Torture, Empire and the SOA

http://www.soaw.org/new/index.php

"One of the main myths that seems to be propagated in the mainstream media right
now is that 9-11 happened, George Bush signed a degree, the CIA took off its
gloves, and torture was born in the military.

"I think the SOA experience is very important in educating people that torture
has a long history in the US military and there is nothing particularly new
about it. I think the SOA has a very important role to play in a discussion
about impunity. The fact is that people, not just in Latin America, but in this
country, have gotten away with murder and torture and acts of human rights
crimes time and again. And that that is bad enough in itself, but to think about
what are the consequences of impunity for the present? How does the past get
whitewashed in a context of pervasive impunity and what does that have to say
about people´s ability to mobilize against domination in the present? I think
that the SOA has a very important role in all of that."

-- Leslie Gill, in an interview about her new book: The School of the Americas:
Military Training and Political Violence in the Americas

Also check out Naomi Klein's excellent new article 'Never Before!' Our Amnesiac
Torture Debate from The Nation Magazine.


Mark your calendars: April 23-25, 2006 -
Bring the Vigil to Washington, DC

Call Congress Today: 202-224-3121 or 1-888-355-3588

Your Congressional Representatives and Senators need to hear from you! Demand
that Congress close the SOA/WHINSEC so that no more killers will be trained,
that no more families will lose their loved ones and that no more people have to
go to prison for speaking out against the SOA/WHINSEC. Click here for a sample
phone script and more information.

This years' Vigil at the gates of Fort Benning, Georgia (November 18-20) was the
largest gathering to close the School of the Americas to date. Thanks to
everyone who made it happen. It fueled people's commitment and energized
thousands from across the Americas. We need to keep up the pressure to change
oppressive U.S. foreign policy, to shut down the SOA and the racist system of
violence and repression that it represents.

http://www.soaw.org/new/article.php?id=1223

We need every one of us to Bring the Vigil Home - we must bring this Vigil to
our families, to our churches, to our campuses, to our union halls, to our
schools, to the doors of our Congressional representatives, and to our
communities. Click here for more information on bringing the Vigil home!

http://www.soaw.org/new/article.php?id=1215

News from Colombia
Read a December 14 Urgent Update from the San Joseé Peace Community.

As the weekend?s events were getting started, SOA Watch received sad news from
our friends in the Colombian Peace Community of San José de Apartadó. On
Thursday, November 17, 2005, troops commanded by General Luis Alfonso Zapata
Uribe* attacked and killed Arlen Salas David, a leader of the peace community.

More than 10,000 Colombian soldiers have been trained at the SOA/WHINSEC.
Colombia continues to send more soldiers to the SOA than any other country--with
chilling results. Graduates of the school are consistently cited for human
rights abuses. The U.S. is an active contributor to the war in Colombia,
providing billions in military aid and training to the Colombian military.
Movements for justice in the Americas need to stand in solidarity with the
people of Colombia, work to change U.S. foreign policy and close the SOA.

*General Luis Alfonso Zapata Uribe, who has commanded the 17th Brigade of the
Colombian Army since May 2005, was trained in counter-insurgency at the School
of the Americas. He attended the Small-Unit Infantry Tactics C-7 course to
become familiar with small-unit operational concepts and principles at the squad
and platoon level, [to] receive training in planning and conducting small-unit
tactical operations.

The San José de Apartadó Peace Community wrote on Friday, Nov. 18:

We make an appeal for national and international support, so that our
extermination can be stopped; so that the inhabitants of the whole region of
Arenas Altas are not forced to become internally displaced, which the Army has
told us is their objective. The serious and committed work that Arlen was
carrying out will guide us. Pain barely lets us talk but we will continue to cry
?Dignity? out loud, like he taught us to do during his daily chores and his
commitment to the community. His two small children will continue to walk
besides us, building a different tomorrow in which there will be respect for
life. Arlen, our tears accompany this horror but you are with us, giving us
life. Thank you for your leadership, your committment. Someday history will
judge those who murdered you.

Read the entire message from the San José de Apartadó community in Spanish and
English.
http://www.soaw.org/new/article.php?id=1226

Find out more information about the February massacre in San José de Apartadó.

http://www.soaw.org/new/article.php?id=1024

Take action.

http://www.soaw.org/new/article.php?id=1081



Alan

"Can't you see we're still here,
Can't you see we're still here,
Singing loud; Singing clear,
We shall not go under,
We're still here."

Nemesis Peace Centre

http://www.veloceraptor.free-online.co.uk/protector.html

Abuse of Women and Children

http://theoriginalfirebird.blogspot.com/

Nemesis News

http://lordcerneabbas.blogspot.com/

Absolute Anarchy

http://lordcerneabbastoo.blogspot.com/

.