Priests Protesting Torture Jailed

Louis Vitale, 75, a Franciscan priest, and Steve Kelly, 58, a Jesuit priest, were each sentenced to five months in federal prison for attempting to deliver a letter opposing the teaching of torture at Fort Huachuca in Arizona. Both priests were taken directly into jail from the courtroom after sentencing.

Fort Huachuca is the headquarters of military intelligence in the U.S. and the place where military and civilian interrogators are taught how to extract information from prisoners. The priests attempted to deliver their letter to Major General Barbara Fast, commander of Fort Huachuca. Fast was previously the head of all military intelligence in Iraq during the atrocities of Abu Ghraib.

The priests were arrested while kneeling in prayer halfway up the driveway to Fort Huachuca in November 2006. Both priests were charged with trespass on a military base and resisting orders of an officer to stop.

In a pre-trial heating, the priests attempted to introduce evidence of torture, murder, and gross violations of human rights in Afghanistan, Abu Ghraib in Iraq, and at Guantanamo. The priests offered investigative reports from the FBI, the US Army, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and Physicians for Social Responsibility documenting hundreds of incidents of human rights violations. Despite increasing evidence of the use of torture by U.S. forces sanctioned by President Bush and others, the federal court in Tucson refused to allow any evidence of torture, the legality of the invasion of Iraq, or international law to be a part of the trial.

Outside the courthouse, before the judge ordered them to prison, the priests explained their actions: “The real crime here has always been the teaching of torture at Fort Huachuca and the practice of torture around the world. We tried to deliver a letter asking that the teaching of torture be stopped and were arrested. We tried to put the evidence of torture on full and honest display in the courthouse and were denied. We were prepared to put on evidence about the widespread use of torture and human rights abuses committed during interrogations at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo in Iraq and Afhganistan. This evidence was gathered by the military itself and by governmental and human rights investigations.”

Fr. Vitale, a longtime justice and peace activist in San Francisco and Nevada, said: “Because the court will not allow the truth of torture to be a part of our trial, we plead no contest. We are uninterested in a court hearing limited to who was walking where and how many steps it was to the gate. History will judge whether silencing the facts of torture is just or not. Far too many people have died because of our national silence about torture. Far too many of our young people in the military have been permanently damaged after following orders to torture and violate the human rights of other humans.”

Fr. Kelly, who walked to the gates of Guantanamo with the Catholic Worker group in December of 2005, concluded: “We will keep trying to stop the teaching and practice of torture whether we are sent to jail or out. We have done our part for now. Now it is up to every woman and man of conscience to do their part to stop the injustice of torture.”

The priests were prompted to protest by continuing revelations about the practice of torture by U.S. military and intelligence officers. The priests were also deeply concerned after learning of the suicide in Iraq of a young, devout female military interrogator in Iraq, Alyssa Peterson of Arizona, shortly after arriving in Iraq. Peterson was reported to be horrified by the mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners.

Investigation also revealed that Fort Huachuca was the source of infamous “torture manuals” distributed to hundreds of Latin American graduates of the U.S. Army School of Americas at Fort Benning, GA. Demonstrations against the teaching of torture at Fort Huachuca have been occurring for the past several years each November and are scheduled again for November 16 and 17 this year.

Bill teaches law at Loyola University New Orleans. He can be reached at Quigley@loyno.edu Read other articles by Bill.

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  1. mandt said on October 18th, 2007 at 12:41pm #

    Excellent article on fathers Louis Vitale and Steve Kelly. This case needs national attention. It boggles the mind that people like Pelosi and Fienstein , who know Father Vitale well have not intervened. There should be a congressional pardon for both. This is beyond outrageous. Vitale is a national treasure—-as close to a Mother Teresa as this country will ever get. We wish to do a post on this issue. Can you send us the name of the judge in this case and jurisdiction address? Michael Browne at: moc.liamgnull@tonamrak.

  2. gerald spezio said on October 18th, 2007 at 1:38pm #

    Bill Quigley, Esquire,
    You sir are a trained lawyer and dedicated advocate specializing in the “human rights game,” right?

    Did you defend the politically incorrect and very wayward Catholic priests?

    If you did, I am sure that you checked the legal proceedings for due process.

    Being an annointed priest in the legal game and a person trained to check, I am sure that you checked.

    Can you get to the judge or some of the judge’s law school pals?

    Shid man, it was only the torture stuff, not the murder stuff.

    If it’s a male judge, will he go for some young girls and cocaine?

    Or beautiful ladies of the evening and meth?

    How about sucking up to the prosecutor?

    Who went to law school with the prosecutor?

    Can we argue that Scooter Liebowitz got off, and shid he was a licensed lawyer who committed real crimes?

    Appeal, nobody watches appeal!

    No matter what happens to the priestly raw material, make the legal system look good and advance your future standing in the legal game.

    You, attorney Quigley, are our liberal legal champion.
    And the priests have been cornholed good by the very legal system that gives you status, power, and clout.
    In your case, not too much clout.
    Loyola was big in the middle ages but not today.
    Can we get real clout with Alan Dershowitz from Harvard?

    If lawyers can’t do it, it can’t be done or even helped.

    There is only one law game in Supernation.

    It’s like the one party system with two penises.