Our NewsHawk writes: "The 4/29/98 letter below to the editor of 'Willamette
Week' should suffice to explain the relevance of the ensuing article from
the 3/18/98 issue of the same weekly newspaper."

U.S. SCHOOL IS A VITAL TOOL

I just read Patty Wentz's article on Christopher Jones and the U.S. Army
School of the Americas ["Student Deferral," March 25, 1998] and felt I
should respond. Your feature portrays Jones as a grassroots hero, which is
far from the truth. Mr. Jones violated federal law, was arrested, charged,
convicted and sentenced by the federal court. He was well within his right
as a citizen of the United States to voice his opinion, but not on federal
property. As for the U.S. Army School of the Americas, it is a vital tool
in the implementation of U.S. foreign policy and in meeting the U.S.
security objectives in the hemisphere. Additionally, the school is
responsible for providing counter-drug operations training, our primary
focus now, and a mission which is helping to impede the flow of narcotics
into our nation. The school is helping to make our streets safer for our
families and our friends. This training also includes mandatory human
rights instruction in each and every course--extremely important in
professionaling militaries around the world. In closing, I would like to
say that I had hoped that your article would have granted equal coverage to
both sides of the issue, but it sadly did not. As a former student of
journalism, and as a public relations practioner, I thought that a
middle-of-the-road approach was the norm, not the exception. I would like
to invite your staff to visit the school in the near future and see for
yourself the truth about this institution. I'm sure your readers would also
appreciate the fact that you would cover both sides of the issue.

Capt. Kevin McIver, Public Affairs Officer U.S. Army School of the Americas

Student Deferral (3/18/98)

Context:

The Web site for the School of the Americas Watch (www.soaw.org) offers a
critical look at the institution, including history, report summaries and
National Public Radio reports.

The Army's take on the school can be found at: http://home.fia.net/~soa/ Be
warned: The home page plays "The Star-Spangled Banner" over and over and
over. There is no way to turn it off.

For an online forum about the School of the Americas, check out the home
page of the Columbus Ledger Enquirer at www.l-e-o.com/news/soaindex.htm

Student Deferral

* A local activist's grad school plans are put on hold after his protesting
of the "School of Assassins."

BY PATTY WENTZ pwentz@wweek.com

Christopher Jones is going to be late for school. The Portland native has
been accepted to the PhD program in anthropology at Tulane University. But
come September, Jones won't be in New Orleans. Instead, the 23-year-old
peace activist is going to be doing time at Sheridan Federal Correctional
Institute.

Last November, Jones was one of 2,000 people who gathered at Fort Benning
in Columbus, Georgia, to protest the relatively unknown School of the
Americas.

Photo: KEITH COLLIER http://www.wweek.com/assets/images/cjones.gif

[caption:]

Peace activist Christopher Jones says the SOA symbolizes the United States'
callousness and greed.

Started in Panama in 1946 to teach jungle-fighting tactics to American GIs,
the school now trains officers from Latin America. In 1984 it moved to Fort
Benning. Although all the students are foreign, the school is funded by the
Pentagon and costs American taxpayers $4 million a year.

Critics say the school has earned the nickname "School of the Assassins" in
Central America because its graduates have been linked to the torture and
execution of countless victims of military rule.

In 1989 the United Nations reported that six Jesuit priests killed in El
Salvador were murdered by SOA alums. More recently, U.S. Rep. Joseph
Kennedy has charged that SOA graduates are leading the Mexican government's
human-rights violations against the Chiapas Indians.

Since 1990, Father Roy Borgeouis has led protests against the school. After
last year's demonstration, 25 people, including Jones and Borgeouis, were
convicted of misdemeanor trespassing. They were sentenced to six months in
prison and given a $3,000 fine.

The sentences, which began last Monday, surprised protesters. "At the most
we thought we'd get one to two months," Jones says. "Two people even pled
no contest. But we all got the same sentence. The way the judge was
responding to the prosecutor, it made me feel as if something was worked
out ahead of time."

Presiding over Jones' trial was Georgia justice J. Robert Elliot, a
legendary civil-rights foe. In 1962, he banned Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
from his district. Twelve years later, he set aside the court-martial of
Lt. William Calley, convicted of premeditated murder in the infamous My Lai
Massacre. That decision was later overturned.

Jones says he was compelled to protest in Georgia because of his
experiences as an undergraduate in Belize, where he worked with refugees
from Guatemala and El Salvador.

"Everyone there has heard of the School of the Americas, and they know what
it stands for. In these countries, the security forces get totally out of
control." In Belize, Jones met a woman who had fled Guatemala after her
brother had been murdered by such soldiers. "It wasn't even a political
issue," Jones says. "They just basically robbed and killed him."

Jones' father, Dr. Stephen Jones, is chief of medicine for Good Samaritan
and Emanuel hospitals and a longtime member of Physicians for Social
Responsibility. Last Friday, the younger Jones spent one of his last free
evenings with the group and the Women's International League for Peace &
Freedom, telling them about the protest. "One out of 100 graduates of the
School of the Americas is linked to human-rights abuse," he said. "I want
it closed."

He isn't alone. Last year, Kennedy's bill to close the school narrowly
failed passage. Similar legislation is pending this year. U.S. Rep.
Elizabeth Furse, like the other Democrats in Oregon's congressional
delegation, supports Kennedy's measure. "The type of people being trained
there are the people who go back to countries that are dictatorships," she
says. Graduates of the school include Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega
and Roberto D'Abuisson, leader of the El Salvador death squad. Training
manuals recently released from the school describe torture and
interrogation techniques that fly in the face of the Geneva Convention.

Furse, founder of the Oregon Peace Institute, says last year's protests
could make the difference this session. "We came very close to shutting it
down last year," she says. "Civil disobedience is always so impressive.
This is the sort of thing that tweaks the attention [of Congress]."

If not, protesters plan to be back later this year. Jones will be released
in time to be there. He's going, he says, but he won't break any laws that
could land him back in jail.

"I'm committed to the program at Tulane," he says. "I want to get into a
position of influence so I can do something to really help, possibly in the
United Nations."

Some of Jones' local supporters are seeking a presidential pardon, but
Jones is prepared to do his time. His stepmother, Beth Jones, says, "We're
very proud of him. There aren't many people who have the courage of
convictions Christopher has."

Originally published: Willamette Week - March 18, 1998

Checked-by: Mike Gogulski