School of the Americas = School of the Assassins

School of the Americas = School of the Assassins Army school faces critics who call it training ground for assassins

Associated Press, 05/02/98 15:58

WEST POINT, N.Y. (AP) - Former Panamanian strongman and convicted drug
trafficker Gen. Manuel Noriega graduated from the school. So did Roberto
D'Aubuisson, architect of El Salvador's right-wing death squad network.

Founded in 1946 to teach Latin American soldiers U.S. military tactics, the
Army's School of the Americas has been labeled by critics as a training
ground for assassins, dictators and their henchmen.

Although it admits some of its graduates have abused their authority, the
Army claims a few bad apples do not spoil the whole bunch. So on Saturday
it did something it has hardly ever done in the past - faced its critics
and let them fire away.

``The school is the West Point of Latin America,'' said the Rev. Roy
Bourgeois. ``Latin Americans cannot understand why we are arming and
training the soldiers that are beating them up.''

Bourgeois, who is serving a federal prison term for trespassing during a
protest at the school, is a member of the Maryknolls, a U.S.-based Catholic
mission group that has been working in Latin America for decades.

Maryknoll priests and sisters have often been caught in the crossfire of
Latin American insurgencies and coups, and have been among the loudest
critics of America's history in the region.

Representatives of the Maryknolls and others were among those the Army
planned to meet with Saturday in what it described as an academic workshop
to clear up misconceptions about the school. The meeting was closed to the
public.

``It will show them what the school is doing, compared to what they read
the school is doing,'' said Capt. Kevin McIver of Fort Benning, Ga., where
the school is located. ``Those are two completely different things.''

The school was founded in Panama following World War II as a way to
professionalize Latin American armies and strengthen democracies, according
to the Army. It was moved to Fort Benning in 1984.

Critics say the school was really created to squash leftist movements that
threatened American interests, avoiding the need for direct military
intervention by the United States. They are demanding it be shut down.

Their demand gained momentum when it was revealed recently that the school
used manuals that included references to executions, torture and other
human rights abuses. Some congressmen have since pushed for a stop in
funding for the school, but so far the votes are not there.

The Army recognizes that a problem exists.

A Department of Defense report earlier this year warned that ``public
confidence in the school must be restored.''

Although the same report commended the school for its human rights
initiatives and adherence to Army doctrine and training, school officials
do not dispute that some of its graduates have committed crimes.

Nineteen of the 26 military officers that critics cited in the murder of
six Jesuit priests and two women in El Salvador eight years ago were
graduates of the School of the Americas.

Guatemalan officials admitted that another graduate, a Guatemalan officer,
ordered the 1992 execution of a leftist guerrilla married to U.S. citizen
Jennifer Harbury. She had fought for years to prove the killers lied about
her husband's fate.

Perhaps the school's most famous graduate, Noriega, is serving time in
Florida for turning Panama into a major shipping point for Colombian drug
lords.

``Whenever human rights abuses surface, out come School of America
graduates,'' said Ybonne Dilling of the coalition School of the Americas
Watch.

Activists charge that thousands of people over the years have been
victimized by some of the school's 60,000 graduates. The Army says the
abuses are not condoned and were committed by a tiny fraction of graduates.

McIver said the school has stopped teaching counterinsurgency methods and
instead focuses on maintaining peace and democracies. The curriculum now
includes human rights education among programs like the commando course,
which mirrors Army Ranger training.

McIver and supporters believe the school should remain open to train
military and police officers in protecting democracies and fighting drug
cartels. If the school lives by that credo, it would have a long and worthy
future, say supporters.

``The courses we taught here were professional military courses,'' McIver
said. ``I know we have a small percentage of graduates linked to abuses.
Most are doing great things. Unfortunately, a few didn't.''

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Army school faces critics who call it training ground for assassins