The U.S. Army School of the Americas (now called the Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC)), which is based at Fort Benning, Georgia, is not on the closure list.
Fort Benning is important to leave alone, but it can do without the SOA/WHINSEC, which trains Central and South American commandos from countries that have very poor human rights records and are unafraid to use their military to keep their governments in power. Many of the commandos trained at SOA have turned their weapons on their own people to suppress freedom and democracy.
The most recent incident was in Columbia, where the Columbian Army 17th and 11th Brigades slaughtered civilians at the San José de Apartadó Peace Community near Urabá, Colombia, on February 21, 2005. The dead included women and children. The brigade leaders were graduates of the School of the Americas. Among those killed was Luis Eduardo Guerra, who was an outspoken opponent of the SOA and a Columbian democracy advocate.
The U.S. uses the SOA to fight the war on drugs and is failing because the commandos are not using their training to stop drug lords in their countries. These men are terrorists, not allies in the war on drugs or terror.
Here's a list of other notable graduates of the School. This school causes more problems than it solves. Why should this vicious cycle continue? Close it, and use the facility to do something useful, like train Iraqi or Afghan security forces.
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