Charles Nailen/The Hoya

Col. William Marc Morgan from Army Office of International Affairs and Eric LeCompte from School of Americas Watch debated over the former School of Americas in White Gravenor Wednesday evening.

The School of Americas was a U.S. Army training school in Fort Benning, Ga., which trained soldiers from Western Hemisphere countries. The school closed on Dec. 15, 2000 and reopened on Jan. 17, 2001, adopting a new name – Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation.

Morgan said the school is giving professional training to the soldiers of Latin American militaries. “Professional militaries should stay out of politics . [The U.S. Military] can be the role model for other militaries in professionalism,” he said.

Morgan said accusations claimed SOA to be “the symbol of wrong-headed foreign policy [of the U.S.] to Latin America.”

According to LeCompte, democracy and respect for civilian authority cannot be taught in a military environment. “We can’t solve the problems by military training or military aid,” he said.

“This campaign to close SOA is accountable to people of Latin America who have been murdered by graduates of SOA,” LeCompte said.

LeCompte said giving military training to lower-ranking officers is a mistake, because higher-ranking officers order them to use their skills in inappropriate ways.

According to LeCompte, war criminal Orlando Bosch was “smuggled” into the U.S. to instruct in SOA.

“Torture is taught in the school,” LeCompte said. He referred to the news covered by The Washington Post in 1996 concerning torture manuals allegedly used in SOA.

“These [torture manuals] were not written by SOA . Investigations are open to public,” Morgan said.

“WHINSEC is a part of the entire military system, it is not different .They receive the same training with any military school, there are courses on international law, human rights, leadership and disaster relief,” Morgan said.

Morgan also said the school does not keep books or track its graduates.

LeCompte said the assassination of six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper and her daughter in 1989 at the University of Central America in El Salvador was traced back to a SOA graduate.

Morgan said he could not understand how the same training could have different effects on different people. He said people decide their actions on their free will and their behavior can also be connected to other influences.

“Nicaraguan dictator Anastasio Samoza was graduated from West Point. Will we close West Point?” Morgan said.

“We should integrate with them [the militaries of Latin American countries] instead of looking at the past .” organ said.

According to Morgan, the militaries of the countries like El Salvador, Costa Rica, Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil, Chile and Angola are moving forward and the governments of those countries are in favor of the training. He said the military of El Salvador did a very good job in disaster relief.

LeCompte said the U.S.’s purpose in training Latin American officers was to protect strategic resources in Latin America and maintain access to the market. He also said the soldiers trained in SOA were repressing union organizers and workers in countries such as Columbia and multinational corporations benefited from low wages.

Asked to suggest a better solution to the problem, LeCompte said civil authorities and militaries of the Latin American countries can be trained in free institutions of teaching like Georgetown. “We talk about human rights and democracy here,” he said.

“How can we teach about drug trafficking or disaster relief in civilian colleges?” Morgan said.

The SOA Watch will sponsor protests in Fort Benning, Ga. between Nov. 15 and 17.

Morgan said that members of Congress visited and observed the school. He added there would be an Open House in the school for students on Nov. 16. “It’s an open book, see what you are protesting about. Talk to the students and faculty,” he said.

“Legitimate questions about human rights and torture manuals were avoided last year,” LeCompte said. “They are only showing what they want us to see.”

Georgetown Solidarity Committee and Campus Ministry presented the debate.