November 19, 2007

Thousands protest US torture training

Press TV
Monday November 19, 2007

Thousands of Americans have demonstrated to demand closure of a US Defense Department training school which promotes torture and murder.

On Sunday, thousands of young North Americans demonstrated on the 18th annual protest to bring the message of hatred to the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation located at Fort Benning in Columbus in the state of Georgia.

Protesters say the school teaches security personnel from Latin American countries to use repressive tactics and that graduates have overthrown legitimate governments. The school has even published how-to-do manuals for the torturers.

"Over the course of several decades people trained here have murdered and tortured hundreds if not thousands of people," said protester Bob Goodman of the Georgia Coalition for Peace and Justice.

Goodman said 20,000 people attended the two-day protest during which eleven people were arrested and charged with criminal trespass.

This institute is an entity of the US army, originally known as the School of the Americas and was set up after WWII in Panama for the purpose of providing training to officers and enlisted men from the various military services in Latin America.

No comments:

ShareThis