Book Features Cajun Priest in a David and Goliath Struggle with the Pentagon

The story of an outspoken U.S. priest, whose tireless human rights campaign has been called both prophetic and patriotic at a time of escalating U.S. military interventions.

(PRWEB) February 9, 2005 -- The release of a book featuring the Cajun priest who spearheads one of the largest U.S. peace movements couldnt be more timely as President Bush replaces Attorney General John Ashcroft with a lawyer who undermined conventions against the use of torture.

Disturbing the Peace, a fast-paced historical biography by New Orleans journalists James Hodge and Linda Cooper, tells the story of an inspiring priest, a former gung-ho Navy officer injured in a bombing in Vietnam, who has become an outspoken advocate for human rights. The book also profiles the movement he founded to close a notorious U.S. Army school, while documenting the atrocities its graduates have committed across Latin America.

The journey of this "spiritual hobo" has more twists and turns than the Mississippi River: from love affairs that ended in heartbreak to patriotic impulses that ended in doubts and disillusionment. From dreams of wealth to missionary work among the poor. From protests and prison terms to political battles on Capitol Hill.

Bourgeois opposition to the growing militarism of the United States began after a blind Vietnamese orphan opened his eyes to the realities of war. His human rights work has landed him in half a dozen war-torn countries: In Bolivia, where security forces kidnapped him after he spoke out against torture. In El Salvador, where he disappeared and two friends were killed by the U.S.-trained Salvadoran military. In Nicaragua and Honduras, where the CIA was helping contra commandos overthrow the Nicaraguan government. In Colombia, where he witnessed the human toll of the drug war, escorted by a Colombian Army general linked to terrorist bombings. In Iraq, where he met with desperately poor Iraqis just before the country became a bloodbath.

In profiling the movement to close the U.S. Armys School of the Americas, Disturbing the Peace recounts not only the Congressional battles, but the courage of thousands of average Americans whove risked arrest to expose the school, while helping to stem the erosion of civil liberties since Sept.11, 2001. In documenting the schools sordid history and its use of torture manuals, the book shines a light on the dark side of U.S. foreign policy -- in Latin America as well as in Iraq, where high-level policy decisions contributed to gross abuses at Abu Ghraib prison.

Disturbing the Peace is "an astonishing chronicle...On a deeper and even more profound level, this book describes the evolution and journey of a soul...from prayer and contemplation to heroic action." Martin Sheen, from the Foreword

Disturbing the Peace "reads, at times, like a best-selling thriller, but is in the very best tradition of compelling spiritual biography." The New Orleans Times-Picayune

"From the first pages of Disturbing the Peace you will be hooked . . . an amazing spiritual journey." Sister Helen Prejean, author, Dead Man Walking

"Roy Bourgeois represents all that is best about America-our abiding faith, our love of country, and our deep compassion for the least among us. He is both priest and patriot, a decorated war veteran who has fought for peace and justice to redeem the promise of America." Joseph Kennedy II

"One of the finest examples of spiritual peacemaking this country has to offer is that of Maryknoll priest Roy Bourgeois ... His struggle is masterfully told by James Hodge and Linda Cooper in Disturbing the Peace, one of this seasons best books." Kerry Walters, William Bittinger Professor of Philosophy Gettysburg College

Disturbing the Peace: The Story of Father Roy Bourgeois and the Movement to Close the School of the Americas by James Hodge and Linda Cooper is published by Orbis Books.

Hodge, a longtime editor and writer with the New Orleans Times-Picayune, and Cooper, a freelance writer and former ESL instructor at Tulane University, can be contacted through www.hodge-cooper.net

Fr. Bourgeois can be reached at 706-682-5369

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