42 Democratic Assholes

This article from CounterPunch really makes me angry. Some of these votes are not surprising (assholes like Anthony Weiner), but I really expected more from some of these Congressional Democrats (Brad Miller...c'mon man, voting against this torture school is not going to lose you votes should you run for the US Senate...but it will piss off a lot of your core supporters). I really don't see why the idea that the U.S. should not be training the world's torturers and death squads should be controversial to any progressive politician, but I guess I am just a dirty fucking hippie.

Also check out the website for SOA Watch for more information. I actually went to see Fr. Roy Bourgeois speak a few years ago, and I would recommend it to anyone who has the opportunity to listen to him.

42 House Democrats Back U.S. Terror Academy

By DAN BACHER

Two San Joaquin Valley Representatives, Dennis Cardoza of Merced and Jim Costa of Fresno, were among 42 Democrats that voted to keep the world's foremost torture school, the School of the Americas, open during a House vote on June 21. The vote was 203 yes, 214 no, 1 voting "present" and 19 not voting.

Cardova, Costa and 40 other Democrats voted no on the McGovern/Lewis Amendment that would have finally cut off funding to the School of Americas (SOA), now known as Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC). Only 6 more votes were needed to pass it--but these Democrats shamefully chose to join Republican Representatives in voting for the school, whose graduates have been responsible for genocide, assassinations, torture and other human rights violations throughout Latin America for decades.

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SOA Watch, a human rights advocacy group founded in 1990 by Maryknoll Priest Father Roy Bourgeois to close the "School of Death," was disappointed by the vote. However, SOA Watch vowed to continue its efforts in Congress until the school, located in Fort Benning, Georgia, is shut down.

"The grassroots mobilizing effort was tremendous: Tens of thousands of emails, faxes and calls flooded the halls of Congress over the past three days," said Joao Da Silva, SOA Watch spokesman, after the vote at 11:52 p.m. on Thursday. "Students, clergy, union members and veterans traveled to DC and visited with hundreds of Congressional offices to communicate clearly that there is no room for institutions like the SOA/WHINSEC in our future. Despite this, 214 Members of Congress missed the chance to stand up for human rights, justice and democracy, and voted to keep the funding for the SOA/WHINSEC flowing."

The WHINSEC "PR machine" and high-ranking Pentagon officials used taxpayer money to put a lot of pressure on Members of Congress. However, Da Silva said this is no excuse for Representatives to not be accountable to their constituents.

"There were Representatives this week that committed to vote to cut funding for the SOA/WHINSEC, and then shifted their vote," said Da Silva. "Those people need hear from all of us, loudly and in public."

Da Silva emphasized, "While we did not get enough Members of Congress to vote with us, it was clear to us and our supporters in the House that we have tremendous power when we mobilize together. We gained the support of new Republicans and new members of Congress. The margin of SOA/ WHINSEC survival is rapidly dwindling, and this week due to grassroots pressure, we added several new cosponsors to HR 1707 bringing our total to 111. We have gained a lot of ground in Congress and our goal of closing this School of the Death is coming closer and closer."

The vote, although it failed by 6 votes, still came closer to ending the school's funding than last June's vote, when the amendment to the Foreign Operations Appropriations Bill by Jim McGovern (D-MA) calling for school's closure failed by a 15 vote margin.

The recent vote came after a series of successes by SOA Watch over the past two years in convincing Latin America leaders to remove their military and police officers from the school. Venezuela, the first country to withdraw its troops from the SOA in 2005, was followed by Argentina and Uruguay last year. After a visit to Bolivia by Roy Bourgeois, President Evo Morales said Bolivia's military will be pulling out of SOA/WHINSEC on a gradual basis.

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