A Cross in the Road: Why I Was Arrested at Fort Benning
The Top 100 Corporate Criminals of the Decade
January 19, 2006
A Cross in the Road: Why I Was Arrested at Fort Benning
by Joanne N. Cowan
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| Quaker activist Joanne Cowan is arrested as she kneels on the lawn at the US Army's School of the Americas. Credit: Mike Hasky / Columbus Ledger-Enquirer |
Until recently, whenever I heard the word torture, I would imagine the depravations of Alexander Solzhenitsyns Soviet gulag or a dank, clammy cell filled with iron instruments from the Spanish Inquisition. Today, however, the word torture inevitably evokes horrifying images from US-run prisons in Guantanamo, Afghanistan, and Abu Ghraib.
On November 20, 2005, my growing opposition to the Bush administrations use of torture led me to the gates of Ft. Benning, Georgia, home of the SOA, the Pentagons notorious School of the Americas (better known as the School of Assassins). That Sunday dawned overcast and cold with rain sweeping in late in the afternoon as I joined 20,000 other Americans who stood vigil with crosses bearing the names of murdered Central Americans. Black-draped coffins passed in solemn procession, carried by hooded bearers in black capes as the names of the thousands of SOA victims were read aloud. Each name was followed by the raising of crosses and a chant of Presente! -- a traditional recognition of the dead.
I was one of 35 nonviolent activists who crawled beneath the temporary fence erected to protect Ft. Benning from citizens armed only with flowers and faith. As I sat on the damp lawn holding a white rose, awaiting my arrest, I calmly repeated a prayer of protection and felt honored to further the movement to expose and close the SOA.
I now face up to six months in Federal prison and $5,000 in penalties.
Six Decades of Decadence
The School of the Americas was founded in Panama in 1946, as a training school for Central and South American soldiers. During its 59 years of existence, it has trained more than 60,000 soldiers in counterinsurgency, sniper skills, military intelligence and interrogation tactics. After it was kicked out of Panama in 1984, the SOA relocated to Ft. Benning.
Over the years, hundreds of thousands of Central and South Americans have been tortured, raped, assassinated, and disappeared by soldiers trained at the SOA. Abuses have been documented in Guatemala, Mexico, Columbia, Argentina, Honduras, El Salvador, Venezuela, Bolivia, and Haiti. In 1996, pressured by critics, the Pentagon reluctantly released copies of the SOAs training manuals. They advocated torture, extortion and execution.
SOA Watch (soaw.org) was founded 16 years ago by Father Roy Bourgeois, a Maryknoll priest, following a rash of SOA-linked atrocities in El Salvador. These included: the assassination of Archbishop Oscar Romero; the massacre of more than 900 men, women and children in El Mozote; the murder of four US church women; and the killing of six Jesuit priests, their co-worker and her 14-year-old daughter.
Fr. Bourgeois first vigil (held on the November anniversary of the Jesuits assassination) drew only a dozen people. It now draws several thousand, including celebrities like Martin Sheen. To date, more than 180 priests, nuns, Buddhists and Quakers have trespassed onto the base. For this act of moral witness, they have collectively served more than 80 years in prison.
In 2001, the Pentagon responded to the SOAs critics by changing the sites name to the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation. The name change was only cosmetic. In February 2005, eight civilians were massacred in San Jose Peace Community Apartado, Columbia. Eyewitnesses reported that the Colombian Armys 17th Brigade was occupying the area at the time. General Hector Jaime Fandiño Rincón, an SOA grad, commanded the brigade.
My Arrest
Why me? Im a regular person with a graduate degree in Anthropology. Im a Quaker and, most recently, a bookkeeper. Ive a dog, a house, and an organic garden. I did undergraduate work at UC Berkeley in the late 60s and early 70s so, perhaps, its not surprising that I became an activist for peace and justice.
The journey towards my arrest began in August when I attended a Quaker gathering in New Mexico and heard a speaker explain that the work of prophets was not to foretell the future but to warn of the consequences of present actions. Be patterns, Quaker Founder George Fox wrote in 1656, Be examples in all countries, places, islands, nations. I felt challenged.
In September, I traveled to Washington, DC for the Call for Justice Weekend, which featured a mock trial of Bush officials for complicity in torture. I came away with a renewed distaste for how the US affects and exports democracy. I was deeply moved by Jennifer Harburys account (Truth, Torture, and the American Way: The History and Consequences of US Involvement in Torture) of how her husband Everardo was detained and killed in Guatemala by CIA-sponsored soldiers. My soul was deeply disturbed by the tales of torture-survivors who implicated the SOA in their suffering.
What put me over the top was Vice President Dick Cheneys insistence that the CIA be allowed to conduct torture legally. I had attended the emotional SOA vigil once before, but now I was finally willing to serve witness to my concerns. But my willingness was ahead of my true readiness. I had responsibilities to cover, personal concerns to address, a job I wanted to keep, as well as research to do on how to commit civil disobedience and face the consequences.
I read Clare Hanrahans book, Jailed for Justice, a Womans Guide to Federal Prison Camp. I joined an affinity group for moral support and sought counsel from SOAWs lawyers. I engaged in a Quaker process of seeking clearness to test the depth of my intent and strengthen its foundation.
My decision to face prison is deeply interwoven with my Quaker faith. The seasoning of my thoughts led me to walk to the fence -- and crawl beneath it -- with grace and peace of mind. I now know that wherever I am -- whether standing in vigil or in prison -- God is with me and all is well. It is with this conviction that I await my trial on January 30 with 35 others who followed the same path of nonviolent civil disobedience, speaking truth to power in hopes of ending Americas criminal use of torture -- taught and exported from the SOA.
Joanne Cowan is a resident of Boulder, Colorado.
This article first appeared in the January 2006 edition of Common Ground Magazine, the Bay Area's Magazine of Conscious Community.
www.commongroundmag.com/2006/01/journeys0601.html
Note: The Latin America Military Training Review Act of 2005 (HR 1217), introduced by Rep. Jim Mc Govern (D-MA), would investigate the SOA. The Torture Outsourcing Prevention Act of 2005 (HR 952) introduced by Rep. Edward Markey (D-MA), would ban the practice of extraordinary rendition, which sends captives to other countries for torture by proxy.
Top 100 Corporate Criminals of the Decade
by Russell Mokhiber
Every year, the major business magazines put out their annual surveys of big business in America. You have the Fortune 500, the Forbes 400, the Forbes Platinum 100, the International 800 -- among others.
These lists rank big corporations by sales, assets, profits and market share. The point of these surveys is simple -- to identify and glorify the biggest and most profitable corporations.
The point of the list contained in this report, The Top 100 Corporate Criminals of the Decade -- is to focus public attention on a wave of corporate criminality that has swamped prosecutors offices around the country. This is the dark underside of the marketplace that is given little sustained attention and analysis by politicians and news outlets.
To compile The Top 100 Corporate Criminals of the 1990s, we used the most narrow and conservative of definitions -- corporations that have pled guilty or no contest to crimes and have been criminally fined.
The 100 corporate criminals fell into 14 categories of crime:
Environmental (38),
Antitrust (20),
Fraud (13),
Campaign finance (7),
Food and drug (6),
Financial crimes (4),
False statements (3),
Illegal exports (3),
Illegal boycott (1),
Worker death (1),
Bribery (1),
Obstruction of justice (1)
Public corruption (1), and
Tax evasion (1).
There are millions of Americans who care about morality in the marketplace. But few Americans realize that when they buy Exxon stock, or when they fill up at an Exxon gas station, they are supporting a criminal recidivist corporation. And few Americans realize that, when the take a ride on a cruise ship owned by Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines, they are riding on a ship owned by a criminal recidivist corporation.
Six corporations that made the list of the Top 100 Corporate Criminals were criminal recidivist companies during the 1990s. In addition to Exxon and Royal Caribbean, Rockwell International, Warner-Lambert, Teledyne, and United Technologies, each pled guilty to more than one crime during the 1990s.
The Top 100 Corporate Criminals of the 1990s
For detailed explanations of each case, see:
www.corporatepredators.org/top100.htm
1 -- F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd.
[Crime] Antitrust [Fine] $500 million
2 -- Daiwa Bank Ltd.
Financial $340 million
3 -- BASF Aktiengesellschaft
Antitrust $225 million
4 -- SGL Carbon Aktiengesellschaft
Antitrust $135 million
5 -- Exxon Corporation and Exxon Shipping
Environmental $125 million
6 -- UCAR International, Inc.
Antitrust $110 million
7 -- Archer Daniels Midland
Antitrust $100 million
8 -- (tie) Banker's Trust
Financial $60 million
8 -- (tie) Sears Bankruptcy Recovery Management Services
Fraud $60 million
10 -- Haarman & Reimer Corp.
Antitrust $50 million
11 -- Louisiana-Pacific Corporation
Environmental $37 million
12 -- Hoechst AG
Antitrust $36 million
13 -- Damon Clinical Laboratories, Inc.
Fraud $35.2 million
14 -- C.R. Bard Inc.
Food and drug $30.9 million
15 -- Genentech Inc.
Food and drug $30 million
16 -- Nippon Gohsei
Antitrust $21 million
17 -- (tie) Pfizer Inc.
Antitrust $20 million
17 -- (tie) Summitville Consolidated Mining Co. Inc.
Environmental $20 million
19 -- (tie) Lucas Western Inc.
False Statements $18.5 million
19 -- (tie) Rockwell International Corporation
Environmental $18.5 million
21 -- Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.
Environmental $18 million
22 -- Teledyne Industries Inc.
Fraud $17.5 million
23 -- Northrop
False statements $17 million
24 -- Litton Applied Technology Division and Litton Systems Canada
Fraud $16.5 million
25 -- Iroquois Pipeline Operating Company
Environmental $15 million
26 -- Eastman Chemical Company
Antitrust $11 million
27 -- Copley Pharmaceutical, Inc.
Food and drug $10.65 million
28 -- Lonza AG
Antitrust $10.5 million
29 -- Kimberly Home Health Care Inc.
Fraud $10.08 million
30 -- (tie) Ajinomoto Co. Inc.
Antitrust $10 million
30 -- (tie) Bank of Credit and Commerce International
Financial $10 million
30 -- (tie) Kyowa Hakko Kogyo Co. Ltd.
Antitrust $10 million
30 -- (tie) Warner-Lambert Company
Food and drug $10 million
34 -- General Electric
Fraud $9.5 million
35 -- (tie) Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.
Environmental $9 million
35 -- (tie) Showa Denko Carbon
Antitrust $9 million
37 -- IBM East Europe/Asia Ltd.
Illegal exports $8.5 million
38 -- Empire Sanitary Landfill Inc.
Campaign finance $8 million
39 -- (tie) Colonial Pipeline Company
Environmental $7 million
39 -- (tie) Eklof Marine Corporation
Environmental $7 million
41 -- (tie) Chevron
Environmental $6.5 million
41 -- (tie) Rockwell International Corporation
Environmental $6.5 million
43 -- Tokai Carbon Ltd. Co.
Antitrust $6 million
44 -- (tie) Allied Clinical Laboratories, Inc.
Fraud $5 million
44 -- (tie) Northern Brands International Inc.
Fraud $5 million
44 -- (tie) Ortho Pharmaceutical Corporation
Obstruction of justice $5 million
44 -- (tie) Unisys
Bribery $5 million
44 -- (tie) Georgia Pacific Corporation
Tax evasion $5 million
49 -- Kanzaki Specialty Papers Inc.
Antitrust $4.5 million
50 -- ConAgra Inc.
Fraud $4.4 million
51 -- Ryland Mortgage Company
Financial $4.2 million
52 -- (tie) Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois
Fraud $4 million
52 -- (tie) Borden Inc.
Antitrust $4 million
52 -- (tie) Dexter Corporation
Environmental $4 million
52 -- (tie) Southland Corporation
Antitrust $4 million
52 -- (tie) Teledyne Industries Inc.
Illegal exports $4 million
52 -- (tie) Tyson Foods Inc.
Public corruption $4 million
58 -- (tie) Aluminum Company of America
Environmental $3.75 million
58 -- (tie) Costain Coal Inc.
Worker Death $3.75 million
58 -- (tie) United States Sugar Corporation
Environmental $3.75 million
61 -- Saybolt, Inc., Saybolt North America
Environmental $3.4 million
62 -- (tie) Bristol-Myers Squibb
Environmental $3 million
62 -- (tie) Chemical Waste Management Inc.
Environmental $3 million
62 -- (tie) Ketchikan Pulp Company
Environmental $3 million
62 -- (tie) United Technologies Corporation
Environmental $3 million
62 -- (tie) Warner-Lambert Inc.
Environmental $3 million
67 -- (tie) Arizona Chemical Co. Inc.
Environmental $2.5 million
67 -- (tie) Consolidated Rail Corporation
Environmental $2.5 million
69 -- International Paper
Environmental $2.2 million
70 -- (tie) Consolidated Edison Company
Environmental $2 million
70 -- (tie) Crop Growers Corporation
Campaign finance $2 million
70 -- (tie) E-Systems Inc.
Fraud $2 million
70 -- (tie) HAL Beheer BV
Environmental $2 million
70 -- (tie) John Morrell and Company
Environmental $2 million
70 -- (tie) United Technologies Corporation
Fraud $2 million
76 -- Mitsubishi Corporation, Mitsubishi International Corporation
Antitrust $1.8 million
77 -- (tie) Blue Shield of California
Fraud $1.5 million
77 -- (tie) Browning-Ferris Inc.
Environmental $1.5 million
77 -- (tie) Odwalla Inc.
Food and drug $1.5 million
77 -- (tie) Teledyne Inc.
False statements $1.5 million
77 -- (tie) Unocal Corporation
Environmental $1.5 million
82 -- (tie) Doyon Drilling Inc.
Environmental $1 million
82 -- (tie) Eastman Kodak
Environmental $1 million
82 -- (tie) Case Corporation
Illegal exports $1 million
85 -- Marathon Oil
Environmental $900,000
86 -- Hyundai Motor Company
Campaign finance $600,000
87 -- (tie) Baxter International Inc.
Illegal Boycott $500,000
87 -- (tie) Bethship-Sabine Yard
Environmental $500,000
87(tie) Palm Beach Cruises
Environmental $500,000
87 -- (tie) Princess Cruises Inc.
Environmental $500,000
91 -- (tie) Cerestar Bioproducts BV
Antitrust $400,000
91 -- (tie) Sun-Land Products of California
Campaign finance $400,000
93 -- (tie) American Cyanamid
Environmental $250,000
93 -- (tie) Korean Air Lines
Campaign finance $250,000
93 -- (tie) Regency Cruises Inc.
Environmental $250,000
96 -- (tie) Adolph Coors Company
Environmental $200,000
96 -- (tie) Andrew and Williamson Sales Co.
Food and drug $200,000
96 -- (tie) Daewoo International (America) Corporation
Campaign finance $200,000
96 -- (tie) Exxon Corporation
Environmental $200,000
100 -- Samsung America Inc.
Campaign finance $150,000
© Russell Mokhiber
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