School of Assassins FOIA Request Denied

[David Morgan (MAMS)]

SOA WATCH NEWS & UPDATES - Oct 3, 2006
http://www.soaw.org/new/article.php?id=1370

SOA WATCHS FOIA REQUEST OF WHINSEC/SOA DENIED!

The culture of secrecy surrounding the current presidential administration
persisted this month when the Pentagon denied SOA Watchs Freedom of
Information Act request to obtain the name, rank, country of origin, and dates
of students in attendance at the WHINSEC/SOA. Despite 20-day reporting
requirements, it took the Pentagon nine months to deny the request.

The Freedom of Information Act was enacted by Congress and signed into law by
President Lyndon Johnson in 1966. The FOIA was the first U.S. law to give
Americans the right to access the records of federal agencies that are funded
with their tax dollars. As The Nation reports, "What good is freedom of speech
if that speech is not informed by knowledge of what the government is doing in
our name but without our informed consent? What good is freedom of the press
if reporters are unable to find out what government agencies are up to?"(The
Nation, 7/4/2006)

Early in the Bush Administration, John Ashcroft dispatched a memo to federal
agencies urging the use of delaying tactics in responding to FOIA requests.
According to The Nation, Ashcroft's order directed federal agencies to stall
the release of requested information until the completion of a painstakingly
slow "full and deliberate consideration" of the implications of releasing any
particular document. Ashcroft assured agencies that should they decide to
withhold information, they would be fully supported by the Department of
Justice "unless they lack a sound legal basis or present an unwarranted risk
on the ability of other agencies to protect important records."(The Nation,
7/4/2006)

These delaying tactics violate the spirit and the letter of the Freedom of
Information Act and its subsequent amendments. The law states that federal
agencies, including the Department of Defense (DoD), must "determine within
twenty days (excepting Saturdays, Sundays, and legal public holidays) after
the receipt of any such request whether to comply with such request and shall
immediately notify the person making such request of such determination and
the reasons therefore While in line with Ashcroft's dubious recommendations,
the DoD response in late July of 2006 to SOA Watch's October 2005 request
violates Congressionally-mandated law.

At the beginning of each fiscal year for the past several years, SOA Watch has
filed a FOIA request with the U.S. government to obtain WHINSEC attendance
information as part of our commitment to human rights monitoring. Continuing
the policies of the U.S. Army School of the Americas (SOA), WHINSEC refuses to
participate in any follow-up after students attend the military training
facility, choosing to ignore the connections between students actions and
their training at the school.

As a result of previous FOIA requests, researchers at human rights
organizations are able to access our extensive graduate database to inform
Congress, media outlets, and the public about the numerous instances of SOA/
WHINSEC graduates and instructors who have been implicated and convicted of
human rights atrocities in Latin America. For example, researchers from SOA
Watch matched the name of Colonel Francisco del Cid Diaz -- commander of a
unit that forcibly removed, beat and shot 16 residents from the Los Hojas
community in El Salvador -- with his attendance at the SOA in 1988 and 1991,
and at WHINSEC in 2003. This high profile massacre was cited in the annual
U.S. State Department Human Rights Country Reports, and the OAS Inter-American
Commission on Human Rights recommended that the Salvadoran government bring
him to justice based on substantial evidence that del Cid Diaz gave the orders
to execute the civilians. Despite this condemnation, del Cid Diaz was invited
back to the school in 2003, subverting laws in place to prevent rewarding
known human rights abusers with U.S taxpayer-funded military training.

Because of this instance and hundreds of others that make the numerous
connections between the SOA/ WHINSEC and human rights atrocities throughout
Latin America, the SOA/ WHINSEC and the Department of Defense continue to
disrupt the efforts of human rights organizations to advocate for transparency
and accountability for international crimes.

In just one example, the name of General Hector Gramajo, architect of
genocidal policies in Guatemala from 1980 to 1991, never appeared in the list
of graduates that were released to SOA Watch. Gramajo was found guilty of
numerous war crimes in a U.S. court six weeks before speaking at graduation
ceremonies at the SOA in 1991. (The Bayonet, 1/3/1992). The former SOA
Commandant Jose Feliciano claimed Gramajo inspired many SOA policies (The
Benning Patriot, 2/21/1992). It was through independent research based largely
on FOIA requests that SOA Watch found out that Gramajo was not only a guest
speaker at the SOA in 1991, but that he also received SOA counter-insurgency
training at the school in 1967.

Now, the culture of secrecy has deepened with the recent denial of SOA Watchs
FOIA request, and inconsistencies continue to shape the public relations
campaign of WHINSEC. The institutions PR office maintains that they have no
responsibility to track graduates of the school. At the same time, they
respond to questions about graduates of the school by diverting interested
parties to the SOA Watch website, telling them that they can review the SOAW
web site and see what course or courses their notorious graduates took,
because the Army gave them the lists of students and courses.

By refusing to grant FOIA requests regarding the basic statistics of the
WHINSEC student population, WHINSEC and the Department of Defense will
continue to admit known human rights abusers such as Colonel del Cid Diaz
without any oversight or criticism of the screening process by human rights
organizations. The culture of secrecy will continue to deepen.

The Freedom of Information Act has helped to pry loose many crucial documents
and files from our government, even as fearful politicians have tried to curb
the Act. Congress, the media, and the public have a right to transparency of
government programs and to know how billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars are
spent to advance the Department of Defenses military agenda -- including the
funding of a military training facility that sends a negative human rights
message to countries throughout Latin America.

TAKE ACTION NOW!

Help SOA Watch and defend your Constitutional rights!

Historically, Congress has played a very important role in making the U.S.
government and its institutions accountable for its actions, from the Church
Commission in 1975 which exposed U.S. involvement in the military coup which
assisted Gen. Augusto Pinochet in overthrowing Salvador Allende, to the 9/11
Commission which exposed the intelligence community's failure to predict and
prevent the terrorist attacks of September 11 2001

Urge your representative in Congress to contact the Department of Defense to
recommend that WHINSEC track its graduates who have violated international
human rights laws and request that the names, rank, country of origin, and
courses attended by students at the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security
Cooperation (WHINSEC) be released to Congress and human rights organizations
so that they may continue their important work in the name of human rights and
justice for Latin America.

Take action and contact your Member of Congress now:
http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizationsORG/soaw/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=5307

COME TO THE NOVEMBER VIGIL!

Thousands will gather in Columbus, Georgia on November 17-19.

To find more information on the Vigil, how to help, how to get there, what
speakers and musicians will be there, and resources to assist your organizing,
visit the November Vigil page on the SOA Watch website:
http://www.soaw.org/new//article.php?id=1295

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