from THE CATHOLIC WORKER
by Bill Griffin
On November 20th, 2006, the School of the Americas Watch reported in its press release that 22,000 people from across the Americas rallied on the weekend of November 18th and 19th in front of the US Army base at Fort Benning, GA. Thirteen people were arrested during the nonviolent protest against the combat training school for Latin American soldiers, many of whose graduates have been implicated in human rights abuses. The massive peaceful demonstration heard from the former US Army Colonel, Ann Wright, who sees a direct connection between the reports of the abuse and torture of Iraqi prisoners by US military personnel and the interrogation and counterinsurgency training given at Fort Benning.
Here is an excerpt from Ann Wright's address to the demonstrators: "With so many US military and CIA personnel involved in some level of abuse toward detainees and prisoners, what is the emotional toll taken on them when they know they are conducting harmful, as well as illegal, actions against those in their custody? Do military, CIA and contract interrogators, military police, medical personnel, and military and civilian lawyers who have gone along with the torture policy, suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder following their tours in Bagram, Abu Ghraib, Guantànamo and secret prisons? Are their abusive behaviors brought home? The answer to both questions is yes. Recently made public was the September 2003 suicide of Army interrogator Alyssa Peterson, who was an Arabic-speaking interrogator assigned to the prison at the Tal-afar airbase in far northwestern Iraq near the Syrian border. According to the report of the US Army's investigation into her death, obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, Alyssa Peterson objected to interrogation techniques used on prisoners. She refused to participate after only two nights in the unit known as 'the cage' and, shortly after, committed suicide.
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