"School Of The Americas" - (School For Training Assassins)

[think]

Please take the time to understand this part of America's historical involvement in Central & South America. (WARNING: There is some graphic footage in this video):

For more information please visit School of the Americas Watch:

http://www.soaw.org/

11 Latin American Dictators trained at the School of Americas:

Bloody Legacy of the SOA: At least 11 dictators have been trained at the School of the Americas since it opened in 1948.


GEN Leopoldo Galtieri,
(Argentina) 1949, Engineer Course
Military dictator, 1981-82: Achieved power by means of a violent coup, ousting Roberto Viola, below. (WP, 5/19/94) Galtieri was convicted and sentenced to 12 years in prison for leading Argentina into the disastrous war with Britain for control of the Falkland Islands. He was pardoned, along with 280 other human rights abusers by President Carlos Menem in October 1989. (The New York Times, 10/12/89)

GEN Juan Melgar Castro,
(Honduras) 1962, "SOPM" Course
Military dictator, 1975-78, installed to replace former, more liberal military dictator. (The Washington Post, 5/19/94).

GEN Efrain Rios Montt,
(Guatemala) 1950, Special Course
President for 18 months, between 1982-1983. Took power through a coup and governed Guatemala during the height of the counter-insurgency ?scorched earth? campaign, 1981 to 1984, that wiped hundreds of Mayan villages off the map, left thousands dead and forced hundreds of thousands into refuge or exile.

GEN Manuel Noriega,
(Panama) 1967, Infantry Officer Course;1967, Combat
Intelligence Officer Course; Military Intelligence, Phase 11(Counter-Intelligence Officer Course);1967, Jungle Operations Drug trafficking, racketeering.
De facto leader of Panama who, in 1988, became the most powerful foreign official ever indicted by the United States. He was captured by U.S. invading forces in December 1989. (The Washington Post, 6/19/94) Noriega's instructor at the 1967 counter intelligence course commented that Noriega was outstanding. (Our Man in Panama) Murder, 1989: Believed to have killed one or more of the soldiers involved in a failed coup attempt in October 1989. On June 5, 1995, a Panamanian court began trying Noriega in absentia, along with 7 others implicated in the killings. (La Prensa, Panama)...

Full list:
http://soaw.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=840

[libodem]

1. This ought to be required watching

It should be reposted once a week. Seriously.

[Babel_17]

2. The threat of rape to win heats and minds?

Wasn't that part of it? You taught the insurgents to never rape, that just earned you undying enmity. Rather you implied the rape, you segregated the women and kept them in fear. Then you allow the men of the village to come to an understanding, and they get to be the saviors of their women.

Very clever in a throw up a little in the back of your mouth, despair over at what we've become, kind of way.

You then come back just often enough to make the men sweat and so they can swear that they've allied themselves with you and will vote the right way.

Yes, much like how our Founding Fathers dealt with the Loyalists ... oh wait, no, that never happened.

But it was part of the training we gave the Contras to get the (democratically elected) Sandinistas out of power.

Edit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/School_of_the_Americas_Watch

[BlueEye]

3. Wow. I remember watching this documentary in my Social Justice class at my Catholic high school...

years ago. The teacher was a member of the Maryknoll organization that produced it. As I recall, it was pretty controversial to be showing a bunch of 10th graders this stuff, but I found it eye opening. Someone told me that this particular teacher was quietly shown the door a few years back. Sad, but not surprising. Most American Catholics I know are rather conservative, but every once in a while, you'll run into a dyed-in-the-wool liberal.

America's secret wars in Central and South America are indeed a dark and terrible history.

[DashOneBravo]

4. Book marked for later

[burrowowl]

5. K&R!!!!!!

[SamKnause]

6. Now known as

Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation. (WHINSEC)

The United States government, The Pentagon, and the military brass

are EVIL !!!!

There is no way to whitewash the death and destruction they have

caused in Central and South America.

Off this Topic;

There is no way to whitewash the death and destruction they have

caused around the globe.

The United States has invaded 70 countries since 1776.

[think]

7. Thanks. I forgot they changed the name to Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation

It is very unfortunate that the majority of Americans don't understand the sordid history of our military & multinational corporations involvement in Latin America.

[SamKnause]

8. Unfortunate does not do it justice.

It is devastating.