-Caveat Lector-
This article from NYTimes.com
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The Navy has been looking pretty skanky for a long time, and they keep telling us
they're cleaning up their act. It appears they have added lying to their list of
sins. It wasn't always this way. There was a time when the Navy was a respectable
service that men were proud to have served in. Tailhook was a shock; the Boy Scouts
filming them throwing green plastic bags full of trash over the side of the ship
didn't make a very good impression; their unrepentant killing of ocean life with their
sonar experiments was ugly; and their use of Depleted Uranium on Vieques and
surrounding ocean was ill advised at best; but now they have given the world a really
good view of their character by their actions as outlined in this Herbert column.
What a bunch of bums they are. No wonder they have trouble keeping personnel. When I
think carefully about this; however, I recall that persons with Spanish surnames and
who served in the Navy were always given positions as servants. The Navy didn't think
they were abusing the civil rights of Americans; they thought they were disciplining
some inferior folks who just didn't know their place. Prudy
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Treated Like Trash
IN AMERICA
By BOB HERBERT
elda Gonz�lez may be 68 years old, the vice president of the Senate
in Puerto Rico and a grandmother several times over. But none of
that mattered to U.S. Navy officials who treated her like trash,
which is the same way they've treated so many others who have been
arrested for protesting the Navy's bombing exercises on the island
of Vieques.
Ms. Gonz�lez was with a large group of protesters, including a
U.S. congressman, Luis Gutierrez of Illinois, who were arrested on
Vieques in April and subjected to harsh, dangerous and at times
sadistic treatment at the hands of Navy personnel. Details of the
arrests made that weekend have been emerging through interviews and
a hearing held in Washington last week by members of the
Congressional Hispanic Caucus.
Ms. Gonz�lez and dozens of others were rounded up by security
personnel on the afternoon of April 28 and charged with trespassing
on Navy property. "As soon as they caught us," said Ms. Gonz�lez in
a telephone interview on Tuesday, "we offered our hands and they
handcuffed us."
The detainees were taken by truck to a fenced-in detention area.
Several, still handcuffed, were forced to kneel for extended
periods on the gravel and rock-strewn ground. They were taunted and
told by their captors to "eat dirt."
One of those kneeling was Congressman Gutierrez. The military
guards became enraged when he lifted one of his legs and extended
it behind him while he tried awkwardly to clear some debris from
the spot where he was kneeling.
The congressman and several witnesses, including Ms. Gonz�lez,
said two of the guards grabbed Mr. Gutierrez by his shirt and
trousers, lifted him in the air and tossed him several feet. When
he landed face down they began kicking him.
"I was yelling, 'He's a congressman! He's a congressman!' " said
Ms. Gonz�lez.
After being held overnight in the detention area, the detainees
were taken by barge to the main island of Puerto Rico. Some of the
prisoners were forced to kneel in the hot sun on the deck of the
barge. Young women kneeling on the deck were harassed by officers
who made obscene comments and gestures.
Ms. Gonz�lez said the prisoners were worried because they were
still handcuffed and were not wearing life jackets. She said they
were told that prisoners given life jackets would be required to
have their hands cuffed behind their backs.
"That would force us to lean forward if we were in the water, even
with a life jacket," said Ms. Gonz�lez. "We would drown if there
was an accident. So we preferred to stay with our hands cuffed in
the front."
The ordeal that caused Ms. Gonz�lez to weep was still to come.
The prisoners were subjected to body searches at a processing
center. For some reason, when it was Ms. Gonz�lez's turn to be
searched, she was taken outside, and the search was conducted in
public. "They made the most indecent, disgusting, immoral search of
me, out in the street, in front of a cyclone fence with 20 Navy men
watching," she said.
It was more an exercise in humiliation than a real search. It was
conducted by a woman who began by lifting Ms. Gonz�lez's blouse.
The rest of the search consisted of the very public rubbing,
squeezing and mauling � through her clothing � of the vice
president of the Puerto Rican Senate.
Ms. Gonz�lez underwent radiation treatment for breast cancer a few
years ago, which has left her breasts very tender. She began to cry
on the telephone as she described the mortification and the
physical pain she felt during the search.
"This was in front of everybody," said Ms. Gonz�lez. "I'm an old
woman. I'm a grandmother of 11 grandchildren."
There were many other abuses detailed at the hearing in
Washington, which was headed by Representative Robert Menendez of
New Jersey. But the Navy seems unconcerned. A spokesman, Lt. Cory
Barker, told me yesterday, "There are no formal investigations by
the Navy at this point because we have not deemed that, in fact, we
have had any cases of abuse or excessive force."
I asked him if the testimony of a U.S. congressman supported by
eyewitnesses was enough to prompt the Navy to at least investigate
further.
He said no.
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/06/14/opinion/14HERB.html?ex=994668561&ei=1&en=b28b02c76a892fb5
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