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| Stephen Jendraszak is a junior journalism major and writes 'Jack of All Trades' for the Daily News. His views do not necessarily agree with those of the newspaper. |
According to retired U.S. Army Major Joseph Blair, the whole situation was "funny as hell."
Colonel Pablo Belmar, accused of murder and torture during Augusto Pinochet's military dictatorship in Chile, stood in the front of a classroom and gave a lecture on human rights. Soldiers from Guatemala and El Salvador joked in the back of the class.
These students, according to Blair, had just participated in genocides in Central America. Now they listened to Belmar drone on about the Geneva Conventions, moving quickly through the required material.
They weren't sitting in some far off, third-world country -- this class took place at the U.S. Army School of the Americas (SOA) at Fort Benning, Ga.
On Nov. 16, 1989, soldiers in El Salvador massacred six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper and her teenage daughter. This prompted an investigation; a U.S. Congressional Task Force found that the SOA had trained 19 of the 26 perpetrators.
One of the officers who planned the murders, Colonel Francisco Elena Fuentes, had even been a guest lecturer at the school in 1986.
Under pressure, the Pentagon released a full list of SOA alumni. Further research into the soldiers listed revealed that they were among the worst Latin American human-rights violators. Graduates assassinated Archbishop Oscar Romero in the middle of Mass. They raped and murdered nuns. They executed college students and professors, community leaders and government officials -- anyone who opposed them.
The U.S. military turned a blind eye to the human-rights abusers who learned and lectured at the academy. It even paid for their memberships at golf clubs, tickets to sporting events and trips to Disneyland.
When not enjoying free recreation, SOA students received "professional training" in techniques for controlling dissenters and opposition political groups. Textbooks from the school, released under the Freedom of Information Act, include detailed instruction in extortion, blackmail, torture and execution.
As more crimes committed by alumni of the school came to light, Congress considered stopping the school's funding. In one case, only a single vote prevented a huge funding cut. Instead, Congress changed the name of the school and required additional courses in human rights.
Now it is time for real change, for a true end to the SOA. President Bush has said over and over that America must seek out and destroy terrorist training camps. Why not start by closing our own?
If the events of the past two years have taught us anything, it is that supporting evil leaders in other nations hurts us in the end. We gave weapons and training to Osama bin Laden and his followers when they fought the Russians. We supported Saddam Hussein against Iran.
Now, as we train dictators in our own back yard, we Americans should be mindful of the consequences of our past mistakes. The results of aiding bin Laden and Saddam, who live half a world away, have been bad enough. What will happen when our neighboring terrorists turn against us?
On Thursday, lobbyists will gather in Washington, D.C. and ask Congress to finally close the SOA. They deserve the support -- whether by phone or in person -- of all Americans who don't want their tax dollars to train the murderers of priests, the rapists of nuns and the killers of teenage girls.
Write to Stephen at stevehj@mac.com
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