"School of Americas" Generals Charged In Colombia

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Scoop Independent News Media

"School of Americas" Generals Charged In Colombia
Tuesday, 9 June 2009, 1:43 pm
Column: Sherwood Ross

2 "School of Americas" Generals Charged In Crimes In Colombia

By Sherwood Ross
Two Colombian generals, both of whom received training at the U.S. Army's "School of The Americas"(SOA) at Ft. Benning, Ga., have been accused by Colombian authorities of crimes involving narcotics and collaborating with criminal paramilitary groups, according to a report in the June 15th issue of The Nation magazine.

Brig. Gen. Pauxelino Latorre has been charged "with laundering millions of dollars for a paramilitary drug ring, and prosecutors say they are looking into his activities as head of the Seventeenth Brigade," investigative journalist Teo Ballve reports. He notes that criminal probes repeatedly linked his unit "to illegal paramilitary groups that had brutally killed thousands" of Colombian farmers in an effort to seize their land for palm oil production.

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Another general, Rito Alejo Del Rio, former Seventeenth Brigade leader, is in jail on charges of collaborating with paramilitaries, gangs that have been responsible for widespread atrocities. He also received training at SOA.

Various firms currently engaged in palm oil development since 2002 apparently have received $75 million in U.S. Agency for International Development money under "Plan Comombia," Ballve writes. And some of the firms appear to be tied to narco-traffickers, "in possible violation of federal law." The writer notes Colombia's paramilitaries are on the State Department's list of foreign "terrorist" organizations.

"Plan Colombia is fighting against drugs militarily at the same time it gives money to support palm, which is used by paramilitary mafias to launder money," The Nation quotes Colombian Senator Gustavo Petro, as saying. "The United States is implicitly subsidizing drug traffickers."


Read more: http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0906/S00092.htm

[shadowknows69]

1. The rest of the world is slowly but surely tiring of our shit.

Thet also know that we don't dare wage much more war right now unless we're willing to resort to the unthinkable.

[Rebubula]

7. Humans...

....we all suck and all of the world does horrible things to each other for a multitude of lame reasons. The US is not alone is being bastards. The Iranian Savak and the Russian GRU could teach anyone lessons on depraved treatment of people. Pol Pot and his band of sociopaths are worse than anything that the US has done in 100 years.

As my Episcopal minister grandfather always said 'Man is no damn good'

That said...the School of The Americas needs to be shut down and the books opened.

[ShortnFiery]

8. You got that right!

http://www.last.fm/music/David+Rovics/_/Bomb+Ourselves

The President got on TV and there was nary a dry eye, he said he loved his country and mom and apple pie
He said he was a proud man and he liked his home fries grilled, and as for countries harboring terrorists, those people should be killed
He said we'd send our bombers to deal with rogue states and all those evil people would have to meet their fates
So it was with some trepidation that I looked up to the skies, 'cause I was driving past Fort Benning when I came to realize

That I guess we're gonna have to bomb Columbus, Georgia, home of the infamous SOA
'Cause they train the death squads of Colombia who commit a massacre every day
Civilians are their targets, folks just like you and me
I guess that makes them terrorists, any idiot must agree

And I was heading further south for a vacation to spend some time hanging on the beach
Soaking up some sun and playing volleyball with all my troubles out of reach
And then I saw Brothers to the Rescue flying in the clouds above my head
And I thought this trip might not be too restful if tomorrow I am dead

'Cause I guess we're gonna have to bomb Miami, with all those insurgents running loose
Killing Cubans at the Bay of Pigs and elsewhere, they say they've got some kind of excuse
But isn't terror terror irregardless if your victim is a fan of Karl Marx
So let's bring on the cluster bombs and napalm, kill off some people, fish and sharks

Well I thought I would head north, go someplace where I might feel safe
These thoughts all seemed a bit unsettling, I was feeling a bit like a lost waif
It was then I thought I'd move to Costa Rica, though such a thing seemed terribly uncouth
Because I suddenly realized with horror, the terrifying clear and present truth

I guess we're gonna have to bomb Washington, DC, 'cause terrorists are lurking all around
Sending soldiers, guns and money wherever death squads and dictators may be found
So let's appreciate the situation, take your Orwell off the shelves
If we are to listen to our Presidents then we're going to have to bomb ourselves

[valerief]

12. Right on the money! nt

[bvar22]

20. Excellent.

Please post as an OP.
:patriot:

[dipsydoodle]

2. Excellent

:thumbsup:

[AngryOldDem]

3. About damned time!

Maybe NOW that facility will get shut down for good.

[gratuitous]

5. Check the dateline

This is from a New Zealand source, which is probably as close as this story will come to being aired in the Western or Northern Hemispheres. That is, you're not going to see it on The Toady Show or Good Morning Shiny Happy America.

[pjt7]

4. It's amazing that the "schoolof underhand crimes"

is still in operation.

[dotymed]

6. BELIEVE ME

They teach the same tactics at other, undisclosed locations.
The SOA is just a former shell of itself. They have moved the
"training" to other areas, not one place anymore.
Now the SOA is just an attraction for the uninformed to
attack. 

[ShortnFiery]

9. It's not just "the military" but the entire CULTURE that is ruled by The Pentagon and Wall Street.

We must work to STOP the stranglehold the Military Industrial Complex has over our Foreign Policy.

What? Those bombs aren't gonna blow themselves up son. :wow:

We (the USA armaments corporations) are the Merchants of Death and Destruction:

[valerief]

13. Empiricism is "haaaaard" work. nt

[roody]

15. It still needs to be shut down.

[dotymed]

16. I agree, Roody....

Unfortunately, it will just be a "gesture", made to
placate peace loving people. The tactics that were taught
there can now be teleconferenced with instructors on site.
That is just one possibility. Our military and especially the
CIA teaches "counterinsurgency" that would make many
cry just reading the handbook. My father used to teach
"history" at the SOA in the mid 70's. He showed and
told me some of the "history" that was taught, so it
would repeat itself. He was a very highly decorated officer
who "worked his way up from a private. He got a field
commission in 'Nam, and later became "R.A.", regular
Army, a title usually only given to West Pointers and other
"prestigious" graduates of the elite killing
academies. From a 15 year old, eighth grade dropout who lied
about his age to join the Army,to a man accepted as a member
of the military elite, he was by the time he died, ( with many
degrees, published papers, flying for Nixon and implementing
new flight strategies for the Army) ready for a Revolution. He
had learned MANY dirty secrets. He realized that only the
elite "counted" in the big picture, everyone else is
expendable. He loved (and carried the wounds to prove it) his
country but hated our government. From the beginning, it was
to "maintain the status quo." We are all slaves and
need to break our bondage...

[roody]

24. I attended a talk by someone from the

Fellowship of Reconciliation and learned about the many U.S. training sites in Columbia and beyond. They need to be closed as well.
www.forusa.org

[Joe Chi Minh]

22. Don't be daft. The composition and geography of the SOA are irrelevant to protests.

The protestors are not bombing those august centres of learning.

[earcandle]

10. St. Ronnie, such a good man.

[Mosaic]

11. Good News

We must all work together to end this cancer on our nation. Obama needs to lead on peace.

[roody]

14. This year's bill to shut it down

HR 2567 Campaign

Representative Jim McGovern and 42 other members of the House of Representatives have reintroduced the Latin America Military Training Review Act. This legislation would suspend operations at the SOA/ WHINSEC, investigate torture manuals and human rights abuses associated with the school, and conduct an assessment of military training in Latin America.

Has your House Rep cosponsored HR 2567? Check out the list of cosponsors at the bottom of this page. If not, take action and be a part of the legislative campaign to close the SOA/ WHINSEC!
http://www.soaw.org/article.php?id=96

[AngryOldDem]

19. Maybe this year it will happen. n/t

[Vidar]

17. Glad to hear it, though the "instructors" should be on trial as well.

[damntexdem]

18. Isn't nice to see that at least some students paid attention in class?

;-)

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

25. So you actually believe that they were taught how to traffic in narcotics at the SOA?

[Wednesdays]

21. K&R

:kick:

[IndianaGreen]

23. Here is change we can believe in, Obama: Close the SOA for good!

Clinton let us down by just merely renaming the SOA.