[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 732 Introduced in House (IH)]
106th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 732
To close the United States Army School of the Americas.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
February 11, 1999
Mr. Moakley (for himself, Mr. Scarborough, Mr. McGovern, Mr. Campbell,
Mr. Vento, Mr. Shays, Mr. Serrano, Mr. Oberstar, Mr. George Miller of
California, Mrs. Morella, Ms. Pelosi, Mr. Neal of Massachusetts, Mr.
Lewis of Georgia, Mr. Gejdenson, Ms. Rivers, Mr. Sabo, Mr. Frank of
Massachusetts, Mr. Weygand, Mr. Olver, Mr. Tierney, and Mr. Forbes)
introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on
Armed Services
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
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) The United States Army operates a military education
and training facility known as the United States Army School of
the Americas, which is currently located at Fort Benning,
Georgia, and is used to train military personnel of Latin
American armed forces.
(2) The United States Army School of the Americas has a
history of abusive graduates, and the continued operation of
the school stands as a barrier to United States efforts to
establish a new and constructive relationship with Latin
American armed forces after the Cold War.
(3) Closing the United States Army School of the Americas
would not prevent the United States from providing appropriate
training for military personnel of Latin American armed forces.
(4) The United States Army School of the Americas is only
part of the United States' extensive training relationship with
Latin American armed forces, which includes--
(A) the Center for Hemispheric Defense Studies, the
United States Air Forces' Inter-American Air Forces
Academy, and the United States Navy's Small Craft
Instruction and Technical Training School;
(B) courses taken by Latin American military
personnel with members of the United States Armed
Forces at numerous institutions in the United States;
and
(C) training with some of the more than 50,000
members of the United States Armed Forces who serve on
active duty in Latin America each year.
(5) Graduates of the United States Army School of the
Americas include some of the worst human rights abusers in the
western hemisphere, including--
(A) 19 Salvadoran soldiers linked to the 1989
murder of six Jesuit priests and their housekeeper and
her daughter;
(B) two of the three officers cited by the
Guatemalan archbishop's office as suspected
intellectual authors of the killing of anthropologist
Myrna Mack in 1992, as well as three top leaders of the
notorious Guatemalan military intelligence unit D-2;
(C) one-half of the 247 Colombian army officers
cited in the definitive work on Colombian human rights
abuses, El Terrorismo de Estado en Colombia, 1992;
(D) 10 of the 30 Chilean officers against whom a
Spanish judge in 1998 requested indictments for crimes
of terrorism, torture and disappearance;
(E) El Salvador death squad leader Roberto
D'Aubuisson;
(F) Panamanian dictator and drug dealer Manuel
Noriega;
(G) Argentinian dictator Leopoldo Galtieri, a
leader of the so-called ``dirty war'', during which
some 30,000 civilians were killed or disappeared;
(H) Haitian Colonel Gambetta Hyppolite, who ordered
his soldiers to fire on a provincial electoral bureau
in 1987;
(I) two of the three killers of Archbishop Oscar
Romero of El Salvador;
(J) 10 of the 12 officers responsible for the
murder of 900 civilians in the El Salvadoran village El
Mozote; and
(K) three of the five officers involved in the 1980
rape and murder of four United States churchwomen in El
Salvador.
(6) Despite sustained congressional and public pressure,
the United States Army School of the Americas has implemented
only limited reforms of its curriculum.
(7) The continued operation of the United States Army
School of the Americas continues to associate the United States
with the abuses of its graduates.
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 located at 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.
SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS REGARDING ALL OTHER TRAINING OF FOREIGN
MILITARY PERSONNEL BY THE UNITED STATES.
(a) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of Congress that, in each
training activity undertaken by the United States with foreign security
forces, the Secretary of Defense (or any other executive branch
official who may be overseeing the training activity) should--
(1) substantially increase emphasis upon respect for human
rights, the proper role of a military within a democratic
society, and accountable and transparent management of defense
and security policy; and
(2) vigorously implement Department of Defense regulations
regarding the screening of foreign candidates for inclusion in
the training activity to ensure that the United States does not
train individuals implicated in human rights abuses, illegal
drug trafficking, or corruption.
(b) Training Activity Defined.--In subsection (a), the term
``training activity'' means any activity in which the United States
provides military education and training for foreign security forces,
whether conducted in the United States or abroad, including
international military education and training under chapter 5 of part
II of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2347 et seq.),
international narcotics control under chapter 8 of part I of such Act
(22 U.S.C. 2291 et seq.), activities under section 1004 of the National
Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1991 (10 U.S.C. 374 note),
and activities under the major force program for special operations
forces of the United States.
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