BY JANET POST
MIAMI - On February 8, U.S. Army Capt. Lawrence Rockwood spoke at a forum here at the TAP TAP Haitian restaurant, exposing the role of the U.S. military in Haiti.
Rockwood was dismissed as an army officer in a May 1995 court-martial verdict that he is presently appealing in the army, and then in civilian courts if necessary. Rockwood was given the boot by the military brass after his widely publicized attempt to inspect human rights abuses in the National Penitentiary in Port-au-Prince - without permission from his superior officers - during the 1994 U.S. invasion of Haiti.
In early January of this year Rockwood moved to La Belle, Florida. Soon afterwards, on January 19, his house was destroyed by arson. Rockwood said that Florida state investigative agencies believe the blaze began with a fire bomb. Inside the house was the manuscript for a book on his experiences in Haiti and on his court-martial, as well as planning materials for a trip he is organizing March 16 to My Lai, Vietnam.
Rockwood plans to mark the 28th anniversary of the March 16, 1968 My Lai massacre with Hugh Thompson, a former U.S. Army helicopter pilot during the Vietnam War who ordered his own gunner to fire at U.S. soldiers to try and thwart the My Lai murders.
My Lai was a hamlet in the village of Son My where hundreds of unarmed Vietnamese were killed as U.S. soldiers fired directly at them with automatic rifles. Only Lt. William Calley was convicted following the atrocity while commanders and other officers were absolved.
Thompson testified in support of Rockwood at his court- martial hearing, recounting his own experience in Vietnam, reported Haiti Progres.
At the February 8 forum, Rockwood pointed out that Republican presidential candidate Patrick Buchanan tried to convince Richard Nixon, then president, "to let off the guys at My Lai." Rockwood said he is the first active duty officer to attend a commemoration of My Lai.
The 37-year-old Rockwood has two years after the court- martial verdict to appeal his dismissal, which is equivalent to a dishonorable discharge for rank-and-file soldiers. He said the army has lifted its gag order on him. Both Rockwood and his attorney, former attorney general Ramsey Clark, are responding to inquiries about the case.
Rockwood explained what led him to the National Penitentiary, Haiti's largest prison, ending in his arrest.
Shocked at complicity of military brass
Rockwood was a counterintelligence officer with the 10th
Mountain Division from Ft. Drum, N.Y, the main force deployed
to Haiti in September 1994. His job included receiving reports
on the beatings, abductions, rapes, and murders of Haitian
working people and pro-Aristide forces by the Haitian military
and paramilitary groups - including human rights abuses at
five penitentiaries.
Rockwood said he and other soldiers were shocked at the atrocities going on right in front of them on the streets of Haitian cities while they were under orders not to intervene. At the time, scenes of abuses were being broadcast on news around the world while former dictator Raśl Cedras was still in power. "What amazed me was the lack of concern of American officers and officials who were not inclined to lift one little finger to help those suffering.
"They were acting in agreement," Rockwood stated, "with the words of Sen. Bob Dole who said that `All the Haitians in Haiti are not worth one single American life.' "
"I was very troubled," said Rockwood in a Haiti Progres interview, "that the command was indifferent to the lives of the Haitian poor, and concerned about the lives of the Haitian rich."
On Sept. 30, 1994, Rockwood filed a complaint to the Army's Inspector General for refusing to prevent deaths in the prisons and went on his own to investigate the situation at the National Penitentiary. The captain was detained by Haitian military officers, turned over to U.S. military command, and shipped to New York.
Haiti Progres reported that Rockwood "charged immediate commanders with criminal negligence for allowing gross human rights violations, including murder, to continue unabated in the city. `For an officer in my position to levy a complaint against his own command was pretty much a career ending move,' Rockwood later recalled."
"We must make an example of him," said lead prosecutor Capt. Charles Pede at the court-martial hearing. "Soldiers in the field must follow orders."
Rockwood was found guilty of four of five charges, including "disrespect" for telling his superior officer, "I am an American officer, not a Nazi officer" following his arrest. The other charges he is appealing are failing to report for duty, abandoning a position, and disobeying a superior officer. The charge of conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman was dropped.
At the forum Rockwood said he had interpreted President William Clinton's speechmaking to " `Stop the reign of terror and violence' " as "orders for their mission in Haiti" and even filed a formal complaint charging his commanders with subversion for failing to carry that out.
He also expressed the view that it was no coincidence that after being removed from duty in Haiti the reports from his army department on street violence no longer referred to "anti- Aristide violence" but instead "Haitian-on-Haitian" violence.
Rockwood said that he has more support from rank-and-file soldiers than from other officers, but that some do back him up. In his presentations he also tells stories about Army training. For example, in talking about the war in Yugoslavia: "In a war in Central Europe there are civilians killed and refugees. In training when we asked, `How do we take care of the refugees?', the answer was `Where do you want to bury them?' "
"Their attitude toward civilians became clear in the Gulf War when [Gen.] Colin Powell said that `Civilian casualties is not a number that I am particularly interested in.' " Rockwood added that he is campaigning for an international moratorium on anti-personnel mines whose "casualties are 78 percent civilian."
Debate on U.S. military
During the forum a debate took place on the goals of the
U.S. armed services. Some said the army is in place to
safeguard and advance U.S. imperialist domination and
exploitation around the globe.
Others, including Rockwood - who is a fourth generation soldier and son of a World War II veteran who participated in taking over the Nazi concentration camp at Dachau from the German army - said they hoped the army could be reformed to concentrate on "peacekeeping" missions and limiting human rights abuses.
Pointing to Dachau, Rockwood said, "Show me a human rights organization that has liberated a concentration camp. They have too many limitations on them to do what they're supposed to do."
While waiting his appeal hearing, Rockwood is still an active duty officer who goes to work but receives no wages. He is fighting to be reinstated with back pay.