on that day, another date will be scheduled for the hearing. On August 13, at the end of the pretrial motions hearing, Estrada sent Vitale to the court's pretrial services for evaluation, after learning that the priest had been cited a few days earlier for a Nagasaki Day line-crossing at the Nevada nuclear weapons test site. At their April arraignment, Estrada had ordered the two priests not to break local, state or federal laws.

The two are charged with federal trespass and an Arizona state charge of failure to comply with a police officer following their attempt to speak with enlisted personnel and deliver a letter denouncing torture and the Military Commissions Act of 2006 to Major General Barbara Fast, then commander at Fort Huachuca, on November 19, 2006. If convicted of both charges, they each face ten months in prison.

A trial date is expected to be set later in September.

For more information, visit http://TortureOnTrial.org

-30-

Back to Top

NEWS RELEASE from the Nuclear Resister newsletter
August 14, 2007

FT. HUACHUCA'S LINK TO TORTURE OF DETAINEES DETAILED IN FEDERAL COURT; JUDGE CONSIDERING PRETRIAL MOTIONS, WILL SET TRIAL DATE LATER
At a pretrial hearing Monday in federal court in Tucson, Arizona, the attorney for two Catholic priests arrested last November outlined why their opposition to torture brought them to Ft. Huachuca, the U.S. Army's military intelligence and interrogation training center in Sierra Vista, Arizona.

Franciscan Fr. Louis Vitale and Jesuit Fr. Stephen Kelly are charged with federal trespass and an Arizona state charge of failure to comply with a police officer. Loyola University law professor William Quigley argued for dismissal of the charges and against the prosecution motion in limine to prohibit certain testimony at trial. He cited one official government report after another, plus a study by the International Red Cross, each describing in detail the torture suffered by military detainees since 9/11 at the hand of military intelligence personnel and others. The connection to Ft. Huachuca was personified in Major General Barbara Fast, the head of military intelligence in Iraq at the time the most egregious abuses were first documented, and Commander at Ft. Huachuca when the two priests were arrested for trying to deliver a letter to her denouncing torture and the Military Commissions Act of 2006. (Many of the elements of Quigley's courtroom argument can be read in his "Memorandum in Support of Motion to Dismiss Prosecution of Non-Violent First Amendment Protest Against Illegal Torture")

Army Judge Advocate General Capt. Evan Seamone, representing the government, told the court that his witnesses would testify that military interrogators are trained at the base to operate strictly in accord with the Geneva Conventions and U.S. law, and are prohibited from using torture. The hundreds of abused prisoners documented in the reports cited by Quigley were the result of aberrant behavior by a few criminals in uniform, or by the CIA or persons other than military intelligence, he asserted.

In the course of the hearing, Magistrate Hector Estrada also chastised Fr. Vitale for possibly violating a pretrial order not to break local, state or federal laws, having been cited just a few days earlier during a Nagasaki Day line-crossing at the Nevada nuclear weapons test site. Vitale's fitness for release on his own recognizance was ordered to be reevaluated by the court's pretrial services and that report will be sent to the judge later this week.

The day-long hearing concluded with Magistrate Estrada taking all of the pretrial motions under advisement. He is expected to decide the issues by the end of the month and then set a date for trial.

For more information, visit http://TortureOnTrial.org

- 30 -

A fuller account of the August 13 pretrial hearing including photos taken at a support circle outside court that morning can be found at http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/

The report of the only mainstream media journalist attending the hearing is at http://www.svherald.com/articles/2007/08/14/news/doc46c15bb422c37214425069.txt

A June interview with Fr. Louis Vitale can be viewed at http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/081307J.shtml

Back to Top

NEWS RELEASE from the Nuclear Resister newsletter
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 6, 2007
Contact in Tucson: Jack or Felice Cohen-Joppa 520-323-8697

FT. HUACHUCA TORTURE PROTEST PRETRIAL CONTINUED FOR ORAL ARGUMENTS IN AUGUST
A pretrial hearing today for two Roman Catholic priests arrested during a demonstration at Ft. Huachuca last November has been continued until August 13, when U.S. Magistrate Hector Estrada will hear oral arguments on multiple motions. The defendants were ordered to be present for the hearing. No date for trial has been set.

The two are charged with federal trespass and an Arizona state charge of failure to comply with a police officer following their attempt to speak with enlisted personnel and deliver a letter denouncing torture and the Military Commissions Act of 2006 to Major General Barbara Fast, commander at Fort Huachuca, on November 19, 2006.

Among the issues to be considered at the August pretrial hearing are the prosecution motion in limine, seeking to restrict defense testimony by excluding any reference to the issues that sparked the protest. The court is also still considering the defense request for a jury trial.

For more information, and ongoing updates, visit tortureontrial.org.

Back to Top

NEWS RELEASE from the Nuclear Resister newsletter
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE June 4, 2007
MEDIA INTERVIEWS AVAILABLE TOMORROW: Midtown Tucson,
Please call to schedule defendants Fr. Stephen Kelly and Fr. Louis Vitale, Vitale¹s attorney William Quigley, Ann Wright, and Orlando Tizon (biographies follow).
Contact in Tucson: Jack or Felice Cohen-Joppa 520-323-8697 (office), 520-603-1917 (cell)

U.S. SEEKS TO MUZZLE FT. HUACHUCA PROTEST DEFENSE
A new trial date is expected to be set at the Wednesday, June 6 pretrial hearing in U.S. District Court, (405 W. Congress St., Tucson) for two Roman Catholic priests arrested at a protest last November at Fort Huachuca.

Among other pretrial motions motions to be considered at the 9:00 a.m. hearing by U.S. Magistrate Hector Estrada is a government request that the judge prohibit any testimony regarding ³the morality or immorality of the Government¹s use of interrogation techniques; training of soldiers in such techniques; the legality of Operation Iraqi Freedom, Operation Enduring Freedom, or other operations to support interrogations in foreign countries; the legality of the Military Commission Act of 2006, the application of the defense of international law; or the wisdom of any political question or government policy as an attempt to establish the defense of justification."

The two are charged with federal trespass and an Arizona state charge of failure to comply with a police officer following their attempt to speak with enlisted personnel and deliver a letter denouncing torture and the Military Commissions Act of 2006 to Major General Barbara Fast, commander at Fort Huachuca, on November 19, 2006.

Military prosecutor Capt. Evan Seamone is also expected to reintroduce a motion to have the priests jailed pending trial.

Supporters of the priests will join them at 8:00 a.m. Wednesday, June 6, for a brief morning support rally in the courtyard in front of the U.S. District Court.

Tomorrow, Tuesday, June 5, supporters are invited to join the defendants and others for a Festival of Hope for a future free from the terror and injustice of torture. The Festival of Hope begins at 6 p.m. at St. Mark's Presbyterian Church, 3809 E. 3rd St., Tucson. A potluck meal in Geneva Hall will be followed by a 7 p.m. program in the church sanctuary. Speakers at the Festival of Hope will include torture survivor Orlando Tizon, (Assistant Director, Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition International), human rights attorney William Quigley (Loyola University, New Orleans), retired U.S. Army Colonel and diplomat Ann Wright, and defendants Fr. Louis Vitale and Fr. Stephen Kelly. Music will be provided by San Francisco cultural worker Francisco Herrera and Tucson musician Ted Warmbrand.

The defendants and all of the speakers will be available for media interviews in midtown Tucson on Tuesday afternoon, June 5. Please call 323-8697 for arrangements. For more information, visit http://TortureOnTrial.org

BIOGRAPHIES:

Fr. Louis Vitale, OFM
With a background in sociology and a focus on the Sociology of Religion and social movements, Louie is a long time social activist. A Franciscan priest who served as the provincial of the California Franciscan Friars from 1979 to 1988, he co-founded the Nevada Desert Experience and its enduring movement to end nuclear testing. He recently completed twelve years as the pastor of St. Boniface Catholic Church in a low-income neighborhood in San Francisco, California. He earned his Ph.D. in Sociology at the University of California, Los Angeles.

In 2006, Louie completed a six month sentence for his nonviolent action to close the School of the Americas/WHINSEC at Ft. Benning, GA in 2006. He is currently the "Action Advocate" for Pace e Bene and is involved in trying to raise awareness about issues of torture and U.S. involvement in it.

Fr. Stephen Kelly, SJ
Fr. Kelly is a Jesuit priest who worked with the Jesuit Refugee service in Central America for many years. He has spent time in federal prison for nonviolent direct disarmament actions. These ³Plowshares² actions have brought him into contact with many in prisons who have suffered under U.S. hegemonic policies. In an attempt to dedicate himself to conversion of nuclear weapons in the Isaiah biblical prophetic vision, he sees a connection between the rationale to torture alleged enemies and the blatant incineration of civilians. In December, 2005, Kelly served as chaplain for Witness Against Torture, a delegation of over two dozen U.S. anti-torture activists who defied the U.S. embargo of Cuba with a peaceful march through that nation to the gates of the Guantanamo Bay naval base and prison camp.

Orlando Tizon
Orlando Tizon was arrested on September 21, 1982 in Davao City, in the island of Mindanao, southern Philippines, during the regime of President Marcos. At that time he was working as a community organizer and educator among the rural poor in the Philippines. During the first three weeks of his imprisonment, the military who arrested him kept him blindfolded and incommunicado in a military camp outside Davao City. He suffered beatings, endless interrogations, mock execution and solitary confinement for more than three months. On April, 1986 after the people power revolution, the Aquino government granted him amnesty and released him from prison. Soon after, he emigrated to the U.S., went for treatment and therapy and attended graduate school, later earning a doctorate in sociology.

His interests lie in the issues concerning torture and political violence, race/ethnic relations, immigrants and refugees and human rights. Presently, he is the Assistant Director of the Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition International (TASSC) in Washington, D.C.

William Quigley
Bill Quigley, lawyer for Fr. Louis Vitale, is a law professor and Director of the Law Clinic and the Gillis Long Poverty Law Center at Loyola University New Orleans. Bill has been an active public interest lawyer since 1977. He served as counsel with a wide range of public interest organizations concerned with Katrina social justice issues, public housing, voting rights, death penalty, living wage, civil liberties, educational reform, constitutional rights and civil disobedience. Bill teaches in the Law Clinic and teaches courses in Law and Poverty and Catholic Social Teaching and Law. He has served as an advisor on human and civil rights to Human Rights Watch USA, Amnesty International USA, and served as the Chair of the Louisiana Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. He has also been an active volunteer lawyer with School of the Americas Watch and the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti. In 2003, he was named the Pope Paul VI National Teacher of Peace by Pax Christi USA and is the recipient of the 2004 SALT Teaching Award presented by the Society of American Law Teachers.

Ann Wright
Col. Ann Wright (U.S. Army, Ret.) served 29 years in the military and 16 years in the diplomatic corps, including as Deputy Ambassador at four missions. Among her many posts, Ms. Wright reopened the U.S. Embassy in Kabul in December, 2001. She resigned in March, 2003 in opposition to the Iraq war. Wright now works full-time as an advocate for peace and human rights, challenging politicians and military leaders in Washington to oppose the occupation of Iraq and the Military Commissions Act. She has traveled the country speaking about and lending support to soldiers who refuse to fight in Iraq. In August, 2006, she traveled to Amman, Jordan to talk with Iraqi parliamentarians about their peace plan, and participated in the Close Guantanamo delegation that traveled to Cuba in January, 2007.


- 30 -

Back to Top



NEWS RELEASE


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 3, 2007


JUDGE DENIES GOVERNMENT MOTION; WON'T JAIL PRIESTS BEFORE JUNE TRIAL FOR FORT HUACHUCA TORTURE PROTEST
U.S. District Court Magistrate Hector Estrada Tuesday refused to grant a military prosecutor's repeated plea to jail two Roman Catholic priests, each with a long record of nonviolent protest and subsequent imprisonment, pending their trial for trespass last fall at Fort Huachuca, in Sierra Vista, Arizona.

Estrada set trials to begin in Tucson on June 4 for Jesuit Fr. Steve Kelly and June 6 for Franciscan Fr. Louis Vitale. It is expected that the cases will be consolidated, and the men will be tried together that week.

About thirty supporters attended the morning hearing, where Army Capt. and military prosecutor Mikel J. Weir asked Magistrate Estrada to consider Kelly's and Vitale's long history of protest and arrest, including serious crimes, and their reported public statements to continue such protests, and also to note Fort Huachuca's role as the U.S. Army Intelligence Center, U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Command, pilotless drone operation, etc.

"Did they damage any property?" Estrada asked. "Was anyone injured?"

"No," replied Weir, twice.

Vitale's attorney, Loyola University-New Orleans law professor Bill Quigley, told the court there was no reason to grant the government's motion, because the men's actions were nonviolent and they do not pose a flight risk, having returned to Arizona now twice voluntarily for court dates since their arrest.

Kelly and Vitale both refused to sign standard release agreements promising to commit no crimes while free pending trial, but the judge simply declared that it was his order, whether they signed or not.

Both defendants found or created the occasion to address the court about motivations above the law, such as acting for justice, and in good conscience, in the face of official crimes like wars of aggression and torture.

Military prosecutor Weir resubmitted his motion to jail the priests, citing these comments in court, but the Magistrate held firm over Weir's objection.

In addition to the federal charge of trespass (18 USC 1382), the June trial will incorporate prosecution of both men on the additional Arizona state charge of "Failure to Comply with Police Officer" (ARS 28-622), under terms of the Federal Assimilative Crimes Act. Because the maximum possible prison sentence on both charges is ten months, the priests will request a jury trial.

The priests were arrested near the Fort Huachuca gatehouse last November 19, as they sought entry to speak with enlisted personnel and deliver a letter denouncing torture and the Military Commissions Act of 2006 to Major General Barbara Fast, commander at the post and a key figure in the torture scandal at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.

Supporters will host a series of public events around the time of the trial to raise awareness of Fort Huachuca?s role in military intelligence training that fosters torture.

- 30 -

Back to Top



NEWS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 28, 2007


PRE-TRIAL DETENTION THREAT FOR TWO PRIESTS IN FT. HUACHUCA TORTURE PROTEST
Military prosecutors have told advisory counsel to two Catholic priests that the government will seek pre-trial detention for their nonviolent protest arrest last November 19 at Fort Huachuca, in Sierra Vista, Arizona.

Franciscan Fr. Louie Vitale and Jesuit Fr. Steve Kelly will be arraigned Tuesday, April 3, 8:30 a.m. at the U.S. District Court, 6th floor, 405 W. Congress St., Tucson, Arizona.

Among the reasons given for asking the court that the two men be jailed until trial are the defendants' extensive history of arrests, press accounts, and the likelihood that they will not stop protesting or risking jail for protests while awaiting trial.

The two men were arrested when they sought entry to the base to speak with enlisted personnel and deliver a letter denouncing torture and the Military Commissions Act of 2006 to Major General Barbara Fast, commander at the post. They were part of a group of 120 people protesting outside the Fort that day against military intelligence training that fosters torture. The men were issued citations for trespass (USC 18-1382) and released.

In February, the two returned to Arizona for arraignment on the charge. Instead, a procedural hearing at Fort Huachuca resulted only in a new citation for both men, on an Arizona charge of "Failure to Comply with Police Officer" (ARS 28-622). If found guilty of both charges, Kelly and Vitale face a maximum sentence of ten months in prison.

Supporters will join with the two men in front of the courthouse at 7:45 a.m. on April 3 to share thoughts and prayers before going inside for the arraignment.

- 30 -

Back to Top



NEWS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 15, 2007


PRIESTS FACE ADDED CHARGE FOR FT. HUACHUCA TORTURE PROTEST
Two Catholic priests arrested during a protest at Fort Huachuca, in Sierra Vista, Arizona, have been notified that in addition to a federal charge of trespass (USC 18-1382), they will be prosecuted under Arizona law for "Failure to Comply with Police Officer" (ARS 28-622).

Franciscan Fr. Louie Vitale and Jesuit Fr. Steve Kelly intended to speak with enlisted personnel and deliver a letter denouncing torture and the Military Commissions Act of 2006 to Major General Barbara Fast, commander at the post, when they were arrested while approaching the gate last November 19. They were part of a group of 120 people protesting that day against military intelligence training at the fort that fosters torture.

The men were cited for trespass and released. Later, they were summoned to appear for arraignment February 13 in Greeley Hall on the grounds of Fort Huachuca.

When the priests and five supporters arrived at the fort, they were escorted by several armed men into a room in the basement of Greeley Hall.

Capt. Evan Simone, acting on behalf of the U.S. attorney's office, told Vitale and Kelly, who are representing themselves, that they would not in fact be arraigned. Instead, Simone was only there to discuss a plea agreement. The two priests believe they are guilty of no crime, and declined any pretrial agreements. Before they departed, Vitale and Kelly were each issued the second violation notice under the state stature. If found guilty of both charges, they face a maximum sentence often months in prison

Arraignment is rescheduled for Tuesday, April 3, 8:30 a.m. at the U.S. District Court, 405 W. Congress St., Tucson, Arizona.

- 30 -

Back to Top



NEWS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 19, 2006



TWO PRIESTS ARRESTED AS 120 JOIN FT. HUACHUCA TORTURE PROTEST
As more than 120 people gathered at the gate of Fort Huachuca today to protest military intelligence training there that fosters torture, two Roman Catholic priests were arrested when they tried to enter the base, located in Sierra Vista, Arizona. Franciscan Fr. Louie Vitale and Jesuit Fr. Steve Kelly intended to speak with enlisted personnel and deliver a letter to Major General Barbara Fast, commander at the post, denouncing torture and the Military Commissions Act of 2006.

Major General Fast is the highest ranking intelligence officer tied to the torture at Abu Ghraib torture, yet she has never been punished. Two soldiers with ties to Fort Huachuca are among 28 implicated earlier this year in the beating deaths of two prisoners in Afghanistan in 2002.

Today's demonstration took place in conjunction with the annual vigil at Fort Benning, Georgia, where over 20,000 people vigiled today and at least 14 were arrested as they called for closing the infamous School of the Americas (now called the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation). Dozens of Latin American military leaders who trained at the "School of Assassins" have since been convicted of torture, murder, and other heinous crimes in their own countries.

Frs. Vitale and Kelly walked into the base but were stopped as they approached the gatehouse. An officer from the base offered to deliver their letter to the Commander, but the priests persisted, because they also intended to speak with the service men and women receiving interrogation training at Fort Huachuca. When they were not allowed to pass, the two men knelt in prayer and were arrested. They both received a federal citation for trespass and were released without conditions, and told they should be contacted within 45 days with a court date.

Fr. Louie Vitale is a member of Pace e Bene, whose mission is "to develop the spirituality and practice of active nonviolence as a way of living and being and as a process for cultural transformation." Fr. Vitale is also a co-founder of the Nevada Desert Experience, a faith-based organization that has opposed nuclear weapons testing for a quarter of a century. Fr. Vitale recently served six months in jail following his arrest at the Ft. Benning vigil in November, 2005, and was ejected from congressional hearings in September after speaking out against the Military Commissions Act.

Fr. Steve Kelly is a member of the Redwood City Catholic Worker community and has served time in federal prison for the nonviolent direct disarmament of nuclear weapon delivery systems. In December, 2005, Kelly served as chaplain for Witness to Torture, a delegation of over two dozen U.S. anti-torture activists who defied the U.S. embargo of Cuba with a peaceful march through that nation to the gates of the Guantanamo Bay navel base and prison camp.

The text of the letter delivered to the base commander follows this news release.

- 30 -

TO: MAJ. GEN. BARBARA FAST

We are here today as concerned U.S. people, veterans and clergy, to speak with enlisted personnel about the illegality and immorality of torture according to international humanitarian law, including the Geneva Conventions.

We condemn torture as a dehumanization of both prisoners and interrogators, resulting in humiliation, disability and even death. In addition to the hundreds of detainees who have died, we are also concerned about U.S. military personnel. Alyssa Peterson committed suicide after participating in the torture of Iraqi prisoners. Lynndie England and others have been imprisoned for their illegal activities.

We are here today at Ft. Huachuca in solidarity with tens of thousands of people at the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation at Ft. Benning, Georgia (formerly known as the School of the Americas) to say that the training of torturers must immediately stop. Nothing justifies the inhumane treatment of our fellow brothers and sisters.

Torture by U.S. military personnel has reached alarming proportions and has horrified people around the world. We are convinced that the Military Commissions Act of 2006 is unconstitutional. We totally reject its conclusions. Torture is a useless and unreliable tool that leads to an accepted practice of terrorization and the rationalization of wrongdoing.

We are here today to repent and clearly state that because of our sense of moral and human decency we condemn torture.

NOT IN OUR NAME.

Signed this 19th day of November, 2006
Louis Vitale, OFM   Steve Kelly, SJ

Back to Top   Back to Home Page



MEDIA COVERAGE

Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Group Plans Protest Today Outside Fort, in SV Park
By Bill Hess, Herald/Review

SIERRA VISTA--A retired Tucson minister says a civilian human rights commission is needed to oversee interrogation training on Fort Huachuca.

The Army says its training follows the law and the guidelines set forth in the Army Field Manual.

Today, a number of people are expected to "engage in a peaceful, non-violent protest in Sierra Vista and outside the gates of the Army post."

This will be the fifth year for the "A No to Torture Rally." People from 15 states are expected to be at this year's protest.

The retired minister, Ken Kennon, said the event is an avenue to ask those in charge of training on the fort "to simply follow the law."

The consortium involved in the protest also are seeking a congressional investigation and hearings on how soldiers are trained to become interrogators.

Since the rallies began in 2004, there have been counterprotesters who have challenged the accusation that courses at the Intelligence Center teaches methods of torture as part of the human intelligence collector course.

Fort spokeswoman Tanja Linton said the accusation of teaching methods of torture is not correct.

"The U.S. Army Intelligence Center trains Department of Defense human intelligence collectors in accordance with Army Field Manual 2-22.3," she said.

That training is "consistent with the applicable laws and policies to include Senator (John) McCain's amendment and the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005," Linton said.

In 2004 and 2005, 50 protesters each year were countered by 20 each year with no one being arrested for attempting to get on the post. The fort's Main Gate was closed to traffic most of the years during the protests, as it will be this year.

The atmosphere was fairly peaceful on both sides in 2004 and 2005, but in 2006 heightened emotions began to show as the number of protesters reached about 100 and those countering them was about 50. That year, two Roman Catholic priests were arrested for attempting to enter the fort.

Last year, the number of protesters reached 300 and those against them increased to more than 100, There were individual and group screaming matches with threats thrown back and forth as Sierra Vista police officers kept a line of demarcation between the two groups.

Last year fort officials invited three people who were planning to protest to meet with the commander of the battalion that trains human intelligence collectors, formerly called interrogators, and some of his staff a couple of days before the rally. The two sides met, agreeing to disagree about the issue.

Two days later, two of the three protesters who sat down for more than an hour with the fort officials were arrested, along with another person, who attempted to illegally enter the fort during the rally.

Kennon said he and others were not impressed by what the post attempted to do to tell their side of the story.

"We are used to dog-and-pony shows," he said, noting such briefings are useless.

Kennon said he doesn't know if anyone this year will attempt to enter the post in an "attempt to talk to commanders and soldiers about our concerns," noting that decision will be made by each individual.

Unlike the previous rallies across the street from the fort's main entrance where the protesters used an empty lot to gather in, that will not happen this year, the organizer said.

Instead, the event will start at 10 a.m. at Veterans" Memorial Park in Sierra Vista.

One of the speakers at the park will be the Rev. Louie Vitale, who was arrested for trespassing on the fort in 2006 and was  eventually sentenced to five months in federal prison, which was one of his several stints in confinement for anti-military protests over the years.

During his trail in federal court in Tucson, Vitale and co-defendant the Rev. Steve Kelly tried to turn the case into a trial on torture training, but the judge refused their efforts.

Army Reserve Col. Ann Wright, who is a retired U.S. State Department official, also is scheduled to speak. She, too, has been arrested a number of times for her anti-war stances, primarily involving the U.S. actions in Iraq.

After the rally at the park, the protesters plan to walk slightly more than two miles from the park to the corner of Fry Boulevard and Buffalo Soldier Trail, where the fort's Main Gate is located.

Kennon said some protesters are expected to gather outside federal contractor offices in Sierra Vista, contending those businesses provide instructors to the fort and are part of the problem.

Kennon said the fort's past association with the former School of the Americas in providing manuals to train Latin American military on how to use torture means the Intelligence Center has a history of teaching such unsavory practices and that, along with what happened at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq where Iraqi detainees were harassed, are the reasons for protesting the fort.

The Schools of the Americas no longer exists. It was renamed the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation. Kennon said a change in name doesn't mean a change in what is taught at Fort Benning, Ga. There has been an annual protest outside that fort for many years, and it takes place next week.

Emphasizing the protest group wants to keep the event peaceful, Kennon said there will be trained peacekeepers from his organization wearing orange vests who will work to keep things nonviolent, and they will work with the Sierra Vista police.

The group is expected to leave the park around 1:30 p.m. and to be outside the fort about an hour later for "our vigil," he said.

Linton said everyone on Fort Huachuca have taken an oath to uphold and defend the U.S. Constitution.

"We fully respect the right of Americans to express different opinions under the First Amendment," she said.

Herald/Review senior reporter Bill Hess can be reached at 515-4615 or by e-mail at bill.hess@svherald.com.


Back to Top 



Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Hated Nation: Federal courtroom becomes healing balm

By Brenda Norrell

TUCSON--The dialogue in a federal courtroom here evolved into a healing balm, revealing a nation, the United States, that the world has grown weary of, and a growing number of aging Americans willing to serve time in prison to expose the cancer within. Torture was again on trial in federal court in Tucson Monday, Feb. 4. But in dialogue that surprised those that packed the courtroom, the healing remedy of grace and understanding were combined with wisdom and the spiritual foundation for a better world. Two of the protesters of US torture arrived in court suffering from cold and sleep deprivation. Betsy Lamb and Franciscan Fr. Jerry Zawada, in prison awaiting trial, had spent the night in cold, bare holding cells. Those holding cells are where all inmates from the privately-run prisons in Florence wait all night before a court appearance. Dressed in thin prison clothes in a cell without a bed, there is only a cold, stone floor to lie on.

Mary Burton Riseley, in a wheelchair and sick with the flu, appeared with fellow defendants Lamb and Fr. Zawada.

Fr. Zawada, Lamb and Riseley went to Fort Huachuca on November 18, 2007 to hand out flyers with a message they had written to enlisted personnel and officers, and speak to them about interrogation training and the use of torture. After moving past temporary barricades at the Fort's main gate, they were stopped from going any further. They knelt down and were arrested.

The drama that unfolded in federal court was of epic proportions and rare for any courtroom.

It was the sort of dialogue that the world benefits from, including a serious look at US torture, the war in Iraq and the courage of those willing to suffer and make a difference. There were also humorous moments. Those began when US Army prosecutors played a video of the peaceful protestors walking toward Fort Huachuca the day they were arrested.

On the video, an Army soldier says, "I fuckin' knew it! Here comes that goddam priest! Shit!"

Although the Army prosecutor, Capt. Evan Seamone, told the court that the soldier had been counseled over his language, it wasn't long before Magistrate Jacqueline Marshall was suggesting that the Army prosecution was doing entirely too much to aid the case of the defendants.

Earlier, attorneys for the defendants had entered into stipulations. No witnesses took the stand. Each defendant was charged with trespass on a military installation and failure to comply with an officer. The charge of conspiracy was dropped in the stipulations.

During the hearing, Capt. Seamone told the court that waterboarding and other forms of torture were not being taught at Fort Huachuca.

However, the defendants pointed out that the torture manual that resulted in masses of people being tortured, raped, mutilated and murdered in Central and South America was produced at Fort Huachuca.

Further, the manual and the training at the School of the Americas in Fort Benning, Ga., continued to provide torture training to military leaders and soldiers throughout the world. (SOA is now called the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation.) Attorney Bill Quigley pointed out that protesters of US torture have gone to prison for longer periods than some of the US military personnel who have actually committed the torture, even torture resulting in homicides in Iraq.

For Riseley, the aging ill defendant seated in a wheelchair, it was her first time to face the court charged with crime. She referred to the book, "Fear Up Harsh: An Army Interrogator's Dark Journey Through Iraq." Author Tony Lagouranis describes how the US carried out torture in Iraq. Riseley said when Lagouranis considered cutting off the fingers of a detainee, he woke up."

"Torture is not a dead issue," Riseley told the court. She spoke of how the world was growing to hate the United States, as the US morally excludes others. Quoting a passage from John, she said, "Perfect love removes all fears." With so many catastrophes facing the world, including climate change and war, humanity has no choice but to reach out with love in order to prevent becoming extinct like the dinosaurs, she said.

Riseley, who grew up in a military family, said it is her responsibility as a US citizen not to allow torture to continue.

"There exists a culture of torture that is passed down," she said. "I hope the pressure mounts."

Riseley said the movement to halt US torture may be small in numbers and the individual actions may seem of little consequence to some, but that is how all of the great social movements for change began, from the women's movement to the Civil Rights Movement. Every time someone sat down on a bus it brought about change, she said of the Civil Rights Movement.

Lamb began her address to the court by saying she was cold and shaking. "I slept on the cold floor of a holding cell," she told the court.

Speaking out against the torture in Abu-Ghraib and Guantanamo, Lamb said, "I believe it is the government that should face charges."

During the eight weeks Lamb was in prison, she received more than 250 letters from around the world, thanking her for taking a stand against US torture.

Earlier, when Fr. Zawada, 71, first entered the courtroom, he did so as a handcuffed happy spirit, fragile, humble and smiling to his friends who packed the courtroom. His kindness and love soon filled the courtroom. First Fr. Zawada described how he spent the previous night in a holding cell, standing up all night in a jail cell of 31 men. He had not slept in 48 hours and was very sleepy. The guards had not allowed him to bring the notes he had written for his sentencing plea.

Fr. Zawada, however, said he was lucky because his fellow defendants were so articulate.

To his attorney Bill Quigley from New Orleans, he said, "Bill has reflected what I have wanted, something of the heart of God."

Fr. Zawada described his services as a priest in the Philippines and with Chicago's poor. He explained how he came to understand what depths he must go to, in order to halt the buildup of nuclear weapons and the pervasive mode of war by the United States."I never planned to get arrested," he said.

Fr. Zawada was in Baghdad when the bombs fell. He saw people die and knew how the U.S. killed innocent people in Iraq. There were no weapons of mass destruction. "I hate prison," Fr. Zawada said, explaining how the noise and waiting for hours to go to the toilet were difficult as one grows older. But he could not promise that he would not be arrested again.

"I'm willing to spend a lot of time in prison if I have to," said Fr. Zawada, a resident of Las Vegas. "I can't promise you that I won't risk being arrested again."It is time for us to give our country a good name. We don't need things, but we need a soul."

Praising the work in the Tucson area, of those who search for dying migrants, Fr. Zawada shared his joy with the court."Tucson is the first place where the Sanctuary Movement began. I think that's beautiful."

Fr. Zawada said he gained his inspiration to risk prison in peaceful protest of torture from longtime friends Fr. Louis Vitale and Fr. Steve Kelly. The two priests are now in prison, serving five-month sentences for kneeling in prayer in protest of US torture at Fort Huachuca. Fr. Kelly remains in "the hole," or solitary confinement in a state of resistance in a California prison.

After the three defendants, Lamb, Riseley and Fr. Zawada, explained their reasons for taking action, and spoke from their souls, each was given 500 hours of community service, or payment of a $5,000 fine, and two years supervised probation. Lamb and Fr. Zawada were released after serving eight weeks in prison.

In the courtroom was Carlos Mauricio, torture survivor from El Salvador. Mauricio, a teacher, had been blindfolded, kidnapped and severely beaten in 1983. He narrowly escaped execution by the Death Squad in El Salvador. The International Red Cross arrived at the National Police Headquarters where he was being tortured at the time that he was taken to the death dungeon.

After the court sentencing in Tucson, Mauricio said this should never exist. He said that no one in the United States should be in court or prison for protesting torture. When Mauricio came to the United States, he thought he was leaving behind a country that engaged in torture.

"I am again in a country where any person can be tortured. "But," he added, "I do celebrate today. I felt the feeling of solidarity. It is the most beautiful thing a person can share with another person, this feeling of solidarity."

When Retired Army Col. Ann Wright, another voice against torture, left the federal court building, a rainbow filled the sky above Tucson.

"It is a rainbow of justice," Col. Wright said.
-30-
Back to Top



Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Col. Ann Wright: Bush and Cheney are axis of evil
Singing all the way to prison, aging Americans go to prison to protest US torture
By Brenda Norrell
Human rights editor
U.N. OBSERVER and International Report

TUCSON--President Bush and his top advisors have violated international laws prohibiting torture and must be held accountable, Retired Army Col. Ann Wright told a gathering in Tucson.

It is the same style of torture that Carlos Mauricio suffered through in El Salvador in 1983. Mauricio's torturers were trained by the US military who used the manuals of the U.S. School of the Americas.Col. Wright and Mauricio spoke at the Festival of Hope on Feb. 3, as three more aging Americans, prepared for a hearing and possible prison sentences, following peaceful protests of the Army Intelligence Center at Fort Huachuca. Exposing the secrets of torture, in solidarity with the poor and oppressed, prisoners of conscience arrived from throughout the United States to prepare for a court hearing in federal court here on Monday, Feb. 4.

Fr. Jerry Zawada and Betsy Lamb, both in prison in Florence awaiting trial, and Mary Burton Riseley, are charged with conspiracy, trespass and failure to obey an officer at Fort Huachuca in November.Already in prison are two priests, Fr. Steve Kelly and Fr. Louis Vitale, for kneeling in prayer in protest of US torture at Fort Huachuca in Nov. 2006. Mauricio began with these words, "My story belongs to many El Salvadorans."It is the story of torture."There were many El Salvadorans who could not come and tell their story, because they were killed."

Mauricio was a teacher when the Death Squad came for him. They entered his classroom, which he considers a sacred place, and beat him. With blood gushing from his head, he was blindfolded and kidnapped. He felt certain he would be killed. This was the fate of all the others kidnapped, whose tortured and mutiliated bodies were thrown in the streets.

Mauricio did not know why they had come for him. He had spoken out against injustices, but was never a guerrilla. When he was taken to the place of torture, he was first forced to hear the screams of the victims of electric shock and asphixiation.

"I heard women being raped."Since he had nothing to tell his torturers, they became convinced he was trained in Cuba to withstand torture. Believing it would stop the torture, Mauricio simply agreed that he had been trained in Cuba. But then they wanted the names of the military who trained him, names that didn't exist. Mauricio said this is the reality of information obtained by torture, people will say anything to make the torture stop. It is not viable information.Severely beaten, Mauricio was left seven days without food or water.

When he was taken to the dungeon, where thousands of coachroaches swarmed above his head in the death chamber, the arrival of the International Red Cross led to his life being spared. He was the only person he knew tortured at the National Police Headquarters who lived.

"What happened to me in El Salvador happened in Abu-Ghraib. They (his torturers in El Salvador) came here to learn torture and were taught torture at the School of the Americas."

Mauricio said generals were brought to justice for his torture. Now, Mauricio wants to turn that clandestine torture cell into a "place to remember," for torture victims all over the world.

"Torture is a crime. It is legal in the United States, but it is a crime. That person can be prosecuted under the law."

He said those responsible now for torture must be held accountable.It took Mauricio 12 years to be able to tell his story.

"It brings healing to my suffering. It brings healing to my trauma," he told the gathering."We are very interested in keeping the memory alive of what happened." "We need a place to remember."

Bill O'Neil, attorney for the Center for Constitutional Rights in DC, is now defending torture victims from Abu-Ghraib. O'Neil said the name of the campaign here in Tucson, "Torture on Trial," grabbed him.

"Torture is on trial everyday in this country."O'Neil, corporate attorney for 15 years, said when the photos of the torture victims at Abu-Ghraib were broadcast on television, he said, "We decided we had to do something."

"The pictures in public are just the tip of the iceberg."One of the first victims, seeking an attorney in Detroit, was Saleh, a Swedish citizen who had immigrated to Iraq and was tortured in prison by Saddam Hussein. After fleeing to Sweden, he returned to Iraq after the US invasion, believing Iraq to be safe.

However, he was picked up in a sweep of "anyone who looked suspicious," and once again tortured in Abu-Ghraib, this time by United States personnel. "It was so incongrous, he didn't know to process this," O'Neil said.

O'Neil said the U.S. torture in Abu-Ghraib was "right out of the manual created by the School of the Americas."Since the United States government has immunity from prosecution, the U.S. could not be sued for torture. With Amnesty International joining the action, a federal class action lawsuit was filed against the private security contractors who participated in the torture at Abu-Ghraib.

In Abu-Ghraib, private security forces wore the same clothing that military personnel did. US soldiers did not always know who was giving the orders. When the private security forces who provided translators -- CACI International Inc. and Titan Corporation ­ gave orders, soldiers often believed the private contractors to be CIA officers.

Although the lawsuit was filed in 2004, due to US and court maneuvers, the lawsuit still has not gone to trial. The court dismissed Titan from the lawsuit after the company argued it had no control over its employees' actions. But O'Neil said Titan was supplying translators who delivered the ultimatums such as "killing family members" and participated in beatings.

Now, 256 of the US torture victims at Abu-Ghraib have been identified.O'Neil encouraged torture victims to keep telling their stories. He said when he is driving home from work in DC, he sees others like those gathered here in Tucson, protesting torture outside the home of Vice President Dick Cheney. Hopeful, O'Neil said he believes there will someday be fair and open trials for the victims of Abu-Ghraib. He believes free and independent courts will someday allow justice.

In the letters from prison read at the Festival of Hope, Jerry Zawada said he made his decision to risk going to prison when he saw the injustice carried out in the case of Fr.'s Vitale and Kelly. During the priests' federal trial in Tucson, attorney Bill Quigley had huge stacks of US government manuals with data of US torture, data that the judge ruled was not admissable in court in the case of the two priests.

In prison, and remembering the goodness of those in this struggle, Zawada ended his letter with these words, "How can I keep from singing?"

Col. Wright described how she was recently prevented from entering Canada because her name was on an FBI list.Col. Wright said there was other news from Canada. The U.S. was recently placed on Canada's list for countries that engage in torture. However, the US remained on the list for only two days. She said there were likely "a lot of calls between DC and Ottawa."

Col. Wright, author of "DISSENT: Voices of Conscience -- Government Insiders Speak Out Against the War in Iraq," spoke out against the imprisonment of the two local US torture protesters, Lamb and Zawada, as they await trial."The government throws men and women of conscience into jail before they are even tried. The people who should be in jail are the ones making the policies that we are protesting."Col. Wright listed names, including Albert Gonzalez, David Addington, John Ashcroft and Willian Haynes. "They are the men who have broken the laws in this country. They are the ones that should be in jail.""The senior members of our military should be in jail. The generals should be in jail."Out of 800 inmates in Guantanamo, three-hundred remain. Only one person, who entered into a plea agreement, has been convicted. The majority imprisoned were never charged with a crime. Most are imprisoned as the result of bounty incentives paid to people to simply provide names.Col. Wright said many of the South American generals responsible for torture now live in the United States, with a large number living in Miami. During a protest there, Col. Wright and others were stoned. They held their protest at the police station, because the police refused to protect them. Still, she plans to return to protest the impunity offered by the U.S. to torturers."Just like, Bush, Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and Colin Powell, they are all part of the axis of evil."

Pointing out the torture, war in Iraq and secret renditions, Col. Wright said U.S. officials must be held accountable."We need men and women of conscience to stand up to what our government is doing that is immoral and illegal."With the spirit of a Southern Gospel, singers Ted Warmbrand and Charlie King closed the Festival of Hope with the lyrics, "This little light of mine, I'm going to let it shine, from the jailhouse."

Among the words remembered, were those of Sami al Haj, Sudanese journalist, covering the war in Afghanistan for al-Jazeera television. In 2001, he was arrested, tortured at both Bagram air base and Kandahar, then transferred to Guantanamo Bay, even though there was no evidence he had committed a crime.

Sami al Hajj's poem, "Humiliated In The Shackles," was written for his son. It is from a collection, "Poems from Guantanamo," written with stone indentions on styrofoam cups.

When I heard pigeons cooing in the trees,
tears covered my face.
When the lark chirped, my thoughts composed
A message for my son.
Mohammad, I am afflicted.
In my despair, I have no one but Allah for comfort.
The oppressors are playing with me,
As they move freely around the world.
They ask me to spy on my countrymen,
Claiming it would be a good deed.
They offer me money and land,
And freedom to go where I please.
Their temptations seize
My attention like lightning in the sky.
But their gift is an empty snake,
Carrying hypocrisy in its mouth like venom,
They have monuments to liberty
And freedom of opinion, which is well and good.
But I explained to them that
Architecture is not justice.
America, you ride on the backs of orphans,
And terrorize them daily.
Bush, beware.The world recognizes an arrogant liar.
To Allah I direct my grievance and my tears.
I am homesick and oppressed.
Mohammad, do not forget me.Support the cause of your father, a God-fearing man.
I was humiliated in the shackles.
How can I now compose verses?
How can I now write?
After the shackles and the nights and the suffering and the tears,
How can I write poetry?
My soul is like a roiling sea, stirred by anguish,Violent with passion.
I am a captive, but the crimes are my captors'.
I am overwhelmed with apprehension.Lord, unite me with my son Mohammad.
Lord, grant success to the righteous.


For more information on trial and contacts: http://www.tortureontrial.org/
Posted by Brenda Norrell at 5:45 PM
-30-
Back to Top



Published on National Catholic Reporter Conversation Cafe (http://ncrcafe.org)

Franciscan Louis Vitale facing prison for peace again
By John Dear SJ
Created Oct 16 2007 - 08:26

This week in Tucson, Ariz., Franciscan Fr. Louis Vitale, along with my Jesuit brother Fr. Steve Kelly, will stand trial. They're being tried on thin and haughty charges -- trespass and failure to obey an officer's orders.

November 2006, the two approached Fort Huachuca, the notorious base where instruction goes on in the practice of torture. In their hands was a letter addressed to Maj. Gen. Barbara Fast, base commander. She was the top U.S. intelligence officer in Iraq as torture went on at Abu Ghraib. In the letter they wrote: "We condemn torture as a dehumanization of both prisoners and interrogatorsŠ. We are here todayŠto say that the training of torturers must immediately stop. Nothing justifies the inhumane treatment of our fellow brothers and sisters."

Guards at the gate forbade their entry, and the two took to their knees and prayed. Now they face a caricature of court, having lost the means to mount a proper defense. The judge has ruled as inadmissible subjects such as torture, Abu Ghraib, international law and the Military Commissions Act. Likely he'll show himself more lavish come sentencing time. Louis and Steve are looking at the prospects of many months in jail. It comes with the territory when one is incorrigible and notorious. Louis, 75, has been at the task of peacemaking a good long time -- this despite his early years following a conventional path and doing the expected things.

He grew up in California and attended L.A.'s Jesuit Loyola University. There he studied and drilled with the ROTC and then entered the Air Force as a navigator and intercept officer. In 1959, he entered the Franciscans, received ordination in 1963, and then taught in a small Franciscan college while pursuing his doctorate.

Then began the social revolution of the 1960's -- everything under question, the old edifices under scrutiny, and injustices thrown off like an old garment. Most priests were of the old guard and few jumped in. Louis by contrast took the leap and landed on his feet. He joined every social movement around and took on the big issues -- civil rights, draft resistance, the rights of farm workers. Cesar Chavez was his mentor, with whom he fasted and studied nonviolence. And he moved in circles where he met Dorothy Day, Philip Berrigan, Mother Theresa, Dr. King, Thomas Merton, and later Archbishop Romero.

In the early 1970s, he moved to Las Vegas and there started the Franciscan Center for Social Justice. And with the war in Vietnam ending, he turned his gaze toward the growing anti-nuclear movement. His first order of business was to learn of the dark purposes of the infamous Nevada Test Site, a vast desolate stretch, the most bombed place on the planet.

He became a provincial in 1979, and one of his earliest official acts was civil disobedience with Fr. Daniel Berrigan against nuclear weapons development at U.C- Berkeley. (Few male provincials, before or since, have dared such an act. I think it should be a requirement of all church leadership in today's times.) And while most equate the will of God with institutional prosperity, Louis took a refreshing, one would say scriptural stand. He famously renounced development funds and endowments. Surpluses he disdained. He earmarked them for the needs of the poor -- a policy that grew with his many solidarity delegations to Central America. That's where I met him some 20 years ago.

For the 800th birthday of St. Francis of Assisi in 1982, Louis and friends launched in Francis's name the Nevada Desert Experience. Here was a Lenten campaign of civil disobedience to demand an end to nuclear weapons tests. The thing was conceived as a one-time occasion. But it goes on to this day -- probably winning the honor of being the longest sustained nonviolent civil disobedience campaign in U.S. history. (See: www.nevadadesertexperience.org [1]). Tens of thousands since have come and crossed over the line, and the steady pressure has had an enormous impact. The government has halted over-ground testing. And thousands of Christians have learned a thing or two about civil disobedience and the diabolical nature of the bomb.

Then from 1992 until 2003, a long stint as pastor of San Francisco's St. Boniface church, in the Tenderloin district, the city's poorest neighborhood. There Louis hung out his pastoral shingle, priest to the homeless. He opened shelters and drop-in centers and served those in need. But to the surprise of the media, and the discomfiture of Christendom, he welcomed vagabonds and the rootless to sleep in the church. News outlets across the country converged on the scene to see. The pews teemed every day with the exhausted and the ill, dry and warm at last. And parishioners rose to the occasion and helped with job training and recovery programs. To this day the homeless look to St. Boniface as a welcoming place.

Meanwhile, Louis helped get Pace e Bene off the ground -- a program to teach the techniques of active nonviolence (See Paceebene.org [2]), a topic for which Louis is eminently qualified. He's been arrested for peace and justice countless times. One Nevada police officer told the local paper with obvious pride that he has personally arrested Fr. Vitale a hundred times. At Fort Benning, Ga., home of the School of Americas, soldiers have arrested him twice. The first time earned him three months in jail. The second time, a harsher six months in jail.

He came to Albuquerque, N.M., last month as my friends and I were tried for our attempt to gain the attention of our senator's Santa Fe office. My friends and I will be sentenced Nov. 5. Louis came to support us, and he and I got to talking.

"There was nothing in my background that taught me about peace," he said. "I was in the military. I was told we needed nuclear weapons. But during the Vietnam War, the movement began to teach nonviolence. Hearing Dr. King, watching the Berrigans, and being around Cesar Chavez changed my life. I became convinced that nonviolence was the way of God, not killing people. Besides, I've never met anyone I've wanted to see dead.

Of his action at Fort Huachuca, he said, "Our message is that torture has come home to us. We learned from Fort Benning that the U.S. manuals on torture come from Fort Huachuca. The Nazis tortured, Latin American death squads tortured, now we know that we torture people, too. But where does it come from? It comes from Fort Huachuca. That's the headquarters. It's one of the most sinister places on the planet.

"We can make a difference. It can be done. We awakened people to the Nevada Test site. We helped stop nuclear testing. If we all realize [that] we have only this one world created by God, we can work together and help create a new world where we all live as one.

"St. Francis got caught up in a bloody war, and realized that war is not what God created us for. So he came out of it committed to a new world without war. We have to learn from him. We need to address the world's needs with love and compassion, not with war and destruction.

"And we need to have hope. Hope is justified. Half of the human race has been involved in nonviolent movements during the last few decades. These are the hopeful signs. I've seen people come together, and work together for the betterment of others. I've witnessed many nonviolent movements, the miracles of political transformation. I've seen the Berlin Wall fall. I've seen wars end. In nonviolent movements I see unmistakable signs of God.

"My conviction is that we can work together. We can transform our world, culture by culture, drawing on the way of the Gospel, drawing on the example of Francis, Clare and other witnesses to nonviolence. All human beings have the heartbeat of compassion and love. But we have to help them," Louis said. "We have to help them locate the desire for peace that beats already in their hearts."

John Dear's new book, Transfiguration (Doubleday) is available from www.amazon.com [5] and the new DVD about him (with music by Joan Baez and Jackson Browne) is available from www.sandamianofoundation.org [6]. For information on Fr. Louis' trial, see: tortureontrial.org [7]. Pax Christi has just published an Advent booklet by John, "The Advent of the God of Peace," (from www.paxchristiusa.org [8]). Next week, John will attend the beatification of Franz Jagerstatter in Linz, Austria. For his speaking schedule, see: www.johndear.org [9].
Back to Top




Arizona Daily Sun
Sunday, March 11, 2007 11:14 AM MST
FLAG SOLDIER DIED DEEPLY CONFLICTED
By LARRY HENDRICKS
Assistant City Editor


A newly released report of an investigation into the suicide of U.S. Army Spc. Alyssa Peterson of Flagstaff reveals a soldier deeply conflicted about her job as a counter-intelligence officer.

She told fellow soldiers she was unable to separate being an interrogator from who she was as a person.

She felt so much empathy for Iraqi detainees that she was reprimanded and reassigned after just two days as an interrogator.

"She was very upset with the fact that the detainees did not have showers in the cage and other types of accommodations," said a fellow soldier in the 311th Military Intelligence Battalion of the 101st Airborne Division (Air Attack), "She also (said) that she could not change her personality and be all in the face of one detainee and be all nice to the other."

About 25 days after arriving in Tel Afar, Iraq, on Sept. 15, 2003, Peterson was dead. She was 27.

Initially, her death was listed as a "non combat weapons discharge" by the U.S. Army.

The official cause of death was eventually determined to be an "apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound," according to a report requested of Peterson's commander. The report was released to the Arizona Daily Sun under the Freedom of Information Act.

In the report, Peterson's fellow soldiers remembered her aversion to interrogating Iraqi detainees.

"We told her that you have to be able to turn on and off the interrogation mode -- that you act differently towards the people we meet with outside of the detainee facility," one fellow soldier stated. "She said that she did not know how to be two people; she ... could not be one person in the cage and another outside the wire."

Peterson had joined the unit in late August 2003. She was assigned as a counter-intelligence interrogator. After two days as an interrogator, the report stated Peterson was reassigned to language duties other than interrogation. Her last duty, which she was to begin the morning her body was found, was to "... listen to conversations of the host nation guards to see if there was any duplicitous activity."

DETAINEES TREATED AS GUILTY
According to the 311th Web site, the unit is responsible for "... combat intelligence, electronic warfare, counterintelligence, battlefield deception, interrogation and psychological operations support providing commanders the capability to see and shape the battlefield by identifying Iraqi dispositions, capabilities, vulnerabilities, intentions and delivering targets."

But Peterson had a problem with the way that mission was being carried out, her colleagues recalled.

In one of her fellow soldiers' sworn statements, "(Peterson) commented that her first exposure was when we detained 43 individuals and that we only found three who were worth further attention. She was angry with the fact that we treated them all as guilty initially and only backed off when their innocence was proven."

Peterson was always eager to speak Arabic when she had the opportunity, according to her fellow soldiers' statements.

"Early in the month, she had to be reminded about the use of her language skills and that (there) was a place and time to use her skills," stated one soldier. "She had to be (told) more than once that sometimes she was more than an asset by only listening and not letting anybody know that she spoke the language."

The officer went on to write that Peterson had "trouble with the EPW cage" and dealing with the people detained.

Peterson was officially reprimanded for showing "empathy" to the detainees, according to the report.

Documents describing the interrogation techniques that troubled Peterson have been destroyed, according to the U.S. Army.

SUICIDE CAME UNEXPECTEDLY
On Aug. 29, a few days after arriving in Tel Afar, Peterson attended suicide prevention training with the rest of her unit.

After her death, investigators with the Army's Criminal Investigation Command, in a separate report, stated they found a notebook with Peterson's body. She had commented on her suicide training, but what she wrote in the notebook was blacked out of the report. The contents of the notebook were not turned over to the Daily Sun.

According to her fellow soldiers, Peterson never showed warning signs of being suicidal. They also stated that she kept to herself, did not want to owe anybody anything, and appeared to favor the Iraqis.

Stated one soldier, "She was more comfortable and more animated when talking with the locals than I ever saw her with other soldiers or even our interpreters."

The findings of the investigation concluded that Peterson's direct supervisors acted appropriately in removing her from a "stressful situation," and trying to integrate her into her unit.

"When it became evident that SPC Peterson wasn't integrating into her duties properly, the company chain of command acted promptly to accommodate her and find her duties she was capable of performing," stated the report.

The investigation, according to the report, can't determine what caused her to kill herself.

U.S. Army Major General David H. Petraeus, approved the findings of the investigation.

DRIVEN, INTELLIGENT AND WARM
Peterson had graduated from Flagstaff High School in 1994. Her friends described her as a driven, intelligent and warm person.

A member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, friends consistently commented on Peterson's devotion to her faith.

She had a talent for learning languages and after graduating from Northern Arizona University, she joined the Army and attended the Army's Defense Language Institute, specializing in Arabic.

After graduation from DLI, she was assigned to the 311th.

Peterson's body was returned to Flagstaff in late September 2003, where she was buried with military honors at Citizens Cemetery.

Back to Top



PRIESTS CLAIM TORTURE; ARIZONA ARMY POST SAYS NO
Sunday May 20th 2007
Bill Hess, Sierra Vista Herald

TUCSON, Ariz.--A pair of priests arrested in November for trespassing on Fort Huachuca are determined to make a court case out of what they contend is torture being taught at the Southern Arizona Army post.

"We're going to put torture on trial," the Rev. Louis Vitale and the Rev. Steve Kelly told nearly 80 people Friday in the sanctuary of the Southside Presbyterian Church in Tucson.

The two believe the post and its intelligence leadership prepare soldiers to become torturers in a misguided attempt to extract information.

But Maj. Gen. Barbara Fast, the senior officer on the post and the one who leads the Intelligence Center, denies torture techniques are part of any instruction.

The training on the post is "completely consistent with applicable law and policy, to include Sen. (John) McCain's amendment, the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005," Fast said.

The act, which the Arizona Republican specifically ensured forbade torture, "requires that no person in the custody or under the effective control of the Department of Defense facility shall be subject to any treatment or technique of interrogation not authorized by and listed in the U.S. Army Field Manual on Intelligence Interrogation," she said.

In September, the Army released another field manual specifically geared to human intelligence collector operations, which also directed "that no person in the custody of or under the control of DOD (Department of Defense), regardless of nationality or physical location, shall be subject to torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment, in accordance with and as defined in U.S. law."

But Kelly said what is happening inside the wire at the detention center in Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, the main detainee complex for suspected terrorists, is taught on the fort and includes using physical and mental torture techniques.

Vitale said a female rancher who said she has property that abuts the fort "knows torture is taught." He did not name the woman, who purportedly spoke at a support meeting for the two priests last week.

The two men--Vitale a Franciscan and Kelly a Jesuit--are seeking moral, financial and physical support before, during and after their trial, which is tentatively scheduled in the Tucson federal courthouse on June 6.

On Nov. 19, the priests performed an act of civil disobedience by walking on to the fort through the post's Main Gate area as part of what has become an annual protest of intelligence training. The event is linked to a larger protest that takes place at Fort Benning, Ga., every year. The School of the Americas is located at Fort Benning, and the school has been accused of teaching torture methods to Latin American militaries.

The two men, both who have served time in federal lockups for anti-military protests, wanted to deliver a letter to Fast and be allowed to speak to students at the Intelligence Center.

As they did in November, they wore priestly garments of their orders on Friday--Vitale in a brown cassock of Franciscan friars and Kelly in black shoes, pants and shirt, with a small white collar at his neck.

As they walked across the street on to fort property in November, they were initially approached by a man in civilian clothes who did not identify himself and they continued on, they said.

Kelly said as more people from the fort approached at one point, he followed Vitale, who knelt and began to pray.

The pair were eventually taken to a facility on post and charged with trespassing. They were released on their own recognizance that day.

Vitale and Kelly were the first ever to be arrested for trespassing on the post as part of the annual protest near the Main Gate.

As the two men went toward the fort, supporters yelled out encouragement while members of a counterprotest shouted disparaging comments.

In 2001, the name of the Fort Benning school was changed to Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation. However, the priests still call the facility School of the Americas, something they constantly did at the Tucson meeting, because they do not believe there has been any change in the instructional course at the Georgia installation.

Appearance seen differently
On Feb. 13, the priests and their supporters once again went to the fort for what the priests said was an arraignment, but post officials said was an initial appearance.

Kelly said they were taken to a building where the post courtroom is located and eventually were escorted--down into the basement--into a room with a flickering light.

Post spokeswoman Tanja Linton said the initial hearing was "held in a well-lit room in Greely Hall" because there were so many supporters with the priests they could not fit in the courtroom.

The hearing was held in a nearby conference room, she added.

Vitale's impression of the building was that it is the intelligence headquarters for the United States and the spy headquarters for the world, where every phone call made by a soldier to a family member is monitored.

Linton said that description is not true. Greely Hall is primarily used for the headquarters of the Army Network Enterprise Technology Command, along with other organizations, she said. NETCOM is the Army's premier communications organization.

Kelly said many people will not accept the fact the U.S. government, through its military and other agencies, practices torture. And, he said, the conflict of whether torture is right is something American citizens have a hard time grasping.

A Christian congregation was polled, "and the majority said torture is acceptable," Kelly said.

The problem is the government is convincing people that in today's world any way to extract information is allowable, he said.

Vitale said his own sister, whom he described as a gentle person who would not hurt a flea, also believes in some cases of excessive force, such as torture, can be used.

According to a recent Pentagon report, a large number of soldiers and Marines serving in Iraq also believe torture should be used if it will save the lives of their buddies.

Soldier rallying point
Both men used the death of Alyssa Peterson, an Army specialist from Flagstaff, as a rally point for their anti-torture crusade. Her suicide was the act of a woman who could not bear the responsibility of being an interrogator in Iraq, they said.

"The Army put her in a program that taught her how to torture," Vitale said.

According to a March 11 article in The Arizona Daily Sun in Flagstaff, the 27-year-old Peterson killed herself in Tel Afar, Iraq, on Sept. 15, 2003. The article about the soldier's death was based on an investigative report the newspaper obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.

Peterson had a hard time separating being an interrogator from who she was as an individual, according to the article.

The soldier apparently had a lot of empathy for Iraqi detainees, so much so she was reprimanded and reassigned after just two days as an interrogator, the newspaper article stated.

She reportedly was concerned detainees did not have showers in the cage "where they were held" or other accommodations, did not like being required to be nice to one person and harsh to another and was particularly upset when only three of 43 detainees questioned were found worthy of additional attention, the newspaper said the investigating document stated.

One of the sworn statements from a fellow soldier about the number of detainees held said: "he was angry with the fact that we treated them all as guilty initially and only backed off when their innocence was proven," the Daily Sun reported.

In the article, Peterson was described as driven, intelligent and warm. It was noted she had a talent for learning languages. After graduating from Northern Arizona University, she enlisted in the Army and attended the Defense Language Institute, which is in California, where she learned Arabic.

Then-Maj. Gen. David H. Petraeus approved the investigation report, the newspaper sated. Today, he is the four-star general in command of all Iraqi operations.

The priests contest the reports by the Army that torture is not taught, stating the main reason for Peterson's self-inflicted death was she had to torture as part of her job, which she learned while attending counterintelligence courses on Fort Huachuca, which is one of the many classes taught on the post.

Fast not commander The two men also claim that Fast, who when she served in Iraq, commanded the prison at Abu Ghraib, the scene of detainee abuse.

The post's spokeswoman said this is not true. Linton said the general served as the director of intelligence for the Multi-Nation Force-Iraq, Operation Iraqi Freedom.

"She did not command Abu Ghraib prison. The facility was commanded by Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski, and interrogation operations were commanded by Col. Thomas Pappas," Linton said.

Pappas was the commander of an intelligence brigade and has been punished, as has Karpinski, according to news reports.
The detainee abuse was committed by military police, medical and intelligence soldiers, most of whom have been punished, news reports state.

Fast has been the subject of a number of investigations and has not been charged. When she returned from Iraq, she was supposed to assume command of the Intelligence Center and the fort, but that was delayed a number of months until the last investigation was completed. She will leave command in late June, heading to a lateral assignment at the Training and Doctrine Command at Fort Monroe, Va.

Linton said any allegation that Fast supports torture is untrue. "Throughout her 30-plus years in the Army, Maj. Gen. Fast has adhered to all applicable laws and policies and has lived the Army values," Linton said, adding, "She has never condoned torture."

Torture training ground
On the other hand, the priests are not convinced the post is not the initial torture training ground for the Army.

To them, 18-, 19- and 20-year-olds at Fort Huachuca are being turned into torturers.

Vitale and Kelly are among those who do not accept the government's non-torture claim.

The question they are facing will be answered by a federal judge, if they can create a trial within their trial.

And, they believe, it is equally important for Arizonans that it has taken awhile for the anti-torture community to recognize that initial training in dehumanizing a soldier starts in the state.

"It starts here in your back yard," Vitale told the audience. "It starts at Fort Huachuca."

For Fast, there is no hiding how training is done on the post.

Training on the fort is transparent, she said, emphasizing that under lawful polices "which forbids torture" American and other lives are being saved.

"We have hosted several media days for the media to view our training, and also supported numerous individual requests from international, national and regional media. Additionally, several congressional officials have visited and observed our training," Fast said.

Herald/Review senior reporter Bill Hess can be reached at 515-4615 or at bill.hess@svherald.com.

Back to Top


TRIAL DATE SET FOR TWO PRIESTS ACCUSED OF TRESPASSING ON FORT
Thursday, May 10th 2007
Bill Hess, Sierra Vista Herald

TUCSON--A trial for two priests accused of trespassing on Fort Huachuca last year is scheduled for June 6 in the U.S. District Court in Tucson.

The Rev. Louis Vitale and the Rev. Stephen Kelly are charged with illegally entering the post on Nov. 19 with the goal of presenting a letter to Maj. Gen. Barbara Fast, commander of the Intelligence Center and the fort, in which they alleged torture is being taught on the installation.

They also wanted to speak to enlisted military members.

Both men took part in an anti-torture rally across from the post¹s Main Gate. A counter-rally also occurred at the same time.

Near the end of the rally, both priests walked across Buffalo Soldier Trail and headed for the fort¹s entrance.

At one point, federal law officials approached them, and the two men were eventually escorted, detained and charged before being released on their own recognizance.

Vitale, a Franciscan priest, is a member of Pace e Bene, a non-violence service, and co-founder of the Nevada Experience and School of the Americas Watch Prisoner of Conscience.

Kelly, a Jesuit priest, has served prison time for civil disobedience actions while participating in Plowshare disarmament actions. In December 2005, he served as chaplain for Witness to Torture, a delegation which marched through Cuba to the gates of the U.S. installation at Guantanamo Bay.

If convicted of trespassing and another charge of failing to obey an officer¹s order, both men face 10 months in federal prison.

Herald/Review senior reporter Bill Hess can be reached at 515-4615 or at bill.hess@svherald.com.

Back to Top


PRIESTS PLEAD NOT GUILTY TO TRESPASSING ON POST
The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday Apr 4, 2007 6:20:28 EDT
TUCSON, Ariz. -- Two Catholic priests have pleaded not guilty to charges of trespassing at Fort Huachuca.

Rev. Louis J. Vitale, 74, and the Rev. Steve Kelly, 58, made the pleas during an arraignment Tuesday.

They were charged after a Nov. 19 protest of military intelligence training. The priests had planned to deliver a letter to the post's top commander, Maj. Gen. Barbara Fast, stating that the facility trains personnel in torture methods, a claim the Army denies.

About 30 people held a rally for the priests before the arraignment in federal court, reading from the Bible and singing songs about social justice.

Vitale and Kelly are scheduled to go to trial June 6 and June 4, respectively.

Back to Top



FIRST-HAND ACCOUNTS

TORTURE ON TRIAL IN TUCSON

By PETER EDIGER
Tucson, Arizona--Feb. 4, 2008

A brilliant rainbow arched over the Tucson sky Monday afternoon, February 4, offering a cosmic blessing to the conclusion of a trial in federal court for Betsy lamb, Mary Risley and Fr Jerry Zawada, who by their moving testimony, in effect turned the table on their prosecution and put torture on trial.

Guided by their veteran peace movement attorney, Bill Quigley, they had stipulated to the "facts" of their case, and were found guilty of trespass and failure to obey an officer. Then, prior to sentencing, Judge Jacqueline Marshall allowed each of the defendants to speak at length about what had brought them to their prayerful nonviolent protest action at Ft Huachuca, the home of the U.S Army Intelligence Center and interrogation training school.

Despite their physical ills--Mary in a wheelchair weak with the flu, Betsy and Jerry weary from having endured a sleepless night in cold overcrowded holding cells--each in turn spoke with articulate passion of their deep concerns, citing numerous sources documenting the practice of torture, and sharing from personal experiences with torture victims. Listening attentively and obviously moved by the testimony, Judge Marshall engaged the witnesses with good questions and some humorous exchanges in an hour long conversation. When Betsy suggested that it is really not the three of them who should be on trial here, and that the Judge instead should put the government on trial, she asked, "and how would I do that?"

In the end, Judge Marshall rejected the prosecution's recommendation for extended incarceration for Fr Jerry Zawada, given his record of numerous previous actions, and ordered the same sentence for each defendant: Two years Supervised Probation, a $5,000 fine with option to do 500 hours of Community Service @ $10 per hour, and freedom to include in the community service their participation in education and protest actions promoting their cause as long as it is done legally.

A "Festival of Hope" celebration on the evening prior to the trial, attended by some 200 people, gave further witness to the growing movement to put torture on trial and reaffirmed strong expressions of support for Mary, Betsy and Fr Jerry, as well as Fr Louie Vitale and Fr Steve Kelly, who are to be released in mid-March from their five month incarceration for their earlier protest action at Ft Huachuca in November of 2006.

Back to Top



PROTESTING PRIESTS ESCAPE JAIL BEFORE TORTURE TRIAL
Incident at Fort Huachuca, the Army's Torture Training Center
CounterPunch April 4, 2007

By BILL QUIGLEY

Despite calls by federal prosecutors to jail two priests protesting against torture training at Ft. Huachuca, Arizona, a federal judge has allowed them to remain free until their trial, which is set for June 4, 2007.

Fr. Louis Vitale, a 74 year old Franciscan priest, and Fr. Steve Kelly, a 58 year old Jesuit priest, were arraigned in federal court in Tucson on federal and state charges of trespass and refusal to follow police orders at an anti-torture protest at Ft. Huachuca.

The federal prosecutor asked the judge to put the two priests in jail before their trial saying they had a substantial history of arrests and were likely to be involved in similar protests and commit other protest crimes unless jailed. After the prosecutor admitted that the actions charged were nonviolent, the court released the priests on their own recognizance.

The priests were arrested on November 19, 2006 at Ft. Huachuca, in Sierra Vista Arizona after the knelt to pray on the road approaching the gate to the fort. They were part of a crowd of 120 people peacefully protesting against military intelligence training at Ft. Huachuca that fosters torture. The protestors objected to the teaching of torture interrogation tactics at Ft. Huachuca by U.S. military intelligence -- tactics used at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo. Documents detailing Department of Defense spying on protestors outside the Fort in 2004 have been made public. The DOD described the protest as a "credible threat" to national security.

The Army Field Manual on interrogation (Human Resource Exploitation Training Manual) was written at Fort Huachuca. A number of the officers and soldiers responsible for human rights abuses at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison have worked at or were trained at the Headquarters for Army Intelligence Training at Ft. Huachuca.

The two priests tried to speak to enlisted soldiers and deliver a letter to Major General Barbara Fast, commissioner of the post, denouncing torture and the Military Commissions Act of 2006.

General Fast is the highest ranking intelligence officer tied to the torture at Abu Ghraib. Two other soldiers with ties to Fort Huachuca are among the 28 implicated in the beating deaths of two prisoners in Afghanistan in 2002.

Counter-protestors waved flags and accused those protesting against torture of being supporters of Islamic terrorists.

Fr. Vitale is a member of Pace e Bene, whose mission is "to develop the spirituality and practice of active nonviolence as a way of living and being and as a process for cultural transformation." Fr. Vitale is also a co-founder of the Nevada Desert Experience, a faith-based organization that has opposed nuclear weapons testing for a quarter of a century. He recently served six months in jail following his arrest at the Ft. Benning vigil in November, 2005, and was ejected from congressional hearings in September after speaking out against the Military Commissions Act.

Fr. Steve Kelly is a member of the Redwood City Catholic Worker community and has served time in federal prison for the nonviolent direct disarmament of nuclear weapon delivery systems. In December, 2005, Kelly served as chaplain for Witness to Torture, a delegation of over two dozen U.S. anti-torture activists who defied the U.S. embargo of Cuba with a peaceful march through that nation to the gates of the Guantanamo Bay naval base and prison camp.

The text of the letter the priests tried to deliver to the base commander reads:

To: Maj. Gen. Barbara Fast:

We are here today as concerned U.S. people, veterans and clergy, to speak with enlisted personnel about the illegality and immorality of torture according to international humanitarian law, including the Geneva Conventions.

We condemn torture as a dehumanization of both prisoners and interrogators, resulting in humiliation, disability and even death. In addition to the hundreds of detainees who have died, we are also concerned about U.S. military personnel. Alyssa Peterson committed suicide after participating in the torture of Iraqi prisoners. Lynndie England and others have been imprisoned for their illegal activities.

We are here today at Ft. Huachuca in solidarity with tens of thousands of people at the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation at Ft. Benning, Georgia (formerly known as the School of the Americas) to say that the training of torturers must immediately stop. Nothing justifies the inhumane treatment of our fellow brothers and sisters. Torture by U.S. military personnel has reached alarming proportions and has horrified people around the world.

We are convinced that the Military Commissions Act of 2006 is unconstitutional. We totally reject its conclusions. Torture is a useless and unreliable tool that leads to an accepted practice of terrorization and the rationalization of wrongdoing.

We are here today to repent and clearly state that because of our sense of moral and human decency we condemn torture. NOT IN OUR NAME. 19th day of November, 2006 - Louis Vitale,OFM / Steve Kelly, SJ

Bill Quigley is a law professor and human rights lawyer at Loyola University New Orleans and represents one of the protesting priests.

Back to Top



FROM A REPORT BY FRANCISCO HERRERA
On February 13, 2007, Fr. Louie Vitale and Fr. Steve Kelly responded to a call by the federal court to attend an "arraignment" at Ft. Huachuca in response to their arrest on November 19, 2006 by military police during a demonstration against Ft. Huachuca's training of torturers. Joining 120 protesters across the road from Ft. Huachuca at the November protest, Vitale and Kelly had walked across the street with a letter for Major General Barbara Fast. In the letter, they requested to speak to enlisted personnel about the illegality and immorality of torture. While walking up the sidewalk towards the gate of the fort, the two men had been stopped by security, arrested for trespass after kneeling in prayer, then processed and released.

On February 12, Ft. Huachuca prosecutor U.S. Army Capt. Evan Simone J.D. contacted Nuclear Resister co-editor Jack Cohen-Joppa in Tucson to find out how many supporters would be accompanying the priests. He also offered to come to Tucson to have dinner that evening with Vitale and Kelly so they didn't have to go to Ft. Huachuca in the morning.

At six in the morning, Frs. Vitale and Kelly, along with a small group of supporters, left Tucson to meet the 8:30 appointment in room 2636 of Greeley Hall in the military fort. Our group of seven acquired the entry permit and after a confusing moment trying to find Greeley Hall, we were able to find one of the last parking spots in a lot of about 400 cars.

To our surprise, as we approached a gentleman to make sure we were in the right building, we were informed he, "Investigator McGruder," and four other men donning forty-five caliber guns in their holsters, were our escorts and would be taking us to the meeting. As we signed into the Hall, the four men were joined by at least one other, all well dressed with shirt and dress slacks but no coats, with their weapons in clear sight. In clear semi-circular formation, they surrounded our small group.

After signing in, we were escorted to the bathrooms, where we were closely guarded. We were then joined by Capt. Simone, and informed we would not be meeting in room 2636, nor meeting a judge, but rather meeting just with Capt. Simone. We were taken to a basement room of the Greeley building, all the time encircled by the armed men. We entered a poorly lit technological management room and were cordially asked to sit down around an old oak table, surrounded by computer cubicals and other computer hardware.

Capt. Simone was very relaxed and informal in his manner. He first made sure Steve and Louie knew their rights, and asked if the two would be requiring a lawyer's presence. After being assured that they didn't have (or for the time being require) legal representation, Capt. Simone proceeded to inform the group that this was in fact, "not an arraignment . . . (but rather) a negotiation," to see if they could reach a plea bargain. He told the priests that he had researched their past activities and involvements, such as helping the homeless and other protests. Simone said that although he recognized their protest was part of their calling, perhaps some sort of agreement might be reached so they would be free to continue their work in their communities. Frs. Kelly and Vitale assured him that they considered this protest against torture, including the possibility of jail time, to be an important part of their work.

Capt. Simone also informed Fr. Kelly and Fr. Vitale that there are now two charges against them: "criminal trespassing (USC Title 18, Sec 1382)" and "failure to comply with police officer (Arizona Revised Statues 28-622)." The priests were told that if found guilty, they are facing a possible 10 month sentence for the two charges, along with fines.

After a discussion of about an hour and a half, which involved the testimony by an officer who had been present at the scene on November 19, as well as discussion of whether the M.P.'s had jumped the gun and arrested them before they actually crossed the official property line of Ft. Huachuca, Capt. Simone announced the date for the official arraignment. It had been set for March 6, 2007, a date which did not work for the defendants. The court clerk was called down to look at a possible alternative and April 3 was then set for arraignment. It will take place at 8:30 a.m. at the U.S. District Court, 405 W. Congress St., Tucson, Arizona.

Back to Top