http://www.publicsquare.net/bbpress/tags/defense-department Common Ground, Uncommon Debate en-US Tue, 07 Feb 2012 16:37:20 +0000 http://bbpress.org/?v=1.0.1 q http://www.publicsquare.net/bbpress/search.php http://www.publicsquare.net/bbpress/topic/should-the-school-of-the-americas-be-closed#post-24 Tue, 20 Oct 2009 10:28:11 +0000 Joaquin Batalla 24@http://www.publicsquare.net/bbpress/ <p>The institution the United States Army School of the Americas, later renamed the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, is an institution used by the Defense Department to train Latin American people during the Cold War to support the US foreign policy and stop the spread of Communism in the region. However, the opposite effect happened in which some of these trained Latin American soldiers became the worst human right abusers in Latin American history. Some of the training in the School of the Americas included a controversial module in which in order to keep order, liberties and rights have to be suppressed. Though the name has changed, the institution is still there and ever more present. There is a bill, H.R. 2567, that is present in Congress that calls for the immediate suspension of the the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation's authority as well as new limitations on the establishment of a new education and training facility. To insure an appropriate training and education program, a joint congressional task force will be created. A commission will be also be created. A commission will be also be establish to investigate the activities of the United States Army School of the Americas and its successor institution, the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation. As of now, the bill has been sent the House of Representatives Committee of the Armed Services. So I pose the question: Should the SOA be closed? </p>