School of the Americas Weekend

Crossposted at Disabled Americans for Democracy

A blind friend of mine is in Columbus, GA this weekend for the annual School of the Americas protest. Here at DAFD, we're with her in spirit and we support SOA Watch's call for the closing of the school and the total removal of torture from U.S. foreign policy.

This year the call has added urgency because of the recent revelation of secret CIA torture camps as well as VP Richard Cheney's championing of torture as a viable and legitimate interrogation tool.

Such advocacy is foolish, dangerous, and un-American. It is also illegal. The Geneva Conventions are U.S. law. The Senate's commitment to the McCane Amendment is solid. Whether the amendment will withstand the House/Senate conference, especially given both the more radical nature of most House Republicans and Mr. Cheney's relentless lobbying for torture is, unfortunately, anyone's guess.

The School of the Americas has been a national shame for some twenty years. A vice president who advocates abandoning decency, common sense, decades of precedent and international law for a dubious advantage in a "war" which exists largely in the president's fantasies presents a clear and present danger on a scale that, frankly, beggars description.

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