Two Arrested in New Brunswick, NJ as CIA/Army Recruitment Thrown into Disarray

Two Arrested as CIA / Army Recruitment Meeting at Rutgers University Disrupted by Wobblies, Members of Rutgers Anti-War and Members of Anti-Racist Action.

Army Recruiters Give Up Their Bait & Switch Effort in Frustration; Students Raise Question About CIA Torture Camps.

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Staff Sergeant Christopher Sharp, Station Commander at an Army recruitment center in North Brunswick, NJ, expected his December 2, 2005 recruitment presention at Rutgers University to go smoothly.

He and four other Army recruiters had dressed in suits and ties for the power point presentation, aimed to recruit college students who were native speakers of Arabic, Korean or Chinese for work as translators and interrogators. The gathering had been billed as a general interest meeting for language majors about carreer opportunities with a number of federal agencies, including the FBI, CIA, NSA, Defense Department, DEA and State Department, but the headlining government recruiter, Tanya West, was not even present. Replacing her were five to six Army recruiters.

As Room 104 of the language lab on the College Avenue campus filled up with 40 to 50 students, the recruiters began their presentation at 3:00 pm.

After five to ten minutes, a loud and spirited chant broke out from five spectators in at the back of the room: "Secret prisons, secret flights, the CIA tramples human rights; reverse hanging, what gives? If that's not torture, what the fuck is?"

The lead recruiter's jaw dropped open in surprise as the emphasis of the meeting immediately shifted and for the first minute or so of sustained chanting, recruiters had no idea what to do.

Outside the room, other protesters took out signs and began shouting from the hallway. One recruiter informed those protesting inside Room 104 that police were being called. Three activists left the room at that point.

Two remained to continue chanting and halt the meeting for another twenty to twenty-five minutes. "The real terrorists in the world today, are the FBI and the CIA! From Abu Ghraib to Gitmo Bay, CIA torture leads the way!"

Staff Sgt. Sharp had his own idea on how to deal with the situation. He walked to the back of the room, toward the remaining protesters, intent on removing them by force.

The two sat down as he approached and linked arms. Staff Sgt. Sharp then began tugging on the unlinked left arm of one protester, engaging in a brief and futile tug of war that got him admonished by a superior officer.

Around 3:40 pm, Rutgers police arrived. The activists, still chanting, stood and unlinked their arms. Police asked them if they would leave at this point. The two continued chanting and were arrested without resisting. As RUPD Officer Ganzer slapped on handcuffs and escorted the two men out of the room, the pair kept chanting loudly, denouncing torture and the war.

After their exit, the meeting resumed, but was clearly thrown into disarray. Recruiters mentioned, then completely skipped the section they had prepared on the CIA. Other activists were in the audience with prepared questions, but other students began asking the recruiters pointed questions themselves, without prompting.

Apparently, many students were under the mistaken impression that it was a recruitment meeting for all branches of the federal government. A German language major asked about a possible job as EU liason assistant with the State Department. Recruiters replied to her question by stating they had no idea about that; they were Army recruiters. Finding this out, more than half of the remaining students in the audience left.

The presentation quickly ended having reached its time limit.

Rey Robles, 18, and Tom Howard, 27, are being charged with a petty disorderly persons offence for disrupting a public meeting.

Their first hearing is December 14, 2005 at 8:45 am at the New Brunswick Municipal Court.

Solidarity is requested, both for the defendants and to keep war resistance nice and toasty going into the cold winter. Come out and show support!

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"We are now faced with the fact, my friends, that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history, there is such a thing as being too late. Procrastination is still the thief of time. Life often leaves us standing bare, naked, and dejected with a lost opportunity. The tide in the affairs of men does not remain at flood -- it ebbs. We may cry out desperately for time to pause in her passage, but time is adamant to every plea and rushes on. Over the bleached bones and jumbled residues of numerous civilizations are written the pathetic words, 'Too late.'"

-- Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., "Beyond Vietnam" address, delivered at the Riverside Church, NYC, April 4, 1967.