I wonder if the Z's were there?

Big Crowd at Military School Protest Gets Earful of Patriotic Music From Army
The Associated Press
Published: Nov 22, 2003

COLUMBUS, Ga. (AP) - Demonstrators gathered outside Fort Benning to protest a military school were hit with a sonic barrage Saturday: patriotic music Army officials had blaring from the main gate.
A crowd estimated by Columbus police at 8,000 gathered to protest the school once known as the School of the Americas, which they blame for Latin American human rights abuses. It appeared to be the largest first-day gathering in the 14-year history of the protest.

The Army's loudspeakers, playing "The Army Song" and "God Bless the U.S.A.," were 50 yards away from where protesters were speaking to the crowd.

Leaders of School of Americas Watch, which has protested at Fort Benning every year since the early 1990s, said they planned to sue over the noise tactic and accused the Army of a "psychological operation."

"There's a lot of ill will being caused that's not necessary," said the Rev. Ray Bourgeois, SOA Watch founder. "The closer we get to closing that school down, the meaner they get."

"We figure if they can play their music, we can play ours," post spokesman Rich McDowell said. The Army said the music came from a tape made by the wife of a Fort Benning soldier currently serving in Iraq.

School of the Americas Watch holds the demonstrations every November to mark the killings of six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper and her daughter in El Salvador on Nov. 19, 1989.

Some of the killers had attended the school, which moved to Fort Benning from Panama in 1984 and is now under the jurisdiction of the Defense Department as the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation.

On Saturday, four protesters were stopped by the post's security for attempting to enter the fort's Highway 27 entrance. They were arrested for trespassing and taken by U.S. Marshals to the Muscogee County Jail, McDowell said.

McDowell added that officials at the post in west-central Georgia hope organizers of the two-day protest manage crowd control as in past years. Nearly 200 people were arrested in Miami in past week during protests against negotiations for the Free Trade Area of the Americas.

"We're on our side, just keeping an eye on them," McDowell said. "We would like to see this get over with as peacefully as possible. We don't have any reason to think it won't."

About 7,000 attended last year's protest, including 84 who were arrested for trespassing on military property.

McDowell said the post would not play music during Sunday's religious-themed services, including protesters' solemn procession to the post gate.

That is one hot, sticky, miserable place in the summer!

When they serve their 2.5-4 years, THEN I'll listen to their protests.

What is the SOA? [edit: The Friendly Face of Fascism]

The School of the Americas (SOA), in 2001 renamed the “Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation,” is a combat training school for Latin American soldiers, located at Fort Benning, Georgia.

Initially established in Panama in 1946, it was kicked out of that country in 1984 under the terms of the Panama Canal Treaty. Former Panamanian President, Jorge Illueca, stated that the School of the Americas was the “biggest base for destabilization in Latin America.” The SOA, frequently dubbed the “School of Assassins,” has left a trail of blood and suffering in every country where its graduates have returned.

Over its 56 years, the SOA has trained over 60,000 Latin American soldiers in counterinsurgency techniques, sniper training, commando and psychological warfare, military intelligence and interrogation tactics. These graduates have consistently used their skills to wage a war against their own people. Among those targeted by SOA graduates are educators, union organizers, religious workers, student leaders, and others who work for the rights of the poor. Hundreds of thousands of Latin Americans have been tortured, raped, assassinated, “disappeared,” massacred, and forced into refugee by those trained at the School of Assassins.

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

Did any of the graduates actually fight insurgents anywhere? There should be a Congressional Inquiry (or better, a Special Prosecutor) starting with the Truman Administration and find out why we've spent money with the sole accomplishment of slaughtering saints.

Botnst

...sounds good to me.

Yes, I'm sure the Z's were there and I for one am glad they were. Two good friends of mine were arrested two years ago at the protest for trespassing on federal property. They served 3 months in federal prison for protesting the training and support of death squads by our government. Long live the likes of Dietrich Bonhoeffer.

People from the religious right might think twice after reading this piece:

http://www.endtimesnetwork.com/oldnews/kingdom.html

__________________
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1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

They can have their little "protests" without trespassing. I hope they learned a lesson in the costs of "civil disobedience". Now they have a criminal record, and in exchange for that, they accomplished......what? They "feel good " about their cause?

Mike

__________________
_____
1979 300 SD
350,000 miles
_____
1982 300D-gone---sold to a buddy
_____
1985 300TD
270,000 miles
_____
1994 E320
not my favorite, but the wife wanted it

www.myspace.com/mikemover
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If we protested the DNC or an abortion clinic and entered the building without permission would you forgive us?

And I don't mean blowing anything up either i don't support that crap I mean to illegally enter the DNC headquarters and protest misinformation.

...planning another watergate breakin?

Funny you brought that up, people went to jail didn't they? I'm just saying that there seems to be a double standard.

Yep, all of these memos and e-mails and such have been turning up lately, showing the true nature of the political motivations of the Democrats, as if we didn't already know, and they WILL NOT respond to the actual content of the memos...they just whine about how the memos were "stolen" or "leaked".

Typical.

Mike

__________________
_____
1979 300 SD
350,000 miles
_____
1982 300D-gone---sold to a buddy
_____
1985 300TD
270,000 miles
_____
1994 E320
not my favorite, but the wife wanted it

www.myspace.com/mikemover
www.myspace.com/openskystudio
www.myspace.com/speedxband
www.myspace.com/openskyseparators
www.myspace.com/doubledrivemusic

The 'plumbers' eventually got popped, and the good folks protesting injustice at Fort Benning get popped each year too.

I don't understand, where's the double standard? As far as I can tell, the folks protesting the SOA fully expect to be incarcerated when they undertake their mission.

BTW: If you want to do a bit of 'direct action' at the DNC, let me in on it. I can't stand that SOB Terry McAuliffe.

What're you referring to Mike? What memos and emails? I haven't listened to much news the last two days, so I'm outta the loop.