Hogtied and Abused at Fort Benning -(Disgusting) [View All]

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http://www.commondreams.org/views03/1127-01.htm


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Today I have a black eye and the soreness that comes with severe muscle strain.
Mostly, I’m burdened with a serious question, “What are these soldiers training
for?” The soldiers conducting that search must have been ordered not to tolerate
the slightest dissent. They were practicing intimidation tactics far beyond what
would be needed to control an avowedly nonviolent group of protesters who had
never, in thirteen years of previous actions, caused any disruption during the
process of arrest. Bewildered, most of us in the “tank” inside the Muskogee
County jail acknowledged that during the rough processing we wondered, “What
country do we live in?” We now live in a country where Homeland Security funds
pay for exercises which train military and police units to control and intimidate
crowds, detainees, and arrestees using threat and force.

This morning’s aches and pains, along with the memory of being hogtied, give me
a glimpse into the abuses we protest by coming to Fort Benning, GA. As we
explore the further invention of nonviolence in our increasingly volatile time, it’s
important that we jointly overcome efforts to deter our determination to stand
together against what Martin Luther King once called, “the violence of desperate
men,” -- and women.

Kathy Kelly is the founder of Voices in the Wilderness, a human rights group
based in Chicago that worked to lift the economic sanctions against Iraq. For
more information, contact [e-mail], call [phone], or visit
www.iraqpeaceteam.org or www.vitw.org.