Gary Lillie

Wed, Dec 15, 2010 : 11 a.m.

To Jen-Chapin-Smith; with all due respect I can imagine the emotions that come over someone when they believe that their country is doing evil things; especially believing they teach torture at WHINSEC. And then Edward Vielmetti, a staff member of Ann Arbor.com puts up a web site that counters the rebuttal from the PR Army officer. There is an old saying: You lie and I'll swear to it. Having done a great deal of research on WHINSEC and SOAW, it is my belief that the saying fits in this case. Just a few of the things I learned when I organized a debate between SOAW and WHINSEC representatives included: SOAW claims that "graduates" of the old SOA and WHINSEC are taught torture. First, there is no such thing as a graduate; students take one or more classes that include, among other things, communication, organization with an emphasis on security; and yes - they receive weapons training. The students consist of members of the military, police and politicians from Central and South America. SOAW claims there is a book on torture written by a former officer once stationed at WHINSEC. When an officer is passed over twice for promotion he is forced to resign. That's why he is a "former" officer. Disgruntled? Only he can say but the book he describes is included in the five "documentaries" I checked out from the Interfaith Council for Peace & Justice in Ann Arbor. I was shocked when I saw the first documentary. While there was no proof of the claims the scenes of several murders and massacres were shocking. After watching the other four, my recollection is I found the documentaries were financed by left-wingers and Hollywood types such as Susan Sarandon. They all looked like the other documentaries edited to include the same photos and the same claims, only in different sequence. What was interesting is that each "documentary" showed the cover of the book that included the methods of torture, but not the pages themselves. Now if there was torture in the book, why show just the cover and not the pages that included the torture methods? In fact, the book can be found online and as I scanned through it I found such things as how to question a female detainee; be sure there is another female in the room, treat the detainee with respect at all times, do nothing that could later result in charges of mistreatment... I learned that anyone is allowed to enter the school without notice and monitor the classes. High school teachers take their classes for a day to widen their learning. College students enter to gain knowledge for papers they are writing. I learned that SOAW obtained a book that included the names of all who had attended SOA since its inception in the 1940s. I forget if it was 50,000 or 60,000 but they could only find 100 people that were connected to crimes against humanity and none of them were convicted. Is justice different south of the USA? You can make the charges if you wish. In fact at least one of them attended an Ivy League university. Will the same charge be leveled against it? Out of 50-60,000 people you are bound to find some evil ones despite a thorough vetting, which the SOA and WHINSEC do. Even the University of Michigan produced the Unibomber. When I organized the debate I called the Pentagon and was surprised that not only would they send representatives, including Lee Rials, they said they wished other organizations would do the same. When I called the founder of SOAW, Jesuit priest Roy Bourgeois he was excited to travel to Ann Arbor for the debate. He asked who else would be on the panel and I told him two representatives from the Pentagon. He got angry and said he wouldn't debate people from WHINSEC. I pointed out that is what a debate is, and he told me to call someone in the regional office and gave me her name and phone number. When I phoned her it was the same story; excitement until she learned the debate included representatives from WHINSEC. She gave me the names of two Ann Arbor members of SOAW who agreed to do the debate. After the debate, individually, without hearing the other say it, both the representatives of the Pentagon and of SOAW said the exact same thing to me: Man, you ask tough questions. I had said to both beforehand that I would not be partial, that my aim was to not let anyone know if I preferred one side or the other. After the debate, a very liberal friend said to me, Well another liberal claim falls flat on its face. Believe me, she is very liberal. The Pentagon representatives invited everyone to join them at a coffee shop on State Street to continue the discussions. They were taken up on it by the two panel members from SOAW and several in the audience. We sat for several hours and there was a great deal of misconception cleared up. The Pentagon rep said to me afterward: Wow, they didnt even know we have five other schools in the US that teach the same things to people from other nations. As to the person who claimed to have been water-boarded; I think back to the Winter Soldier hearings in Detroit that kicked off John Kerrys political career. One hundred men gave sworn testimony they had either committed atrocities or seen them committed by other troops in Vietnam. Their sworn testimonies were entered into the Congressional Record after Kerrys testimony in front of Congess. Given that the testimonies were of war crimes the FBI investigated everyone who gave sworn testimony. Of the 100 they discovered over 50% had never been to Vietnam and most of them had never even been in the military. One decorated soldier testified that he had been intimidated into giving false testimony. Afterward Kerry said, The American people will thank you. I personally witnessed his emotional apology to about 4,000 Vietnam Vets at the Kerry Lied rally in Washington DC. Of the remainder who were actually Vietnam Vets a number of them said they had not even heard of the Winter Soldier hearings and one said he had never been to Detroit in his life. Without knowing how, he was angry that someone used his name. So, just because someone offers testimony is not proof that it actually happened. Gary Lillie

Lee Rials

Tue, Dec 14, 2010 : 1:54 p.m.

This story, from headline to last period, is blatantly false and a moral libel of the loyal Americans who have taught at the school and who teach at the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation that replaced it. There has never been one example of anyone using what he learned at either institution to commit any crime, not even one! What's more, students like this one come all the way to Columbus, GA, to hear from other uninformed people when by going just three more miles, they could see the Institute for themselves. A group from Adrian that rode to Columbus with the Ann Arbor group actually came in to tour WHINSEC on Saturday. I suggest Ms. Chapin-Smith do some original research by coming to the Institute for a week (Spring Break would be a good time; other students have done so) and see for herself what we teach, who we teach, and how it fits into the U.S. government's relations with other nations. We are open every weekday; all that is required to enter Fort Benning is a photo ID, and I'll send driving directions to our campus. If that is not do-able, go to our web site, then ask questions. Sincerely, Lee Rials, WHINSEC Public Affairs Officer