The weekend before Thanksgiving, members of Courage to Resist traveled to southern Arizona to participate in a protest at Ft. Huachuca. The base is the headquarters for Army intelligence where interrogation techniques are developed and taught. Three hundred anti-torture activists gathered across the street from the fort's main entrance to demand an end to the brutal and dehumanizing methods used by U.S. interrogators and the closure of the US prison at Guantanamo Bay.
Speakers read messages from Father Louie Vitale and Father Steven Kelly, both presently serving prison sentences for illegally entering the fort last November. The priests were arrested by military police before they could deliver their message to the fort's commanding officer.
This year, three people, Betsy Lamb, Mary Burton Riseley, and Jerry Zawada, entered the base and were arrested. They will be arraigned in December. Members of Veterans for Peace, Code Pink, and Iraq Veterans Against the War were among many groups taking part in the protest organized by Southwest Weekend of Witness Against Torture in solidarity with the protests at School of the Americas Watch at Fort Benning, Georgia.
A great many participants expressed enthusiasm for Courage to Resist's Canada campaign and promised to help spread the word.
"Courage to Resist...has helped both publicize and build the critical component of soldier resistance in ending war." — Steve Morse, GI Rights Hotline counselor; Viet Nam War era GI resisterread more | donate now
For help getting out of the military, or related military issues, call the new GI Rights Hotline number at 877-447-4487. Free, confidential, and accurate info for troops, vets, recruits, and their families.
