School of the Americas Watch – West

Thank you for visiting the SOA Watch – West Website. Please Bookmark this page (Ctl–D) and visit it frequently as it is being constantly updated with articles, meeting information, etc. Keep informed!

Another thing. MEA CULPA. I disliked our former hosting service so much that, on transfering all but the initial page to my own 'site, I so completely put it out of my mind that I forgot that E-mail was still going there! To deal with that, I have set up a new section called E-mail That Fell Throught the Cracks Please check these out as there are some important haps out there, & click on: ETFTC. And forgive me my sin of omission. –Daniel

"What's New", bringing to your attention new postings, special action alerts, and information that may not fit into an existing section.
          Where a new meeting, article, or link is posted, I'll just provide you with a cilckable link to take you to where it is.
          Thanks again for visiting our Website!
What's New:

Subject: Congressional Action Needed on "New SOA"
Date:     Fri, 12 May 2000 11:47:52 EDT

Item #1 needs your IMMEDIATE action. Check through the rest of the items as time allows.
==========================================

          (1) CONGRESSIONAL ACTION ALERT for May 15-23 (Monday through following Tuesday)
          (2) Detailed Critique of the Dept. of Defense Proposal
          (3) Columbus (GA) News Article: An Overview of new Proposal Process
          (4) Thursday, JUNE 1: Next SOAWW MEETING in SAN FRANCISCO
          (5) Strategy Discussion from San Francisco Meeting of May 4
          (6) SOA Protesters and Convicts

To read the full message, please click on: Urgent Action

Subject: SOAWW Alert: Updated Timeline and Message
Date: Fri, 12 May 2000 12:59:25 EDT

PLEASE CALL YOUR REPRESENTATIVE AND BOTH SENATORS NOW THROUGH WEDNESDAY, May 17.

Call early! Call often! Get others to call!

Capitol Switchboard: 202/224-3121

MESSAGE:
---CLOSE THE SOA and DO NOT REOPEN IT UNDER ANY NAME.
---SUPPORT THE MOAKLEY AMENDMENT to the Defense Authorization Bill.

Latest name proposed for "New SOA" is "Defense Institute for Hemispheric Security Cooperation."

Subject: Kidnapped! – the latest news from Vieques
Date:     9 May, 2000
From:     Camp Peace and Justice for Vieques
          In front of the gate to Camp García, Vieques

Roberto writes:
"Warm greetings from this island beseiged, a people of great dignity and a spirit of struggle and sacrifice. Five days after the kidnapping-arrests of hundreds of Viequenses, Puerto Ricans and other members of the civil disobedience camps, our struggle begins a new phase, with new strategies in the context of non violent civil disobedience."

To read the full message, please click on: Kidnapped!

Subject: SOA - another new idea for a name
Date: Tue, 9 May 2000 02:07:34 EDT

Please goto the Articles section.

Subject: ACTION ALERT: Support H. R. 4357 East Timor Repatriation and Security Act of 2000
Date: Sun, 7 May 2000 11:19:51 EDT
From: Carolyn Scarr
Please see the Town Crier for information by clicking on the little guy below:

.

Subject: URGENT ACTION! OPPOSE MILITARY AID TO GUATEMALA, SENATE VOTE TUESDAY MAY 9
Date: Fri, 05 May 2000 17:41:13 -0700
From: NISGUA Dear Friends:

Next Tuesday, May 9, the Senate Foreign Operations Subcommittee of the Foreign Appropriations Committee will vote on a mark-up to military training for Guatemala. If it passes in the house and senate, this would mean that the U.S. would provide combat training to Guatemala's murderous military. WE CANNOT LET THIS HAPPEN! The priority between now and Tuesday is to contact the members of the subcommittee, especially if he or she is your senator. Please click on: ALERT for the details.

Subject: Vieques News from GBGM (United Methodist Board of Global Ministries)
Date: Thu, 4 May 2000 15:00:52 PDT
From: Rev. Dr. Nancy A. Carter I copied the original page (saves time, plus you get their links for additional information.) Just click on the sentence below to go the the article:
May 4, 2000 – Federal agents today arrested dozens of protesters opposed to the continuing presence of the US military on the Puerto Rican island of Vieques.

Subjects: PUERTO RICO ALERT: U.S. Marshals/FBI en route to Vieques
                Fwd: PUERTO RICO: CPT SENDS EMERGENCY
                       DELEGATION TO VIEQUES
                Vieques Alert Guideline - PLEASE FORWARD!
Date:     Tuesday, 2 May 2000 11:38 PDT
This is to advise of a couple of new entries to the newly revised Vieques Webpage. Posted are a great Guidelines page of Frequently Asked Questions regarding the ongoing action on Vieques. And latest is this posting forwarded by Esther Ho:

"Dear Friends: I am forwarding this message asking you to pray for the Christian Peacemaker Team that is going to Vieques to participate in the ongoing nonviolent protest of the Puerto Rican people against the bombing by the US military."

Please click on: Vieques Libre

Click on: 3 arrested at SOA.
Date: Sun, 30 Apr 2000 16:55:35 EDT

For Immediate Release –

To commemorate the 2nd anniversary of Roman Catholic Bishop Juan Gerardi's assassination by a soldier trained at the U.S. Army's School of the Americas (SOA) in Ft. Benning GA. three activists from the St. Francis Catholic Worker Community in Columbia, Missouri, re-created the bishops murder at the entrance to the SOA training building.

Click on the subject line above to read all about it.

Subject: OP-ED on the IMF/World Bank & Bolivia
Date: Fri, 28 Apr 2000 14:33:31 EDT
From: Ed Kinane

Here's another Op-ed piece from Ed Kinane, forwarded by Mary Manuel, on the IMF/SOA, etc.

"In mid-April all eyes were on Washington, DC. Thousands had converged on DC to blockade the April 16/17 semi-annual meetings of the IMF/World Bank. ... Among [the demonstrators] was the CNY/SOA Watch affinity group made up of about 20 folks from Ithaca and Syracuse."

Check this out. Click on: Ed Kinane's Op-ed Piece

Subject: NY Times Article on Columbia
Date:      Fri, 21 Apr 00 12:19:17 -0700
From:      Mary Manuel
Since many of you are not at work today, I hope this email finds you well and that you have a wonderful Easter weekend with family and friends. I just finished reading an in depth article on the "Columbian Drug War". After presenting the many complicated and often conflicting issues involved, I was very upset to see that no connection was made linking human rights abuses to soldiers trained at the SOA. In my opinion, it's a glaring omission!

If you get a chance go online and check it out. Maybe some of us will be compelled to write a letter to the editor or alert our congress people. Anyway, I just wanted to call your attention to the article. You can [access it from] the front page of the Friday April 21st edition of the New York Times by clicking on: Columbian Drug War.

Take care and God Bless,
            Mary Manuel

Subject: Three Pieces on D.C.
Date: Thursday, 20 April 2000
These E-mails from Beth Lerman demand their own page. I'm sorry they're a week back, but you'll want to check them out by clicking on: 3 on D.C.

Subject: CNN.com reports on SOAW White House Rally
Date: Wed, 5 Apr 2000 01:08:49 EDT
Page contains links to related stories, including one from November 22, 1998. Excerpt (with photo):

Actor Martin Sheen was among those who addressed the protesters, many of whom carried white crosses they said represented victims of some of the school's almost 60,000 graduates.

"We honor our Army, we respect their mission, but this is not part of that mission. This is an embarrassment to the Army," Sheen said.

Methinks I must re-organize this whole Website. I've run out of space for the "What's New" postings, so I've created an Archive. If you missed anything here, or want to revisit any of these postings, or are knew and want to check us out, just click on the following to go to the: "What's New" Archive.

What is the U.S. Army School of the Americas?

The U.S. Army School of the Americas (SOA) at Ft. Benning, Georgia, has trained 60,000 Latin American soldiers. Over its 50-year history, the SOA has truly earned its nickname, "School of Assassins." Graduates of the SOA have committed atrocity after atrocity, including massacres of entire communities, assassinations, rapes, torture and "disappearances."

And just who is SOA Watch's founder & fearless leader?

[Fr. Roy Bourgeois: He's a link to SOAW National.
A click on his mug will take you there!]

Meetings and Activities

All San Francisco meetings are held on Thursdays from 7:00 to 8:30 @ the Unitarian Universalist Center (1st U.U. Church), Franklin at the corner of Geary. (These times refer to San Francisco meetings.)

Local Meetings:
SAN FRANCISCO – SOAW-W meets Thursday, May 4 from 7:00 to 8:30 P.M. Unitarian Universalist Center, Franklin at the Corner of Geary.

MEETING AGENDA
          1. Introductions
          2. Reports on Activities
                    A. Romero celebrations in El Salvador and San Francisco
                    B. Washington DC Rally and Lobbying
                    C. Close Down the SOA - FAST
          3. June 8, Sentencing Date for SOA 10 (including Charlie Liteky)
          4. Discussion
                    A. Department of Defense Proposal to close the SOA and open the
                        "Military Institute for Security Cooperation in the Americas"
                    B. Proposals for summer activities
          5. Closing Circle

We would appreciate hearing from you if you cannot come.
          Laetitia Bordes
          Karen Klingel
          Judy Liteky
          Dolores Priem
          John Savard, SJ

For Contra Costa meetings, contact Natalie Russell

SAN JOSE–Contact: Larry Lauro

Nine Nov. 99 PROTESTORS FACED JUDGE on Friday, March 10.
(Charlie Liteky does not have a trial date yet.)
Check Webs sites for outcome. (National: www.soaw.org)

This from Judy (2/15/00):

          "Charlie tells me that arrangements have been made for two [college] debates. I don't know the places or dates.
          [The first is between] Col. Weidner, Commandant of the SOA and Jack Nelson Pallmeyer, author of the book School of Assassins; [the second, between] Col. Wiedner and Fr. Roy.
          Apparently the Colonel agreed to participate when asked by the colleges."

                    –Judy

WINTER/SPRING 2000 SOAW Newsletter
          Did you receive yours?
          If not, then send your name and address to:
          SOA Watch, P.O. 4566, Washington, DC 20017-0566

          Or use the Web: soaw.org
          and click on "Current Information".

(An aside: Following the flurry of activities last November, I just couldn't resist posting a photo, courtesy of the National Catholic Reporter Online, of my friend, Fr. Bill O'Donnell of St. Joseph the Worker Catholic Church in Berkeley (where I am a cantor–no dummies, they; when the Catholics want a good cantor they hire a Jew.) with his good buddy, actor, Martin Sheen, doing their inimitable thing at Ft. Benning, Georgia.

Bravo!

Activities of SOAWW:

Speakers Group
Legislative Group
Media Group
Communications Group
Fundraising Group

Legislative Information

Northern California Goal: Lobby Representatives from 14 Northern California Congressional Districts to co-sponsor and support H.R.732.

District Representative & Party Affiliation This Year 7/30/99 Moakley Amendment to cut training funds Comments

1 Mike Thompson (D) voted "YES" Member of House Armed Services Committee

3 Doug Ose (R) voted "NO"

5 Robert Matsui (D) Co-sponsor 05/05/99 voted "YES"

6 Lynn Woolsey (D) Co-sponsor 02/23/99 voted "YES"

7 George Miller (D) Co-sponsor 02/11/99 voted "YES"

8 Nancy Pelosi (D) Co-sponsor 02/11/99 voted "YES"

9 Barbara Lee (D) Co-sponsor 05/05/99 voted "YES"

10 Ellen Tauscher (D) Co-sponsor 06/30/99 voted "YES" Member of House Armed Services Committees

12 Tom Lantos (D) Co-sponsor 06/17/99 voted "YES"

13 Pete Stark (D) Co-sponsor 02/24/99 voted "YES"

14 Anna Eshoo (D) Co-sponsor 02/23/99 voted "YES"

15 Tom Campbell (R) Co-sponsor 02/11/99 voted "YES"

16 Zoe Lofgren (D) Co-sponsor 03/03/99 voted "YES"

17 Sam Farr (D) Co-sponsor 05/05/99 voted "YES"

Contact Persons

[E-mail addresses are being added as I receive permission.]

Contra Costa County Natalie Russell

East Bay TBA

Hollister TBA

Marin County Karen Klingel

Mendocino County Jerry Cox

Peninsula Laetitia Bordes

Sacramento TBA

San Francisco Judy Liteky and Dolores Perez Priem

San Jose Larry Lauro (408) 294-9224 ex. 207

San Luis Obispo TBA

Santa Cruz TBA

Santa Rosa Alice Waco

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Miscellany

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District	Representative & Party Affiliation	This Year	7/30/99 Moakley Amendment to cut training funds	Comments
1	Mike Thompson (D)		voted "YES"	Member of House Armed Services Committee
3	Doug Ose (R)		voted "NO"
5	Robert Matsui (D)	Co-sponsor 05/05/99	voted "YES"
6	Lynn Woolsey (D)	Co-sponsor 02/23/99	voted "YES"
7	George Miller (D)	Co-sponsor 02/11/99	voted "YES"
8	Nancy Pelosi (D)	Co-sponsor 02/11/99	voted "YES"
9	Barbara Lee (D)	Co-sponsor 05/05/99	voted "YES"
10	Ellen Tauscher (D)	Co-sponsor 06/30/99	voted "YES"	Member of House Armed Services Committees
12	Tom Lantos (D)	Co-sponsor 06/17/99	voted "YES"
13	Pete Stark (D)	Co-sponsor 02/24/99	voted "YES"
14	Anna Eshoo (D)	Co-sponsor 02/23/99	voted "YES"
15	Tom Campbell (R)	Co-sponsor 02/11/99	voted "YES"
16	Zoe Lofgren (D)	Co-sponsor 03/03/99	voted "YES"
17	Sam Farr (D)	Co-sponsor 05/05/99	voted "YES"

Contra Costa County	Natalie Russell
East Bay	TBA
Hollister	TBA
Marin County	Karen Klingel
Mendocino County	Jerry Cox
Peninsula	Laetitia Bordes
Sacramento	TBA
San Francisco	Judy Liteky and Dolores Perez Priem
San Jose	Larry Lauro (408) 294-9224 ex. 207
San Luis Obispo	TBA
Santa Cruz	TBA
Santa Rosa	Alice Waco