[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 980 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







105th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 980

 To require the Secretary of the Army to close the United States Army 
                        School of the Americas.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             June 27, 1997

 Mr. Durbin (for himself, Mr. Kerry, Mr. Feingold, Mrs. Feinstein, and 
Mr. Wellstone) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
              referred to the Committee on Armed Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To require the Secretary of the Army to close the United States Army 
                        School of the Americas.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. FINDINGS.

    Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) Continued operation of the United States Army School of 
        the Americas, Fort Benning, Georgia, with its history of 
        abusive graduates, stands as a barrier to establishing a new 
        and constructive relationship with Latin American militaries 
        after the cold war.
            (2) The United States Army School of the Americas graduates 
        include some of the worst human rights abusers in the western 
        hemisphere, including--
                    (A) El Salvador death squad leader Roberto 
                D'Aubuisson;
                    (B) Panamanian dictator and drug dealer Manuel 
                Noriega;
                    (C) nineteen Salvadoran soldiers linked to the 1989 
                murder of six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper and her 
                daughter;
                    (D) Argentinian dictator Leopoldo Galtieri, a 
                leader of the so-called ``dirty little war'' 
                responsible for the deaths of 30 civilians;
                    (E) two of the three killers of Archbishop Oscar 
                Romero of El Salvador;
                    (F) ten of the twelve officers responsible for the 
                murder of 900 civilians in the El Salvadoran village El 
                Mozote; and
                    (G) three of the five officers involved in the 1980 
                rape and murder of four United States churchwomen in El 
                Salvador.
            (3) Continued operation of the United States Army School of 
        the Americas continues to associate the United States with the 
        abuses of its graduates.
            (4) In October, 1996, then Secretary of Defense Perry 
        announced that the United States plans to establish an inter-
        American center for defense studies (later determined to be 
        named the Center for Hemispheric Defense Studies) to provide 
        professional training and education relevant to defense 
        management in a democratic constitutional context to 
        individuals from throughout the Americas.
            (5) Closing the United States Army School of the Americas 
        would not bar the Armed Forces of the United States from 
        continuing to train Latin American armed forces in a 
        relationship between those armed forces that can be a 
        productive one.

SEC. 2. CLOSURE OF UNITED STATES ARMY SCHOOL OF THE AMERICAS.

    (a) Closure Required.--Not later than 30 days after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the Secretary of the Army shall close the 
military education and training facility known as the United States 
Army School of the Americas, Fort Benning, Georgia.
    (b) Repeal of Statutory Authority.--(1) Section 4415 of title 10, 
United States Code, is repealed.
    (2) The table of sections at the beginning of chapter 407 of such 
title is amended by striking out the item relating to such section.
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