Cliff
Frasier's statement to the court:
First, an introductory comment offered by Marilyn White:
Please take the time to read Cliff's statement. It is
fantastic. Of all the defendants, he was the one who really was able to
put WHISC [short - fortunately! - for
Western Hemisphere Institute for Security
Cooperation) itself on trial. The army lawyer
assisting the prosecution was very upset when Cliff suggested that WHISC
comment on the appropriateness of light sentences as an example to the
Latin American students attending the SOA of the best way to handle
nonviolent civil disobedience. Cliff also provoked the most outrageous
comment from the judge, who compared our nonviolent witness with a bank
robbery where no actual weapons had been used. Once again I was insulted
by his equating our commitment to nonviolence with the kind of coercion
and threats of violence that are used in bank robberies. Even our
attorney, Bill Quigley, felt he had to challenge the judge on this
comparison.
Trial Statement before Judge
G. Mallon Faircloth
January 28, 2003
Federal Courthouse, Columbus, GA
Rev. Cliff Frasier
Your Honor, thank you for this chance to
make a statement to you and to this court.
I was ordained as a United Church of Christ
minister in 1997, at The Riverside Church in New York City. Currently I
serve 14 Presbyterian churches in New York City as their Director and
Minister of Outreach and Inclusion for lesbian, gay, bisexual and
transgender persons.
Your Honor, I have stipulated to the fact
of crossing onto Ft. Benning last November 17, and I believe my non-violent
act was not criminal in nature, and not to the degree worthy of
incarceration or other penalty.
Compelled by my conscience, as well as by
religious laws and international laws, under which we all stand, and
consistent with WHINSEC's [another version of Western Hemisphere Institute
for Security Cooperation] new mission statement which says its purpose is to
"promote . . . . knowledge and understanding of United States customs and
traditions" - with the understanding that non-violent civil disobedience is
a cherished and time-honored United States tradition, and so wishing to
embody this part of the school's mission statement - I chose to walk to the
steps of the Western Institute for Security Cooperation, "WHINSEC", in order
to memorialize the thousands of civilians killed by soldiers who learn
arts-of-war on that site.
I respect that it is your sworn duty, your
Honor, to uphold U.S. law, which includes the class-B federal misdemeanor of
trespass. However, my walking onto Ft. Benning was my best attempt to be a
responsible citizen in troubling times. I was in New York City on the day of
the terrorist attacks, and I witnessed its chaos and destruction, and I want
our country and world to be safe from such horrible violence. I am troubled,
your Honor, by knowing that my country and yours is the only nation in the
world found-guilty by the World Court for international terrorism. In 1986
the United States was ordered to pay reparations for unlawful use of
force in Latin America - reparations we still have not paid.
Human Rights Watch has just issued a report
that says "Washington has waged war on terrorism as if human rights were not
a constraint" and warns that international support for our anti-terrorism
campaign is weakening because of U.S. human rights violations [NYT Jan
15, 2003]. My intent was and is to do everything within the American
tradition to improve the human rights record of the United States, including
voting, writing to my legislators, and, when necessary, participating in the
highly regarded American tradition of non-violent civil disobedience.
Your honor, WHINSEC is a combat training
school which instructs foreign military personnel in the use of lethal force
and then releases these personnel to the command of foreign armies. WHINSEC
trains soldiers who do not remain under American command. Even when Latin
American armies are connected to human rights abuses of the poor, even then
WHINSEC continues training these personnel. Even when the human rights
abuses against civilians by these armies are well documented, as they are
currently in Columbia, even then WHINSEC continues this policy of
training-and-releasing foreign soldiers with no reliable way to track them
or hold them accountable in courts of law.
We tax-payers support an institution that
leads to human rights violations overseas.
Your Honor, I know WHINSEC claims, by
pointing to its mission-statement and to some of its courses, that its
purpose is to promote human rights. But if WHINSEC is actually a
human-rights school, why are most of its courses in methods for the
deployment of lethal force? If WHINSEC is actually a human-rights school,
why does WHINSEC receive no recognition for being such by other human rights
organizations, and why aren't there human rights groups rushing to WHINSEC's
defense? If WHINSEC is a human rights school, why does WHINSEC approve (and
here I assume its administration does approve, at least tacitly . . . . ) of
giving maximum penalties and prison sentences to peaceful, non-violent
citizens who wish to hold a funeral service for the thousands who have been
killed or tortured at the hands of persons who trained at that site? Would a
human rights school support maximum prison sentences for class-B
misdemeanors of non-violent trespassing? Would
not a human rights school
call for minimum sentences
or no sentences?
Your Honor, I know you consider WHINSEC to
be an improvement over its predecessor school, the School of the Americas,
located on the same site. I agree with you, your honor, that WHINSEC has a
better curriculum than the SOA. But if WHINSEC is now a human rights school,
why has Amnesty International just recommended that WHINSEC be shut down
while being investigated? If WHINSEC is a human rights school, why has
WHINSEC not called for a full-scale investigation of its predecessor school,
the SOA? Given the seriousness of the charges and well-documented
connections between SOA graduates and human rights atrocities in Latin
America, would not a credible human rights school at least embrace the idea
of an investigation? Given the seriousness of the charges against its
predecessor school, would not WHINSEC call for supervision entirely under
the authority and guidance of Congress, rather than the Department of
Defense?
Your Honor, it appears as if WHINSEC is not
a human rights school. It appears as if WHINSEC is a combat school for Latin
American soldiers who are then released to serve under the command of
foreign armies. It appears as if WHINSEC is determined to continue this
policy and so it seems as if WHINSEC is doomed to foster the same cycles of
violence that have been well-connected to the graduates of the SOA.
My prayer is that, because of the
non-violent actions of my sisters and brothers, in which I join, and the
actions of those in the past and in years to come, that WHINSEC will become
a human rights school. My prayer is that when it does it will act like a
human rights school by investigating its predecessor school and embracing
complete congressional oversight. My prayer is that, the chain-of-non-violence
that processes every year onto Ft. Benning will inspire WHINSEC to become a
human rights school, and that doing so will create greater security for
ourselves, our children and grandchildren.
When WHINSEC finally makes the transition
to becoming a human rights school, one clue, one sign, will be when it stops
giving its tacit support to maximum prison sentences on non-violent persons
for misdemeanors of trespass. Your honor, you could help make the case that
WHINSEC has become a human rights school by dismissing all of the cases
before you this week, or by giving token sentences that reflect the token
nature of the action. WHINSEC could then issue a public statement affirming
your leniency which, I believe, more than anything, would send a message and
establish its credentials as a human rights school.
Your honor, the denomination in which I now
serve, the Presbyterian Church, voted in 1994 to call for an end to U.S.
military training of Latin American military personnel. I am responding to
that call, and ask that you and others join with me.
Thank you, your Honor.
