Statement of solidarity by Vietnam Veterans Against the War Anti-Imperialist

The Power of the People Will Close the School of Americas

"In this issue there are two sides. It's not a whole lot of complicated stuff here. There is the poor-that's the starting point. And the cause of their suffering is this system that the military has been protecting. It couldn't be done without the military. And there's the United States supplying the aid, the arms, the training."
-- Fr. Roy Bourgeoisie

VVAW AI welcomes and resolutely supports this fourth annual protest against the School of Americas (SOA) set for November 20th. The power of the people in four short years has created an important new and powerful movement against U.S. militarism.

Vietnam veterans have more than a passing interest in the revelations of the torture manual which is the foundation of the SOA ("School of Assassins") curriculum. Evidently these manuals date back to the Vietnam War. A recent exposure of a U.S. massacre at No Gun Ri, during the Korean War, revealed 400 bodies of old and young people and children killed by U.S. military personal . For almost 50 years, not a word has been said about this war crime in the U.S. press or history books. For decades after the war, survivors of the massacre lived under the military dictatorship that the U.S. imposed on southern Korea. The No Gun Ri massacre was, in fact, part of a campaign of genocide launched by the U.S. military. The words of one soldier, "All civilians seen in this area are to be considered as enemy and action taken accordingly," are familiar words heard before by veterans.

The massacre of civilians was routine, widespread and officially approved during the Korean war, as it has been in every U.S. war of conquest -- from the murder of Native peoples in the U.S., to the 1898 invasion of the Philippines, to the 1965 invasion of Vietnam, on down to the recent air war on the people of Yugoslavia. The SOA has taught and trained the military and police of other countries to do these same deeds on the people of Central and South America.

The U.S. military training at the SOA includes such methods as "murder, assassination, torture, extortion, and false imprisonment." This is accomplished, according to Joseph A. Blair, retired U.S. Army Major and former teacher at the SOA, using seven manuals and 382 hours of instruction. These manuals teach interrogators how to keep electric shock victims alive and responsive. They also recommend dousing the victim's head and bodies with salt water, and include a sketch showing how this "treatment" should be carried out. What's equally unconscionable is that the U.S. then has the audacity to turn around and claim that "our hands are clean" because it was soldiers from their own countries who intervened against their people. In the U.S., this raises the eerie question of what's behind the military's training, equipping and outfitting of U.S. police forces.

As a veterans organization which opposes all U.S. military moves and promotes the slogan, "No U.S. Troops Anywhere/Anytime," we see the operating of the SOA as a covert form of military intervention -- where the local puppet government and its military keeps the peace -- "U.S.-style." This allows the U.S. to maintain the image of "innocent" third-party while ensuring that its interests are looked after. Rest assured, the U.S. will not hesitate to send its own troops should the puppet fail to accomplish the job. In fact, there are indications that Columbia may be the next Central/South American country targeted for such U.S. military intervention with its military filled with and led by graduates of the SOA-backed, armed and paid for by the U.S.

Our experiences in an imperialist military -- acting as instruments of U.S. intervention and war -- caused us to question much of what we were taught about this country. We learned that the reasons for the death and destruction caused by the U.S. are not about "freedom and democracy" but are about capital seeking capital -- no matter the human cost. These lessons are seared into our brains and sometimes keep us from closing our eyes at night. These lessons unite us under the common pledge of "Never Again!" These lessons have made us anti-imperialists.

We salute the School of America's Watch and the countless activists and many veterans who have been on the front lines in this battle.