SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (Catholic San Francisco) - Though they face a possible gag order preventing them from discussing U.S. policy on torture during their anticipated trial, Franciscan Father Louis Vitale and Jesuit Father Steve Kelly say their rejection of that practice is the prime reason they face jail time for an incident at a military base last November.
“Our concern is that the issue of torture has become a major phenomenon in society,” Father Vitale told Catholic San Francisco. “It’s inhuman, but it’s become acceptable.”
Father Vitale also said that despite government assurances to the contrary, the recent record of U.S. conduct exposes Bush administration interrogation policies.
“What is happening is that although they profess that they don’t teach torture, what results is torture. We know the end product based on what goes on at Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib.”
Father Vitale, 74, retired pastor at St. Boniface Church in San Francisco, and Father Kelly, 58, who worked with Redwood City’s Catholic Worker community, will both face charges in Tucson, Ariz., next week of trespassing at Fort Huachuca near Sierra Vista, Ariz.
The two priests went to the military complex to deliver a letter decrying torture to Maj. Gen. Barbara Fast, then commanding officer there. After being denied entrance, the two knelt to pray and were subsequently arrested. Both reportedly face a 10-month prison sentence if convicted.
Father Vitale said the pair went to Fort Huachuca largely because Maj. Gen. Fast was stationed there. She was the senior military intelligence officer in Iraq during the Abu Ghraib torture scandal before being assigned to command Fort Huachuca. She has since been reassigned to Fort Monroe in Virginia where she is deputy director of the Army Capabilities Integration Center.
Responding by e-mail to questions from Catholic San Francisco, Maj. Gen. Fast said, “The U.S. Army does not approve of or condone torture. Numerous safeguards have been put into place to ensure that interrogators can request clarification, if in doubt, or report cases where they may suspect wrongdoing.”
She said she did not recall having seen the letter from Fathers Kelly and Vitale. It had been “handled in legal channels,” she explained.
“The two priests were well aware that their trespassing actions would lead to their arrest,” she said.
Father Kelly said concern about victims of torture was only part of the priests’ focus. “We are also worried about the souls of these 18, 19 and 20-year-old soldiers who are being coerced into torture,” he said.
Father Kelly said immoral interrogation policies could produce a blowback that will hurt American security by emboldening those who violently oppose U.S. policy.
He called the upcoming trial a “kangaroo court,” but said he sees positives. “Ironically, they’re furthering our cause by bringing attention to the issue, and putting Fort Huachuca on the map.”
Father Vitale emphasized that Church teaching never sanctions torture.
“Torture is unacceptable in the eyes of the Church,” he said. “It’s not a reliable way to get information, but in any case it is simply an inhumane treatment of others.”
The pre-trial motions hearing is scheduled for Aug. 13, and will possibly continue the following day. The two priests will be represented by Bill Quigley, a law professor and the director of both the Law Clinic and the Gillis Long Poverty Law Center at Loyola University in New Orleans, La.
The three men are scheduled to speak at Tucson’s Southside Presbyterian Church in the evening of Aug. 12 to raise awareness of the issues surrounding the case.
This story was made available to Catholic Online by permission of Catholic San Francisco (www.catholic-sf.org),official newspaper of the Archdiocese of San Francisco, Calif.
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