That comment caught some of the former officer’s fellow protesters by surprise, because many of them had been told that torture is part of the instruction for human intelligence collectors — formerly called interrogators — at the Intelligence Center.
So convinced that the center is a hotbed of torture training that three of the more than 150 protesters trespassed on the fort, including a Roman Catholic priest who was previously cited for doing such an act in 2006, which ended up with him serving a five month sentence in a federal prison.
  
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Although the trio were not arrested, they were given a bar letter, signed by Garrison Commander Col. Melissa Sturgeon, warning them that if in the next year they try to enter the post they will be arrested.
Given the letters were the Rev. Louie Vitale of Oakland, Calif.; Dennis Duvall of Prescott; and Megan Rice of Las Vegas. Duvall did an end run and entered the fort from a different direction than that of the priest and Rice. He refused to walk to an area to be processed, instead falling to his knees, requiring some military police officers to carry him away.
None of the three were arrested or charged, because “we’re trying to keep this as low key as possible,” said post spokeswoman Tanja Linton.
Retired Col. Mary A. Wright, who also worked for the Department of State, said some soldiers, especially young enlisted ones, may engage in acts that can be described as torture, which happens because they are pressured by superiors to “get information anyway they can.”
President George W. Bush showed the world the wrong face of America, that of being a warmonger, she said.
However, she expects President-elect Barack Obama to do better in keeping the promises to get out of Iraq and to close down the detention center in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
The United States is strong enough to show “its humanity and soul,” said Wright, who has been arrested a number of times for protesting the war in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The military is more attuned to not using torture than the CIA, Wright said. She noted how the new training manual for interrogators came out a couple of years ago, and the Army had specific rules against torture, but some national leaders “gave the CIA a pass.”
But what has to be done to ensure torture is not used by the military is for everyone in America’s armed forces to maintain the highest standards, she said.
And, if that means a junior enlisted soldier has to report a senior person for ordering the use of torture that “has to happen,” Wright said, noting the regulations allow noncompliance with an unlawful order.
The six-hour-long protest began at Sierra Vista’s Veterans’ Memorial Park, where a number of speakers expressed their concerns about alleged torture training on the post, while others sang and entertained the small crowd.
The Tucson Raging Grannies sang a number of protest songs, with special lyrics put to well-known melodies.
One sang about Fort Huachuca to the melody of “On Top of Old Smokey.” It had a stanza that said “So down with the school here in Huachuca AZ, where your major in murder for your B.A. degree (bachelor of assassins).”
Another parody sung to the Marine Corps Hymn had the words: “In the state of Arizona, in this place called Huachuca, where they teach the art of torture, and where murder’s just the thing.”
One man claimed he was the subject of torture.
“Fort Huachuca still trains soldiers to torture,” exclaimed Frankie Flores, a native of El Salvador.
However, a former Iraq War veteran agreed with Wright that torture is not taught at the fort.
But, former Spc. Harinam Khalsa claimed that soldier friends of his who served in the Military Intelligence Corps told him that they were to obtain information using any means needed. Khalsa served in the Army for six years, some of the time as a helicopter maintenance man with the 82nd Airborne Division.
The reality of situations in places like Iraq means the rationale of training sometimes is ignored, said the 28-year-old Arizona State University student. He wore a T-shirt emblazoned with the words: Iraq Veterans Against the War.
Combat situations like those in Iraq end up dehumanizing soldiers, leading them to not care for people, Khalsa said.
Soon after the three people crossed Buffalo Solider Trail to enter the post illegally, he walked across the street saying he wanted to talk with some fellow veterans, “but I don’t want to get arrested.”
After he was told he could not speak to any soldier and was given a letter stating the rules of what constitutes trespassing, the former GI walked back across the road, finally engaging an older veteran who was part of the anti-protest group that had gathered to support the post.
Keeping an eye on the day’s events were a number of Sierra Vista police officers — 30 of whom were on overtime — and Arizona Department of Public Safety officers.
In 2007, and the previous three years, the protesters and those who were against them shared the same ground, mostly a privately-owned lot on the northeast corner of Buffalo Soldier Trail and Fry Boulevard.
This year, with most of the anti-fort rally taking place at the city park and then the protesters marching on the north sidewalk for slightly more than two miles to near the post’s Main Gate, the time period of potential confrontation was limited.
Protesters came from Bisbee, Flagstaff, Phoenix, Prescott, Sierra Vista and Tucson, as well as from other states including Arkansas, California, Colorado, Kentucky, Missouri, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, Oregon and Pennsylvania.
Nearly 80 people countered the protesters, but this year the event was quieter than last year’s rally.
There were a few catcalls, like “go home” and “get out of town,” by some of the anti-protesters. Bikers with American flags rode around, revving their engines to drown out the protesters.
Older veterans wearing caps representing a number of service organizations, and scores of American flags as well as the flags of the different services, were plentiful and easily seen by the protesters at the corner of Buffalo Soldier Trail and Fry Boulevard.
Music of the different military services blared out, as cars drove by honking their horns in support of the anti-protesters.
Marie Wagner of Sierra Vista said she thought the event was interesting.
Wagner, who describes herself as a supporter of the fort and the military, said, “I had the best time.”
Told there might be trouble, she said she was pleased there was none, and was equally as happy that she and the other anti-protesters let the anti-fort people know there is support for the post and its missions.
While the protesters had a right to express their views, Wagner said they were wrong, and they should appreciate those who ensure America’s freedoms are maintained.
“I just like the people who protect our country,” she said.
Herald/Review senior reporter Bill Hess can be reached at 515-4615 or by e-mail at bill.hess@svherald.com.
