108 lines
4.3 KiB
Plaintext
108 lines
4.3 KiB
Plaintext
Hello again Mr. Wellstone, 02 Nov 1999
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A while back, part of your letter to me said,
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>I recognize that the Pentagon and others have argued that the SOA
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>plays an important role in the professionalization of Latin
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>American military leaders by providing training in human rights
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>and in the appropriate role of the military vis-a-vis civilian
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>governments in democratic societies. However, I believe the long
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>record of abuses perpetrated by many of the School's graduates
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>undermines the strength of those arguments.
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Could you give me some insight as to what exactly these people
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use to justify exporting what I can't really call anything except a
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police state mentality to these otherwise naive small countries?
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The reason I ask this is when my friend Brett asked Jimmy Carter
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personally
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if Amy and/or he would be willing to come to Benning last year to support
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the annual "peaceful assembly," all Mr. Carter was able to tell him was
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"there's just things you don't know about Mexico, Guatemala and
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Columbia."
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He pointed out that he believed if Brett knew these things (and he wasn't
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able to say what they were, claiming the usual national security stuff)
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Brett would
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feel very differently about School of the Americas' role in this
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hemisphere. They
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agreed to disagree, my friend Brett holding to his upbringing and
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beliefs that
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killing's wrong and etc.
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Mr. Wellstone, I have to take Brett's side on this and all but scold Mr.
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Carter;
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because I believe with all my heart there is nothing on this earth (I
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even
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explored the possibilities of all that other conspiracy theory junk about
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aliens,
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and masonic zombie cults, and etc) nothing, Mr. Wellstone, that would
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have
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me change how I feel about NON-VIOLENCE ABOVE EVERY ELSE.
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You don't train someone on the many different ways to rape a child in
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order
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to have stability back home. It's just not possible. Why am I scared that
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people like you and people like me are the only ones left thinking
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logically
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there?
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I know there's a lot that you and the Jimmy Carters of the world cannot
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just
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come right out and tell me, the highest security clearance I ever carried
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was
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secret and it's no longer valid since the day I was given a 10% medical
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discharge
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under honorable conditions, a tiny severence pay, a GI Bill that pays
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about 2/3
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my education, and NO MEDICAL COVERAGE save for a once a year walk-in
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at the local VA hospital of my choice.
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I would honor 5 or 6 secrets that I don't warrant knowing; the other half
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a billion
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documents that are for somebody elses' eyes only, I would call a huge
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tragedy
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and a disgrace to what we pretend to call a democracy.
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At any rate, short of telling me we truly are the poorest nation-state in
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the world,
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and it's myth and leveraged debt keeping us solvent,
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short of telling me Hitler's still alive and his grand children are
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taking orders
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from Henry Kissenger, short of telling me without SOA training rape and
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torture
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there are people about to kill my mother and my sister in Connecticut
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tomorrow,
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is there any insight you could share with me as to why they all feel safe
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to assume
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I really would want it there doing these horrendous things?
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I want to understand so I can offer some better alternative rather than
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simply
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demand it be shut down immediately. I think you'll follow me here.
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Electronic fences work on dogs, why can't they be used on troops?
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We truly don't need to manufacture a single new landmine in Janesville,
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WI
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or anywhere, Mr. Wellstone. I see how simply saying stop all landmines
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would endanger a GI somewhere. Without a brilliant interim idea like
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electronic fences, Princess Diana's nobel gesture is for naught.
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I understand that. I'm looking for a parallel idea for SOA.
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Got any ideas?
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Marc Frucht.
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e&p ati zine since 1988
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http://www.frucht.org
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ps: I don't know if you're up for re-election any time soon and
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all that, but there's expected to be 5-7,000 of us crossing the line
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this year, with supporters perhaps doubling that at the rallies.
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Dates are the weekend of Nov. 19th.
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People like you, people like Martin Sheen, Amy Ray from the Indigo
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Girls, Odetta, Sam Gejdenson - could sure help us get it closed down
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this year rather than next or the year after. I can feel from being there
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last year and the year before that it's inevitable. I just wish it were
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yesterday.
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