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A father supports his daughter

To the editor:
I am the father of Anika Walz. First, I want to thank all those who have shown Anika support and understanding. Second, I want to clarify and educate the public about the courageous action she took at the annual protest of the Western Hemisphere Institute on Security Cooperation (WHISC). Ms. McNamara is correct that an action of civil disobedience should not be met with an arrest or at least not with a court appearance and prison. For the record, Anika was one of almost 10,000 persons participating at the protest, 400 from Minnesota. She was there as part of a college-sponsored activity to draw attention to the Institute, paid for at the expense of taxpayers. This Institute trains soldiers from Latin America. Among its graduates are the former president of Panama and drug dealer Manuel Noriega, soldiers from El Salvador that murdered and raped priests and nuns, and soldiers that killed more than 10,000 Argentines by dropping them out of airplanes. In other words, taxpayers are training military from countries that do not practice human rights, but commit terrorism on their own civilians. Now I realize that not all graduates of this institute become terrorists, but I do recognize that their graduates have killed over 200,000 civilians. Even congress recognizes this evil and two years ago came within two votes of closing it down permanently. Actually, they did close it (the School of the Americas) down, but it was reopened it as the Western Hemisphere Institute on Security Cooperation, unchanged except for the name. Before my daughter left for the protest, I cautioned her about getting arrested. It was not her intent to get arrested until she saw and heard about the travesties committed by WHISC graduates. She felt the pain of the victims and decided to do what she could to draw public attention to WHISC, even if that meant jail, fines and major discomfort. She is willing to accept those punishments if it will help to close WHISC. She is not protesting our military or efforts to end terrorism against us, only the terrorism we help through WHISC. I truly respect the rights of those who hold a different opinion about WHISC. Where I draw the line is with southern justice. The protest was peaceful, non-violent and legal. Even the commander of Ft. Benning described it as American democracy at its finest. Anika, a 19-year-old college sophomore, intentionally and with full understanding of the potential consequences was arrested for her first time offense by the simple act of walking around a fence and stepping foot on the federal land at which time she turned around, was handcuffed, arrested and hauled off to jail for two days before she was arraigned. Total cooperation and respect was shown to the soldiers who arrested her. The judge set bail at $5,000 for all 85 defendants without regard to circumstance -including elderly nuns, penniless students and Vietnam veterans.

Father supports
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He then indicated that he would sentence first time offenders to 3 to 6 months prison time and to further punish them, he set their trials to the end of January, when all the college students would be back in college, rather than in June after the students that were among the arrested had finished their term. If it happened in Minnesota, according to a Minnesota federal judge, they would book those committing civil disobedience, hold them for a couple of hours and then release them - trial and prison would be too costly for a group unlikely to do it again. For second time offenders bail, jail time and fines might be order, but unlikely federal prison. In Georgia, Magistrate G. M. Faircloth has chosen to throw the book at first time offenders in order to stifle civil disobedience. Now think about all the real crimes committed in our nation where the offender gets probation and community service. How can anyone not see the injustice here? Yes there should be a punishment, but does walking around a fence and stepping on federal land to draw attention to government-sponsored terrorism deserve prison? My daughter is willing to go to prison, to accept the consequences of her actions, because it is small in comparison to the women that were raped and murdered at the hands of WHISC graduates. We as Americans should neither accept paying for WHISC nor a system of justice that punishes peaceful and non-violent civil disobedience, a petty misdemeanor, with high bail, jail, prison and large fines for first time offenders, while giving multi-DUI offenders and serious criminals probation and community service work. It is the Christmas holidays, a season of peace. In that spirit let us show compassion for those willing to standup against injustice, especially when they have a huge sacrifice to make. Rather than criticize their actions, in that same spirit, let us take the time to learn about the School of Americas (aka School of Assassins or WHISC). If you have access to the Internet, visit www.soaw.org, read the congressional record about SOA/ WHISC, learn the stories of the victims, or, as we have done, visit them and learn first hand. I am proud of Anika, as we all should be, just as we are proud of those who participated in civil disobedience throughout our history, from the Boston Tea Party, to women s right to vote, to worker rights to organize, to civil rights and ending the War in Vietnam. Do we not tarnish ourselves when we imprison 19-year-old college students, ordained ministers, nuns, and veterans for protesting a taxpayer funded training program that has produced some of the worse atrocities in this hemisphere? I am outraged at southern justice that destroys the freedom that some of us have fought in wars to protect.
Robert G. Walz
North Branch

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