School's almost out

Via Tim at Green Left Infoasis, whose comments on last Friday's post about immigration are worth reading, I heard a bit of news I missed: A Congressional vote last week to finally close the infamous School of the Americas, now called the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (officially WHINSEC but to some and more naturally, WHISC), failed. The vote on the McGovern-Lewis Amendment, which would have eliminated funding for the abuse academy, lost by the distressingly small margin of 203-214. A switch of just six votes would have marked this particular torture training for elimination.

The failure was made possible by the votes of 42 Democrats who

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,

as the San Francisco Bay Area Independent Media Center put it.

Some of those "no" voters have appeared on lefty heroes lists for one reason or another, folks such as Henry Cuellar, John Dingell, John Murtha, and Ike Skelton. Perhaps this will serve as a reminder that while in politics false in one does not mean false in all, truth in one means only that: truth in one. (Also, Marty Meehan and Charlie Rangel were among those who did not vote. Perhaps they had good reasons. People should ask.)

Joao Da Silva of the School of the Americas Watch, which has worked for years to get the school shut down, blamed a large-scale lobbying and pressure campaign by the Pentagon for the failure of the amendment.

“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.”

On the other hand, Da Silva emphasized they gained new support from Republicans (23 voted for the amendment) and the margin by which the school survives in the House is "rapidly dwindling." A year ago, the margin was 15 votes.

Some Latin American leaders are souring on the school: Venezuela, Argentina, and Uruguay have dropped out and Bolivia says it will be doing so gradually. Last month Costa Rica, which has no army, announced it would no longer send any of its police for training there.

It's like water on the stone - and the rock is wearing down to sand. It seems to me that SOA will soon be DOA - or, if you prefer, WHISC will soon be whisked away.