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School of the Americas
On January 21, former Mead Junior High teacher, Paddy Inman, was sentenced to six months in a Federal Penitentiary and a $3,000 fine. He was charged with a petty misdemeanor for trespassing on Fort Benning, Georgia, during a protest. Inman and 600 others were protesting the United States Army School of the Americas (SOA). This protest has been highly publicized, however, most people, although they may know Inman, do not know why he was protesting SOA. Actually, many people had not heard of SOA prior to this protest, despite the fact that approximately $2.6 million tax dollars fund the school each year.
The school has been operating since 1946. It was established to promote democracy and train Latin American soldiers U.S. military tactics. Originally located in Panama, the school was relocated to Fort Benning, Georgia in 1987. There, the SOA has received numerous protests by human rights activists because of the use of "Torture Manuals" and the continual human rights violations on the part of some former students.
Although SOA denies responsibility for human rights violations, including torture, by some graduates, they were in direct violation of U.S. military code in the use of so- called "Torture Manuals" from 1987 until 1991. The Department of Defense claims that these manuals contain classified methodology that could "compromise Army clandestine intelligence modus operandi." The manuals also contain references to motivation by fear, payment of bounties or enemy dead, beatings, false imprisonment, executions and the use of Sodiopenthanol Compound as a truth serum. The Counterintelligence portion includes statements that are "in violation of legal, regulatory or policy prohibitions, and contains sensitive Army counterintelligence tactics, techniques and procedures." The only portion of the manuals that did not contain violations was considered completely obsolete by the department.
One passage in the manual states, "The Counterintelligence agent could cause the arrest of the parents, imprison the or give him a beating as part of the placement plan of said in the guerrilla organization."
Another passage encourages intoxication of informants as a means to extract information. These manuals, although revoked from the SOA by the Secretary of Defense, still receive severe protest from human rights activists.
These activists, notably School of the Americas Watch, wish to close the SOA and establish an academy for democracy and civil-military relations. This seems "ironic" to some, as democracy was the original purpose for SOA, along with anti-Communist intelligence operations during the Cold War. The General Accounting Office of Congress points out that the SOA does have a course in democracy. However, this class was not offered until 1996, fifty years after the school opened and the same year the accounting office began investigations.
SOA Watch is working in conjunction with Representative Joe Kennedy (Dem.- Massachusetts). Together they have proposed a bill, House Resolution 611, which will close the SOA and establish an academy for democracy and civil-military relations.
House Resolution 611 has been defeated by a small majority twice, but Kennedy has made large gains in getting the bill passed. He refers to the SOA as an, "atrocity." He also discussed the SOA "Hall of Fame," a wall that displays the pictures of distinguished graduates. He states, "The 'Hall of Fame' in Georgia, is a 'hall of shame' for the American people."
In fact, many of SOA's "Hall of Fame" graduates have been cited with severe human rights violations. For example, General Rafael Samudio Molina of Colombia was cited by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights as being responsible for a massacre at the Colombian Palace of Justice in 1985. Under Molina's command, the building was set ablaze, resulting in the deaths of civilians. Those who attempted to escape the fire were killed in Army crossfire or, as the commission claims, "direct assassination." Taped conversations between Molina and his commanders establish that Molina was not acting on behalf of the civilian government and the commission states that " used the situation to prove the brutality of the Colombian military and to eliminate individuals, including Supreme Court justices, who were not staunch enough allies of the Colombian Army." Molina was never a student of SOA but has been a guest instructor in 1970 and was placed on the "Hall of Fame" in 1988, approximately three years after the Palace of Justice Massacre.
Although SOA denies responsibility for any human rights violations caused by Molina or any graduates, human rights activists claim direct responsibility on the part of the school. A film titled "School of Assassins," put out by SOA Watch, states that not only were the dictators of Bolivia, Honduras and Ecuador former graduates, but 49 of the 60 soldiers on the United Nations Truth Commission "atrocious human rights violators" list. Manuel Noreaga, General Hector Gramaho and half of the 250 Colombian officers cited by ETEC for violations are also claimed former graduates.
However, the human rights violations on the part of former graduates are not necessarily directly linked to SOA. Colonel Alirio Antonio Uruena Jaramillo attended a Small Unit Infantry Tactics course in 1976. It was not until 1988 that he was accused by the Organization of American States of human rights violations during the Trujillo chainsaw massacres, in which 107 citizens died. The only evidence that Jaramillo was involved was from an eye-witness, who the organization claims "was soon disappeared, Major Jaramillo was promoted to Colonel." Jaramillo was dismissed from the Army in 1995 but the organization does not directly state that his dismissal was due to these allegations.
In spite of the horrible acts by some SOA graduates, there are many who defend the existence of the school. Its defenders point out that a majority of graduates do not commit atrocities. They also explain that of the graduates, only those from Latin America have violated human rights. Graduates from such countries as the United States, Central African Republic, Egypt, Hungary, Jordan, Latvia, Lebanon, Niger, Saudi Arabia, Singapore and Thailand have not been the cause of any violations. Defenders of the school have also said that a majority of the atrocities are caused by corrupt military officials working on behalf of drug cartels. The General Accounting Office of Congress stated that, " virtually all of the countries have representative governments and are pursuing market-based economic policies...civilian authority is weak and fragmented, and problems such as corruption within the government and human rights violations associated with government authorities, particularly military and police forces, remain as threats to the gains made over the past decade."
SOA officials also report their "respect for human rights," which is presented in a mandatory 4 hour class. This instruction is said to include case studies of the My Lai massacre in Vietnam and the El Mozote massacre in El Salvador. However, human rights activists have attributed direct responsibility for the El Mozote massacre to the SOA, as 12 soldiers were former graduates. In the film, "School of Assassins," the only survivor of the massacre, Rafina Amaya pleads, "Please, don't give us any more of this military aid, it would be better to help the poor." Amaya hid behind bushes as 900 fellow villagers, including her children, were shot by military gunmen.
As allegations of direct human right violations continue to mount, now including Amnesty International resolutions, SOA continues to deny responsibility. Claiming that violations occur due to corrupt governments and influential drug cartels, SOA has thus far maintained operational status under Department of Defense command.
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