Opposing America’s School of Assassins

[Judi Lynn]

Wednesday, December 8, 2004


Point of View:

Opposing America’s School of Assassins
Frank Dorrel
Special to the Mirror

Friday, Saturday and Sunday, November 19, 20 and 21, I had the opportunity to take part in the annual protest/demonstration against the infamous School of the Americas (SOA) located at Fort Benning, in Columbus, Georgia. This was the third year in a row that I have traveled to Georgia to protest the SOA. This year, over 16,000 people of all ages, races and backgrounds came together from all over the country, asking to close this school down.

The SOA, now known as the “Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation” (the name was changed in 2001), is a combat training school for Latin American soldiers. Initially established in Panama in 1946, the School of the Americas was kicked out of that country under the terms of the Panama Canal Treaty in 1984 and transferred to Fort Benning. Former Panamanian President, Jorge Illueca, has called it the “biggest base for destabilization in Latin America." For years, the SOA has been referred to as the "School of Assassins."

During the last 58 years, the SOA has trained over 60,000 Latin American soldiers in counterinsurgency techniques, sniper training, commando and psychological warfare, military intelligence and interrogation tactics. These graduates have consistently used their skills to wage a war against their own people. Among those targeted by SOA graduates are educators, union organizers, religious workers, student leaders and others who work for the rights of the poor. Hundreds of thousands of Latin Americans have been tortured, raped, assassinated, disappeared, massacred and forced into refuge by those trained at the School of Assassins.

The SOA Watch was started in 1990 by Maryknoll priest Father Roy Bourgeois and a few other activists. On November 16th, 1989, six Jesuit priests, their co-worker and her teenage daughter were massacred in El Salvador. It was later discovered that those responsible were trained at the U.S. Army School of the Americas. In recent years anywhere from 10,000 to 15,000 people have come to Fort Benning every November to protest the SOA.
(snip/...)

http://www.smmirror.com/volume6/issue26/opposing_americas_school.asp

[Downtown Hound]

1. Good for you

That protest gets larger every year.

[FloridaPat]

2. Thanks for all the information. I knew it was there but didn't know

much about it.

[4morewars]

3. I was just there !

Father Roy is a great guy, we had a wonderful time. I especially enjoyed protesting outside the county jail where all the prisoners of conscience were taken. Join us next year !

[Judi Lynn]

4. So you did it! It's great hearing an actual DU'er was there!

Have read of Father Roy for years. He's a strong character, a good one.

Knowing the US-backed rightwing regimes in Latin America perceive Catholic church people as targets, as well as teachers, human rights workers, etc. is unbearable. They simply murder them. Don't want them around trying to help the poor.

Can't believe ANY people could go along with them. So glad there is a growing voice against this way of governing, as muffled as it is, currently.

[4morewars]

5. Call your Congress critter.

Persuade him or her to co-sponsor the bill (HR1258) to end this. More info and great resources here:

http://www.soaw.org/new/article.php?id=96

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The most important thing I came away with this time was the feeling of being in a movement. Everything that is happening in the world today is so connected. The war in Iraq, all the crimes of the bush* regime, all the turbulence in the world, Haiti, South America, the Ukraine, globalization,etc, All of it can be tied together. The suffering of hundreds of thousands (millions?), all for the benefit of a few fat, greedy, shameless, selfish, evil, rich, white guys. They already control most of the wealth, what more do they want ?

If you want peace, work for justice ! Joe

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

6. I love how they changed the name.

Like that is supposed to make us go. "Oh yeah I guess they don't murder people anymore".