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Thomas Vince
13-Jul-2002, 02:18 AM
A small world....

Two years ago I lost a good friend and student to a war we cannot win. He was a demolitions expert in the special forces. We grew up together and blew up cars in the junk yard for fun as teens, "don't ask", but human astrocities exist even now in our modern world, here is just one story unfolding.


For those of you who dont know who Pinochet is read this and ask yourself and those in
charge, is this right?

Pinochet currently faces 59 criminal complaints in Chile for kidnapping, murder, and
torture, all of which were lodged in 1998 and 1999 and are currently being investigated by
Judge Juan Guzman Tapia of the Santiago Appeals Court. The cases are in the
preliminary stage of investigation and Judge Guzman has yet to make formal charges
against Pinochet. He sent a list of questions last year to Pinochet in London, but
Pinochet, in his reply, refused to provide substantive answers.

The charges against Pinochet include the abduction, torture, disappearance, and
execution of thousands of political opponents. The crimes for which Pinochet is closest
to indictment include his command responsibility for a military task force, popularly
known as the "Caravan of Death," which removed scores of prisoners from jail and
executed them one month after the 1973 military coup. Before the case against Pinochet
can go ahead, Judge Guzman must first have Pinochet's senatorial immunity lifted.


I enter this becaue Kurt was trained in Columbia at a camp that specializes in jungle war fare and he was sent in by the US to capture Noriega. He was responsible for blowing up two of Noriega's cocaine plants. I hang his Baret, his purple heart, his jungle patch and I am greatful to his parents for keeping his congretional medal of honor and numerous other medals on display in a local county museum.

As martial artists we should seek to preserve life, not take it!

Thomas Vince
13-Jul-2002, 02:24 AM
Keep in mind that the IKKA has over a million members in over 30 countries and I get a lot of the news from abroad and sometimes because I am so busy I tend not to keep up. But the flame is ever vigilant and I bring you devekoping news as it happens from our members abroad.

You may have read my post--and yes, it's true, unless the video I saw was faked. Sorry, I
don't have a name for the video: it was on a compilation of stuff that Juan Serrano loaned
me. But I am pretty sure that it was shot after the military coup in Chile, during which that
SOB (with help, apparently, from ITT, the CIA and Henry Kissinger) took power from a
democratically-elected president, Salvador Allende.

Further, I asked somebody in a position to know and to tell the truth, and they confirmed
it. If it helps, Pinochet was also receiving a belt from a Japanese martial artist, but I don't
remember the name. Somebody major, however.

I was pretty horrified and disgusted. I don't think it invalidates kenpo, of course, but I think
it should make us all a little wary about some of the political positions people in kenpo
take (oh no...I ain't sayin' which ones),and about some of the cultish, patriarchal behavior
in the martial arts (oh, hell no, I sure ain't naming them) generally.

It is worth remember that martial arts have a long history of this sort of stuff, that began
way before American kenpo. I personally think the best question we can ask are: 1) why
was this possible? 2) does it tell us anything we need to know? 3) does it connect with
other sorts of behavior in kenpo? 4) does it reveal anything about the politics of martial
arts?

I know that some out there will probaably think that it doesn't matter. I think it does--and I
would be very pleased, by the way, to find out that I was wrong about the award.
Unfortunately, I don't think I am.

This was written by a member of the IKKA the name is withheld.