Isn't it time we pressure President Obama to close the School of the Americas?

[IndianaGreen]

Poll question: Isn't it time we pressure President Obama to close the School of the Americas?

Generals Who Led Honduras Military Coup Trained at the School of the Americas

Romeo Vasquez, a general who led the military coup in Honduras against President Manuel Zelaya, received training at the US School of the Americas. The SOA has trained more than 60,000 soldiers, many of whom have returned home and committed human rights abuses, torture, extrajudicial execution and massacres. According to School of the Americas Watch, Vasquez attended the SOA in 1976 and 1984. The head of the Air Force, Gen. Luis Javier Prince Suazo, also studied there in 1996. We speak with Father Roy Bourgeois, founder of the School of the Americas Watch.

YouTube

SOA Watch to Join Honduran Social Movements

The situation in Honduras remains extremely tense following the June 28 military coup by graduates of the School of the Americas (SOA/ WHINSEC). For the last six days, SOA Watch has been in constant communication with pro-democracy organizers in Honduras. We are pressuring the State Department and the White House with street protests and an online actions to ensure the unconditional reinstatement of President Zeleya.

However, the calls from our partners in Honduras have made it clear to us that we need to go a step further. SOA Watch has decided to join the Honduran social movements on the ground. A small SOA Watch delegation is going to meet with members of the National Resistance Committee tomorrow and will join them in the streets.

SOA Watch's Latin America Coordinator Lisa Sullivan, the former SOA Watch Prisoners of Conscience Laura Slattery and Father Joe Mulligan, SOA Watch lawyer Kent Spriggs, SOA Watch founder Father Roy Bourgeois and others are currently on their way to Tegucigalpa, Honduras.

The resistance to the military coup that is taking place right now in Honduras is a Honduran struggle and a struggle of the Americas, at the same time. The outcome will affect all of us for years to come. International accompaniment can have a big impact and save lives.

http://www.soaw.org /

The question for DUers: Isn't it time we pressure President Obama to close the School of the Americas (SOA/ WHINSEC)?

Poll result (65 votes)
YES--close SOA	(56 votes, 86%)	Vote
NO--SOA is good	(5 votes, 8%)	Vote
Other	(4 votes, 6%)	Vote

[BlooInBloo]

1. Does anything else happen at SoA? Or do they just train assholes?

[Fire1]

16. That's what I want to know before I vote. n/t

[donheld]

2. It's closure is long overdue

[donheld]

3. It's closure is long overdue

[DesertRat]

4. Yes, absolutely!

[roody]

5. k

[Peacetrain]

6. Oh GOD Yes...

Let me edit to add... REC plus one

[bigwillq]

7. Yes (nt)

[Forkboy]

8. Glad to rec this one.

[anonymous171]

9. YES YES YES YES YES YES! nt

[boppers]

10. Background reading:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WHINSEC
https://www.infantry.army.mil/WHINSEC /

The latter link is official, the former has typical wikipedia criticism/cheerleading/debates on the talk page (including SOAW discussion):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Western_Hemisphere_In...

[IndianaGreen]

13. back to wiki again, and quoting a DINFOS written US Army story?

Good old DINFOS!

[boppers]

15. Mediawiki has an interesting set of social policies.

It encourages those perspectives who are interested in researching a topic to contribute, and tries (with success and failure) to represent un-biased, well-cited, reliable information.

Sometimes I learn a lot more about a given topic from the Talk page, as people with strong opinions try to hash out compromise language that doesn't mislead, or misinform, readers.

Is there something in particular about Wikipedia's policies that bother you? There certainly are valid point of criticism, so I'm curious as to what yours are.

[PretzelWarrior]

11. nice push poll. very idiotic waste of our time to talk like this.

[MADem]

12. +1. nt

[IndianaGreen]

14. A simple question, and one that President Clinton had failed miserably

Clinton's solution was to re-baptize SOA with a new name, put Wes Clark in charge for a few months, and sugar coat the same mission and strategy.

How many of Bush policies will Obama embrace before people like you realize that there is something wrong in Neverland?

[boppers]

17. Also now has different courses, different curricula, etc.

I agree that the changes may not have been enough to remove the existing stigma, as your vocal opposition, and the current trend of the poll, aptly demonstrates.

I certainly can see the benefit in offering training courses in military management, effective leadership, democracy, and human rights to soldiers in the hemisphere, but doing it in a way associated with facilities and programs that have been associated with past atrocities (which seem quite contradictory to the current mission) is problematic.

[IndianaGreen]

19. How come no such similar school exists for European countries?

Clearly, US business interests still view Latin America as belonging to them, and they use our military to keep control over the region. SOA is nothing more than a school to train anti-progressive and pro-business military cadres.

[jonnyblitz]

25. all they did was change the name of the school hoping that would

fool the critics and shut them up. I did much background reading on the school during the 2004 election when Wes Clark, sadly a champion of the school, was running for president.

[Forkboy]

27. Like rooting for us to attack North Korea on your part wasn't?

Still want to go "Crazy Ivan" on the country?

[Vidar]

18. Close it down.

[AlphaCentauri]

20. Some Catholic nuns have try before with out luck

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines01/0624-01.htm

http://www.soaw.org/newswire_detail.php?id=763

These respectful ladies are some of my heroes.

[IndianaGreen]

21. Update: November 20-22, 2009 – Converge on Fort Benning, Georgia

Posted by roody in Latin American forum:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

November 20-22, 2009 – Converge on Fort Benning, Georgia

Mass Mobilization to Shut Down the School of the Americas (SOA/ WHINSEC)!

The military coup by SOA graduates in Honduras has once again exposed the destabilizing and deadly effects that the School of the Americas has on Latin America. The actions of the school’s graduates are unmasking the Pentagon rhetoric and reveal the anti-democratic results of U.S. policies. It is time for a change towards justice.

From November 20-22, 2009, thousands will vigil at the gates of Fort Benning, Georgia, to stand up for justice, to shut down the School of the Americas and to end the oppressive U.S. foreign policy that the school represents.

The campaign to close the SOA is in a crucial phase right now. Despite promising comments from President Obama during his election campaign, the SOA/ WHINSEC is still in operation and the Pentagon is moving forward with plans for new U.S. military bases in Colombia. With a Democratic administration in the White House, it appears that some Democrats in Congress are becoming timid when it comes to opposing the Pentagon.

It is up to us to keep up the pressure and to hold them accountable. People power is going to win over Pentagon lobbying!

It is tremendously important that we have a strong showing at the gates of Fort Benning for the annual vigil and nonviolent direct action, in order to demonstrate that we won’t go away until the SOA is shut down and the U.S. government has stopped turning to “military solutions” (or political-economic interventions) to enforce its oppressive foreign policy in Latin America. Too many people have suffered and died at the hands of SOA graduates.

You can take a stand for solidarity and justice now! Join hundreds of organizers around the country and start planning for the November vigil. Contact your local unions, universities, workers centers, social justice organizations and faith communities and ask them to re-commit to the struggle to close the School of the Americas.

To download the SOA Watch November organizing packet, for a travel guide and a hotel listing, as well as information about accessibility and information for people without U.S. citizenship and more, visit www.SOAW.org/november

[ProSense]

22. What are the chances this isn't even on Obama's radar?

Is there even such a place as the SOA anymore?

[Vidar]

23. Yes, they're simply a military version Of "Murder Inc".

[quaker bill]

24. Request, yes. Pressure, no.

I am all for closing SOA down. Friends have gone to prison for non-violent civil disobedience there. I just think there is too much "pressure" in the system right now to add more. So; request - yes, urge - yes, pressure - no. You just can't get everything you want at the same time. We did drop missle defense in europe this week. One down, many more to go.

[FlaGranny]

Get health care

taken care of, then work on it.

[FlaGranny]

26. Get health care

taken care of, then work on it.