National Conference of Viet Nam Veteran Ministers

Cease Funding United States Army School of the Americas
A Peace and Justice Statement
November 12, 1993

The National Conference of Viet Nam Veteran Ministers, an organization composed of clergy who served in Viet Nam, meeting in Washington, DC on November 8 through 12, 1993, issued the following statement concerning the continued existence of the United States Army School of the Americas at Fort Benning.

We have gathered in our nation's capital to join with our sisters and brothers in dedicating a statue lifting up before our people the important contributions of women during the Viet Nam War. We have sought to pridge the years with our memories and have together wept for the youth and innocence sacrificed, and now enshrined in marble and bronze.

Our gathering is made more poignant by the knowledge that similar memorials will have to be built in other countries, perhaps even in our own, as a result of our nation's support of oppression and terror through continued funding for the United States Army School of the Americas (S.O.A.) at Fort Benning.

Euphemisms such as "low-intensity conflict" (the use of fear and the manipulation of events to maintain illegitimate government powers) and "human rights awareness" (how to draw a distinction between military and civilian targets) can disguise the ugly truth that the S.O.A. has trained too many thugs and assassins who have enjoyed the official favor and protection of the United States government. Only when a graduate proves to be an obvious embarassement, such as Manuel Noriega, has the United States withdrawn support, and then only reluctantly and under great pressure.

However, the disguise is washed away by the tears of the parents of those who have disappeared into the torture chambers of the S.O.A. graduates and by the tears of those who mourn the loss of a husband or wife or son or daughter or priest or nun, brutally murdered by death squads led by S.O.A. graduates.

We urge the executive and legislative branches of the United States government to immediately cease all funding for the S.O.A.

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