Training Ground for Murderers

Continued U.S. support for the School of the Americas, an institution that has trained dictators and political assassins, is completely unjustifiable. David R. H. Smith: The peace process in Latin America has been under a substantial amount of scrutiny in the past ten years. Defunct congressmen and government officials have waved a complacent flag over the entire situation- most deeming the occasional flare-ups of violence as an expected byproduct of a seemingly undemocratic military regime. However, when one takes a deeper look at the heart of the conflict, and into the pasts of many of the leaders fueling the flames of atrocity, the signature of the American government rests on their bottom of many of their military diplomas. A large number of these now proclaimed anti-American leaders, these “butchers of men,” began their careers in a military training school called “The School of the Americas.” The school, located in a small town in Georgia, trains heads of the Latin American military to oust regimes who were unswervingly anti-American in both their trade practices and governmental practices. Sadly many of the same men highly trained to defeat legist governments came to power and commited the same acts they were sworn to protect citizens against. In the wake of such truths, truths which have been exposed and riddled across numerous newspapers, magazines, and published books, the American government has continued sustained support for the school. In the age of “the reign of terror” can the American government and military wash its hands clean of the atrocities committed by men it has trained. Hopefully after reading this essay you as the reader will have a better knowledge of just how deep the treachery of the American government runs in Latin America. We as Americans say that we are against terrorism but yet we house and train terrorists in our own nation? As a people we need to take action against the school of the Americas and see that its gates are never again opened to the training of murders. Some Biographical Information: I am a sophomore from Yorktown, Virgina and am a double SCOM/PUAD major. I am an RA in Dingledine Hall this year and am very involved in InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. This essay was written in Ernie Stromberg’s writing class under the pretense of a normal writing assignment. In actuality I learned more researching this essay than I have since I’ve stepped away from the class. This was, by far, my favorite essay I have ever written here at JMU. If every class could have such spirited writing assignments we would all be better people because of it