[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 93 (Friday, June 27, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6741-S6742]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. DURBIN (for himself, Mr. Kerry, Mr. Feingold, Mrs. 
        Feinstein, and Mr. Wellstone):
  S. 980. A bill to require the Secretary of the Army to close the U.S. 
Army School of the Americas; to the Committee on Armed Services.


             the school of the americas closure act of 1997

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I rise today to call upon my colleagues to 
support a bill to close the School of the Americas.
  The School of the Americas is an institute that has outlived its 
usefulness and its purpose. SOA was established over 50 years ago. Its 
mission is to provide military education and training to military 
personnel of Central America, South America, and Caribbean countries. 
The training provided at the school in tactical intelligence, infantry 
tactics, combat skills, and battle planning was designed in accordance 
with U.S. strategy of a bygone era: to create a Latin and South 
American staging area to thwart the Communist threat. But times have 
changed and there is no longer a Soviet bloc threatening to attack the 
United States. Unfortunately, SOA has not successfully adapted to the 
great changes in the world since the 1992 breakup of the Soviet Union. 
Despite attempts made over the past couple of years to update the 
curriculum and improve the selection process for students and the 
quality of the teaching staff, SOA remains an anachronism.
  In the post-cold-war era, we need to strengthen civilian institutions 
in Latin America and help these countries continue to reform their 
militaries. This region contains some of the most fragile democracies 
which need our support in encouraging democratically elected 
governments, the role of civilian institutions and economic stability. 
Our focus should be on supporting these nascent civilian governments 
and helping them shift authority away from their militaries.
  I also believe the school should be closed because of its past links 
to numerous military personnel who have committed some of the most 
heinous crimes of recent memory. SOA graduates include: Panamanian 
dictator and drug dealer, Manuel Noriega; 19 Salvadoran soldiers linked 
to the 1989 murder of 6 Jesuit priests, their housekeeper and her 
daughter; El Salvador death squad leader, Roberto D'Aubuisson; 
Argentinian dictator, Leopoldo Galtieri; three of the five officers 
involved in the 1980 rape and murder of four United States churchwomen 
in El Salvador; and 10 of the 12 officers responsible for the murder of 
900 civilians in the El Salvadoran village, El Mozote. These criminals, 
multiple murderers, and rapists are former students and graduates of 
the School of the Americas where they received their military and 
counterinsurgency training.
  The U.S. military has readily admitted that these SOA graduates were 
guilty of these atrocities. These admissions are an embarrassment to 
the United States and to our reputation as a leader in promoting human 
rights throughout the world.
  In addition, recently the Pentagon released the training manuals used 
at

[[Page S6742]]

SOA from 1982 to 1991. These manuals contained instruction in torture 
and extortion techniques. These manuals are inconsistent with U.S. 
policy and democratic ideals. I am concerned that there might be other 
former students, trained with these manuals and guilty of human rights 
abuses but who have not as yet come to public attention.
  Some have suggested that if SOA is revamped and reorganized that it 
could still serve a useful purpose. I disagree. SOA cannot be salvaged. 
Its reputation is too tarnished and its name is too closely linked to 
the assassins and rapists who were trained there. The United States 
cannot deny the human rights violations inflicted by the graduates of 
SOA. But, we still need to find a resolution for these terrible events. 
I believe that closing SOA is the only way to finally break with this 
chapter in U.S. history.
  Our South American neighbors need to know that human rights and 
democratic values are held in high esteem in the United States. We are 
hampered in making this claim as long as the School of the Americas 
remains open. The continued funding of SOA does not fit into the United 
States long-term strategy for the Latin American region and undermines 
our credibility on human rights issues in this hemisphere. I call upon 
my colleagues to cosponsor this legislation and support the closure of 
the School of the Americas.
  Mr. FEINGOLD. Mr. President, I am pleased to rise as an original 
cosponsor of the legislation being introduced today by the Senator from 
Illinois [Mr. Durbin] to close the U.S. Army School of the Americas 
[SOA] located at Fort Benning, GA.
  SOA was created in 1946 to train Latin American military officers in 
combat and counterinsurgency skills, with the goal of professionalizing 
Latin American armies and strengthening democracies. Originally located 
in Panama, the SOA moved to Fort Benning in 1948. There has been a 
great deal of controversy surrounding the types of leaders that have 
graduated from the SOA, leading it to be called the School for 
Dictators. Some of SOA's graduates include Manuel Noriega, at least 19 
Salvadorean officers implicated by El Salvador's Truth Commission in 
the murder of 6 Jesuit priests, and officers who participated in the 
coup against former Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
  In 1991, following an internal investigation, the Pentagon removed 
certain SOA training manuals from circulation. On September 22, 1996, 
the Pentagon released the full text of those training manuals and 
acknowledged that some of those manuals provided instruction in 
techniques that, in the Pentagon's words, were ``clearly objectionable 
and possibly illegal.'' The techniques in question included torture, 
extortion, false arrest, and execution. I and other Senators have 
written the Department of Defense several times to request additional 
disclosure of SOA policies, curriculums, training manuals and other 
materials so that the history of the school can be fully understood.
  The horrendous record of the SOA has inspired hundreds of Wisconsin 
residents to contact my office to express their support for closing 
this school. Numerous organizations, including Public Citizen, the 
Washington Office on Latin America and Human Rights Watch also support 
the elimination of SOA.
  As a member of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, I am 
committed to promoting human rights throughout the world. In my view, 
our Government cannot continue to support the existence of a school 
that counts so many murderers among its alumni. While I do not doubt 
that it can be in our national interest to conduct military training 
with our friends and partners, it is unexcusable that such military 
training should take place at an institution with the reputation of the 
School of the Americas. This bill gives Members of the Senate an 
opportunity to separate the legitimate training exercises conducted by 
the U.S. military from the sordid acts of many individuals who have 
been trained at SOA. We must lift the cloud of suspicion that has 
fallen on these programs by closing SOA once and for all.
  Not only are the human costs of this training program unjustifiable, 
but so are its monetary costs. With a national debt in excess of $5 
trillion, every Federal program needs to be carefully scrutinized to 
ensure that Federal tax dollars are wisely spent. Given the end of the 
cold war, and in light of documents indicating the SOA training program 
provided instruction in techniques which violate human rights 
standards, I feel that the School of Americas is an unwise expenditure, 
and I support eliminating it as soon as possible.
                                 ______