After the Election: a Preview

Glenn Greenwald at Salon.com has succinctly made the point about the pending Obama victory, saving me the trouble of writing it out in my own strained syntax:

It certainly seems, by all appearances, that Barack Obama and Joe Biden will win on Tuesday (though anything can happen, don't assume anything, etc. etc.). For reasons I've explained many times before, I consider that to be a good and important outcome (principally due to the need to excise the Right from power for as long as possible). But the virtually complete absence from the presidential campaign of any issues pertaining to the executive power abuses of the last eight years -- illegal eavesdropping, torture, rendition, due-process-less detentions, the abolition of habeas corpus, extreme and unprecedented secrecy, general executive lawlessness -- reflects how much further work and effort will be required to make progress on these issues no matter what happens on Tuesday.

It doesn't help that Obama has already voted with the national security fetishists on FISA expanded wiretapping.

On the other hand, Barack Obama came out publicly and strongly against the 2006 Military Commissions Act (which McCain supported). The MCA established the unfair military commissions that allowed evidence obtained by torture, upheld indefinite detention of prisoners, and in general gave a green light to U.S. torture. Yes, Obama spoke out against the MCA, but consider his reasoning:

But politics won today. Politics won. The Administration got its vote, and now it will have its victory lap, and now they will be able to go out on the campaign trail and tell the American people that they were the ones who were tough on the terrorists.

* And yet, we have a bill that gives the terrorist mastermind of 9/11 his day in court, but not the innocent people we may have accidentally rounded up and mistaken for terrorists - people who may stay in prison for the rest of their lives....

* And yet, we have Al Qaeda and the Taliban regrouping in Afghanistan while we look the other way. We have a war in Iraq that our own government's intelligence says is serving as Al Qaeda's best recruitment tool. And we have recommendations from the bipartisan 9/11 commission that we still refuse to implement five years after the fact.

The problem with this bill is not that it's too tough on terrorists. The problem with this bill is that it's sloppy.

Note Obama's insistence on being even rougher or smarter with the "terrorists" than Bush. He's repeated this numerous times during the election. He has to know that the Global War on Terror, like its antecedent and policy cousin, the War on Drugs, is a cover for imperialistic control and covert operations by the U.S., including intervention in the sovereign affairs of other states, often engaging in terrorist actions of our own (assassinations, sabotage, etc.). (Liliana Segura made much the same points in her more extended, and interesting article on "Obama and Torture" last February.)

I don't think I've heard one word in this election about reining in the CIA's use of torture, or about extraordinary rendition. When Obama was asked during the campaign if he would support the prosecution of Bush administration figures for crimes such as torture, he famously replied:

"If crimes have been committed, they should be investigated," he said. But he quickly added, "I would not want my first term consumed by what was perceived on the part of the Republicans as a partisan witch hunt, because I think we've got too many problems to solve."

The economic crisis has polished Obama's liberal credentials, mainly through the popularity of the tax-the-rich, and make jobs/build infrastructure program proposed by the Democratic candidate. But in so many ways, thus far Obama promises little will change in U.S. military policy. Bush's swagger and bellicosity may soon be gone -- and thank god for that! -- but the logic of events will continue to bring U.S. "interests" into conflict with those of other countries, especially economic interests. At such times, the political elite is fond of reminding us of Clausewitz's dictum that "War is a continuation of politics (Politik) by other means."

Perhaps the unfolding of the coming crises in Central and South Asia, Africa, and South America will push the American president to the left. But I wouldn't count on it. Perhaps it will be the political genius of Barack Obama that he can put off the day of reckoning, in which the thrust of U.S. influence to be supreme around the globe will meet its catastrophic confrontation. Again, though, I think not. Here's Obama's own take on projecting national security interests abroad, highlighting the need to

create a more robust capacity to train, equip, and advise foreign security forces, so that local allies are better prepared to confront mutual threats.

The U.S. has actually been doing that for years. The program is called "School of the Americas," and is based in Fort Benning, Georgia. I don't hear anyone talking about shutting it down, not even "socialist" Obama.

SOA/ WHINSEC [Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, the "new" name for SOA, since 2001] graduates have included some of the worst and most notorious human rights abusers in Latin American history, and for much of the world, the school, under any name, is synonymous with torture and impunity. SOA graduates have led military coups and are responsible for massacres of hundreds of people. Among the SOA's more than 60,000 alumni are notorious dictators Manuel Noriega and Omar Torrijos of Panama, Leopoldo Galtieri and Roberto Viola of Argentina, Juan Velasco Alvarado of Peru, Guillermo Rodriguez of Ecuador and Hugo Banzar Suarez of Bolivia. SOA graduates were responsible for the Uraba massacre in Colombia, the El Mozote massacre of 900 civilians in El Salvador, the assassination of Archbishop Oscar Romero and the massacre of 14-year-old Celina Ramos, her mother Elba Ramos and six Jesuit priests in El Salvador and hundreds of other human rights abuses. Closing the school would send a strong human rights message to Latin America and the world.

It will be an important moment in U.S. history for an African-American to be elected president. But after all the celebrations die down, the same old issues will be there. The political awakening of the U.S. population has barely begun. The forms of struggle against the entrenched power of the national security state and the military-industrial-technological complex that supports it have yet to be worked out.

However you look at it, the defeat of Bush acolyte McCain, and his right-wing populist-cum-demagogue Alaskan running mate, will be a good thing. But much struggle lies ahead, and the election of Obama does not necessarily portend a major change in U.S. foreign or military policy. A President Obama will get his honeymoon, but what comes after remains to be seen.

Priests Sentenced in Fort Huachuca Torture Protest Case

On October 17, Louis Vitale and Stephen Kelly, two priests arrested for trespassing as they sought to deliver a letter protesting U.S. violations of the Geneva Convention in relation to torture, were sentenced to five months in prison. Fr. Vitale is 75 years old.

On November 19, 2006, Vitale and Kelly had tried to give their protest letter to Major General Barbara Fast, then-commandant of Fort Huachuca Army Base, and previously intelligence chief for the U.S. command in Baghdad during the period the worst abuses took place at Abu Ghraib. Fort Huachuca itself is the site for the U.S. Army Intelligence Center and School. It is alleged that torture techniques are taught at the school. See my article "Torture on Trial in Arizona Desert" for more on the trial and on Ft. Huachuca. Most notable was the judge's refusal in the case to allow any evidence about U.S. use of torture or "the morality or immorality of the government’s use of interrogation techniques..."

According to an article in the Arizona Daily Star:

U.S. Magistrate Héctor C. Estrada said he was reluctantly sending the priests to prison. He said he would have preferred that they do community-service work and remain under court supervision while living in their communities.

But Vitale and Kelly had previously said they would not comply with any kind of court supervision because it would mean giving up their social-justice work.

Additionally, one of the conditions of probation was that Vitale and Kelly not associate with non-violent protest groups, such as School of the Americas Watch. Meanwhile, SOA has published the two priests statement made upon sentencing, reproduced here in full (emphases added):

The real crime here has always been the teaching of torture at Fort Huachuca and the practice of torture around the world. We sought to deliver a letter asking that the teaching of torture be stopped and were arrested. We tried to put the evidence of torture on full and honest display in the courthouse and were denied. We were prepared to put on evidence about the widespread use of torture and human rights abuses committed during interrogations at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo in Iraq and Afghanistan. This evidence was gathered by the military itself and by governmental and human rights investigations. Because the court will not allow the truth of torture to be a part of our trial, we plead no contest. We are uninterested in a court hearing limited to who was walking where and how many steps it was to the gate. History will judge whether silencing the facts of torture is just or not. Far too many people have died because of our national silence about torture. Far too many of our young people in the military have been permanently damaged after following orders to torture and violate the human rights of other humans. We will keep trying to stop the teaching and practice of torture whether we are sent to jail or out. We have done our part. Now it is up to every woman and man of conscience to do their part to stop the injustice of torture.

One can only deeply admire and appreciate the courage of these two men and their supporters. It is one thing to hold up signs protesting the war in Iraq in relatively safe and liberal San Francisco or Chicago or Boston, it is another to put yourself on the line in bastions of militarism and support for Bush's "war on terror" such as the bleak cacti-strewn sands of the Arizona desert.

The monks in Burma got a lot of press coverage in this country for standing up to the military dictatorship of that benighted land. But in this country, the names Louis Vitale and Stephen Kelly are barely known. The mainstream press will not lionize their courage or publicize their cause. As you go through your day, think of these men standing up for their beliefs, who will not be silent, sitting in prison in America, and if you get a chance, send some support their way. Then think. Think hard. How will I help change things in this country?

Write a note of support to Fr. Kelly and Fr. Vitale. They were taken to a privately run detention center in Florence, Arizona the day of their sentencing. Since it is not currently known where or when they may be transferred, please send individually addressed letters to them c/o The Nuclear Resister, PO Box 43383, Tucson, AZ 85733 and they will be forwarded.

Fr. Kelly and Fr. Vitale ask that every woman and man of conscience do all that they can to protest the injustice of torture and to end U.S. policy that sanctions torture. They encourage people to participate in the protests at Ft. Benning, Georgia and Ft. Huachuca, Arizona on November 17 and 18, or consider having a protest in your community. For more information, visit School of the Americas Watch (protest at Ft. Benning) and Southwest Weekend of Witness (protest at Ft. Huachuca)

Their commissary needs are taken care of but contributions for prison support expenses are welcome. Checks can be made payable to the Nuclear Resister (please put Torture on Trial on the memo line) and mailed to the Nuclear Resister, PO Box 43383, Tucson, AZ 85733. Contributions can also be made online at [their] secure Donations page.

UPDATE: After writing this up, I saw that Jill over at Never In Our Names wrote an excellent piece on the situation, back on October 20. From her diary:

Fort Huachuca has a long history of complicity in U.S. crimes of torture. Here is a brief summary. It was the life and death of a young soldier from Flagstaff, Arizona, that gave them the inspiration and now, the fortitude.

Alyssa Peterson, 27, was a Mormon missionary who wanted to do something good with her life. She was good at languages and thought by joining the military, she could serve humanity. She was trained as an interrogator at Fort Huachuca and sent to northern Iraq. She was assigned as an interrogator to a US air base in Tal Afar.

"After twice in the cages, she became suicidal," Vitale said. "She did end up committing suicide."

Peterson's suicide on Sept. 15, 2003, was not revealed by the military. It was exposed by news reporters using the freedom of information act. This was before the torture atrocities of Abu Ghraib were exposed.