[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 125 (Friday, September 18, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1765]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


      FOREIGN OPERATIONS, EXPORT FINANCING, AND RELATED PROGRAMS 
                        APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 1999

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                               speech of

                             HON. JIM KOLBE

                               of arizona

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, September 17, 1998

       The House in Committee of the Whole House on the State of 
     the Union had under consideration the bill (H.R. 4569) making 
     appropriations for foreign operations, export financing, and 
     related programs for the fiscal year ending September 30, 
     1999, and for other purposes:


  Mr. KOLBE. Mr. Chairman, I rise in opposition to this amendment, I 
appreciate the motives of the proponents of this amendment which would 
eliminate funding for the U.S. Army School of the Americas (SOA). But I 
disagree with their assessment of the school and its graduates. The 
closure of the SOA would be detrimental to our relationship with Latin 
American countries, and could hinder progress in human rights efforts 
in those countries.
  The School of the Americas was established as part of President John 
F. Kennedy's Alliance for Progress. It was created from the existing 
U.S. Army Caribbean Training Center in Panama. In 1984, the SOA was 
moved from Panama to Fort Benning, George. The purpose of the SOA is to 
provide guidance to Latin American military personnel so they can 
respond to drug trafficking, natural disasters, and human rights 
challenges in their countries. The SOA emphasizes the role of a 
professional military force in a democratic society. I support these 
objectives, as democratically elected civilian governments of Latin 
America support them.
  Each year, soldiers from Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Columbia, Costa 
Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, 
Honduras, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, Venezuela and the United 
States attend the SOA. No other school in the world with such a small 
operations budget brings together future civilian and military leaders 
of 16 countries in a purposeful effort to prepare for the future, 
strengthen alliance within a hemispheric region, to reinforce the 
principles of democracy, and increase mutual understanding and 
cooperation among neighboring countries.
  The SOA has a very difficult task. It is charged with teaching 
students from countries with long histories of dictatorships and abuse, 
the value of promoting human rights. The curriculum is structured so 
that each student receives, on average, 30 minutes of human rights 
training and/or exposure every day. Of course, it is impossible to 
qualify the number of abuses that the SOA's human rights training has 
prevented. Consequently, the debate often turns to a finger-pointing 
game of highlighting the infrequent, but certainly reprehensible, 
lapses of judgement by a few SOA graduates.
  Those who want to see the School close its doors focus their 
criticism on a few short passages (some less than a sentence in length) 
from three U.S. Army Intelligence training manuals provided to students 
in a few SOA classes in the 1980's. Most important is the fact that it 
has never been established that any of these passages were actually 
used or taught in a classroom at the School, nor was the ``manual'' 
developed by the SOA. Furthermore, not a single human rights violation 
can be reasonably linked or attributed to the School or its training 
manuals.
  Yes, some 100 of the 60,000 graduates have been guilty of documented 
human rights abuses. But let's not forget about the other 59,900 
graduates. Over 100 of these SOA graduates served or currently serve 
their nation and its people from the very highest levels of civilian 
and military office--from chief executive to commander of major 
military units.
  A fair and objective assessment of Latin American history over the 
last 50 years will demonstrate that the U.S. Army School of the 
Americas saves lives. For example, in the early 1980's, El Salvador was 
accused of about 2,000 human rights violations per month; in the latter 
part of the decade, that figure dropped to approximately 20 each month. 
Although SOA cannot take all the credit, almost 50 percent of El 
Salvadoran officers have graduated from the school since 1986.
  Not even the most vehement opponent of the School can deny that the 
overwhelming majority of graduates honorably serve their countries as 
professional men and women. While failure do occur, I challenge any 
opponent to demonstrate any correlation between reported misconduct by 
individual SOA graduates and the professional education and training 
they received at the School.
  If Congress were to close the SOA, it would negatively affect our 
ability to have a meaningful and cost-effective vehicle to promote 
democracy and human rights within the ranks of the Latin American 
military. The State Department, Pentagon, and participating Latin 
American governments all agree that the SOA program is the best 
approach to achieving important national security and foreign policy 
objectives.
  If the program were abolished, training for Latin American military 
personnel would become unavailable or more expensive. Fewer officers 
and enlisted personnel would be exposed to U.S. training and democratic 
values. In my view, that is not the way to promote human rights abroad.
  I urge my colleagues to vote ``no'' on this ill-advised amendment.

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