Abuse of Iraqi and Afghan Detainees Linked to U.S. Training in Torture at Army's School of the Americas
Interview with Kathy Kelly, founding member, Voices in the Wilderness conducted by Melinda Tuhus
In 1996, a group of Americans founded Voices in the Wilderness to respond to the U..N/U.S. sanctions imposed on Iraq in 1990. UNICEF, an arm of the United Nations, determined that by the mid-1990s, the sanctions had led to the death of half a million Iraqi children. The first Persian Gulf War had destroyed much of Iraq's infrastructure, and the sanctions prevented the country from rebuilding under Saddam Hussein.
Voices in the Wilderness opposed, first, economic sanctions, and then the U.S. war against the Iraqi people. The group has organized more than 70 delegations to Iraq in deliberate violation of U.N. economic sanctions and U.S. law. Volunteers have lived alongside ordinary Iraqis before and during the U.S. invasion and throughout the current U.S. occupation of Iraq. In defiance of the sanctions, the group publicly delivered modest amounts of medical supplies to children and families in need, for which the organization has been targeted by the government for a civil penalty of $20,000.
Kathy Kelly, a founding member of Voices in the Wilderness, committed civil disobedience last year at the School of the Americas' protest at Fort Benning, Ga. Opponents of the school, which trains Latin American military officers, have long demanded its closure, because many of those trained have committed atrocities against their own people. Kelly served three months in the women's federal prison in Pekin, Ill. earlier this year for committing civil disobedience at the Fort Benning protest. Between The Lines' Melinda Tuhus spoke with Kelly at this year's SOA protest on Nov. 20, where the activist talks about what she learned in prison and why opposing the School of the Americas complements her work against the U.S. military occupation of Iraq.
Contact Voices in the Wilderness by calling (773) 784-8065 or visit their website at www.vitw.org
LISTEN to this week's half-hour program of Between The Lines by clicking on one of the links below:
http://www.btlonline.org *
"Between The Lines" is a half-hour syndicated radio news magazine that each week features a summary of under-reported news stories and interviews with activists and journalists who offer progressive perspectives on international, national and regional political, economic and social issues. Because "Between The Lines" is independent of all publications, media networks or political parties, we are able to bring a diversity of voices to the airwaves generally ignored or marginalized by the major media. For more information on this week's topics and to check out our text archive listing topics and guests presented in previous programs visit:
http://www.btlonline.org *
"Between the Lines," WPKN 89.5 FM's weekly radio news magazine can be heard Tuesdays at 5:30 p.m. ET; Wednesdays at 8 a.m. ET and Saturdays at 2 p.m. ET (Wednesday's show airs at 7:30 a.m. ET during fundraising months of April and October).
*
For an email subscription of "Between The Lines Weekly Summary" which features a RealAudio link to the week's program for Between The Lines, send an email to
btlsummary-subscribe@lists.riseup.net *
For an email subscription of "Between The Lines Q&A" which features a RealAudio link and weekly transcript to one of the interviews featured on Between The Lines, send an email to
btlqa-subscribe@lists.riseup.net *
betweenthelines@snet.net *
http://www.squeakywheel.net/ *
Distributed by Squeaky Wheel Productions, Inc.
(c)2004 Squeaky Wheel Productions, Inc. All Rights Reserved.