[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 138 (Monday, September 30, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1839]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 CLOSE THE ARMY SCHOOL OF THE AMERICAS

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                           HON. NANCY PELOSI

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                      Saturday, September 28, 1996

  Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Speaker, for years, some of us have had serious 
questions about the Army's School of the Americas and its connection to 
some of the worst human rights violators in our hemisphere. Last 
weekend, information released by the Pentagon confirmed our worst 
suspicions: U.S. Army intelligence manuals, distributed to thousands of 
military officers throughout Latin America, promoted the use of 
executions, torture, blackmail, and other forms of coercion.
  We now have concrete proof of what we had suspected. For almost 10 
years, U.S. taxpayer dollars were used to promote an approach that 
advocates using, and I quote, ``fear, payment of bounties for enemy 
dead, beatings, false imprisonment, executions, and the use of truth 
serum.''
  What is the official Department of Defense explanation for promoting 
the routine abuse of human rights? Bureaucratic oversight. Again I 
quote, the ``use (of this material) since 1982 evaded the established 
system of doctrinal controls'' according to a 1992 investigation.
  Mr. Speaker, the enormity of this ``bureaucratic oversight'' and its 
contribution to a climate of terror, persecution, injustice, and civil 
war in this hemisphere is difficult to comprehend. What is not 
difficult to comprehend is that we should put an end to this tragic 
chapter by closing the Army School of the Americas. Americans don't 
want their hard-earned tax dollars to be spent promoting human rights 
abuses and terror.

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