More than 70 students and community members gathered last night in the Sparks Building as humanitarian Kathy Kelly discussed the need for the United States to change its military training tactics.

Kelly, a three-time Nobel Peace Prize nominee and an active member of the Catholic Worker movement, is a co-founder of Voices in the Wilderness, a campaign to end United Nations and U.S. sanctions against Iraq prior to the U.S.-led war in the country last year. Kelly has been to Iraq numerous times to provide medical aid and participate in nonviolent protests.

Kelly's lecture, "Surviving Shock and Awe: Struggling for Peace Amidst the Horrors of War," was sponsored by Penn State Amnesty International and the State College Peace Center as part of War Crimes Week at Penn State.

Kelly said if U.S. representatives are sent overseas, they must be trained with the knowledge of the geography, history and culture of those countries.

She said from her experience in Iraq, she has been surprised by the number of youths in the military who have no knowledge of what is going on in Iraq.

"Maybe we are creating terrorists before we can kill them," she said.

Kelly shared her experience at Fort Benning, Ga., in November 2003 where she was arrested for allegedly going over the border of the U.S. Army's School of the Americas (now called the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation).

Angeliki Vgontzas, co-coordinator of Penn State Amnesty International, said Kelly crossed the border as a nonviolent protest against the school, which was said to train people and dictators in Latin America violating human rights.

Kelly said she was cornered by U.S. military police and was told to raise her arms and legs. She described the encounter as a "very aggressive search" where she received a black eye, was pushed to the ground and tied down.

Kelly said the experience taught her that all U.S. citizens are "tethered" to policies that are not working. She added if those in combat are trained to say the word "kill" 3,000 times a day, are taught to invade communities and kill, the final result is what is beginning to unfold in Iraq.

Kelly said the best way to counter terror is for the United States to build justice and relationships with other countries. She added the United States should not send troops into places where they will be hated and their lives will be thrown away.

Pushker Kharecha, member of Amnesty International, said the events scheduled for this week are aimed to educate the campus and the community of the consequences of the United States' interventions, including Iraq.

"We want to get the truth out," Kharecha said. "It's not as glorious as Hollywood portrays it."

Anand Narasimhamurthy (graduate-computer science and engineering), who asked Kelly to talk on campus last year, said it is important for students to be aware of these issues because the media only portray a narrow perspective and monitor what information of war crimes overseas is released to the public.