United for Peace and Justice urges you to call your Congressional Representative TODAY about two pressing items:
Call the
Capitol Hill Switchboard TODAY at 202-224-3121 or toll-free at
888-355-3588. Ask to speak with your Representative's foreign
affairs legislative assistant and urge your Representative to:
- Sign on to the "discharge" petition calling for an
open Congressional debate on Iraq, if he/she hasn't already done so;
- Cast a YES vote on the amendment to close the School of the Americas/WHINSEC.
You can also send an email and free fax about the School of the Americas by clicking here.
1) As we explained in a message on Monday, momentum is growing to force
a full, open debate in the House of Representatives about U.S. policy
toward Iraq through a measure called a "discharge petition." (Click
here for background.) We only need 96 more members of Congress to sign this petition. We hope
you will join today's National Call-In day to urge your representative
to sign on if he/she has not already done so.
2) Sometime in the next two days, Congress will vote on an amendment to
close the notorious School of the Americas/WHINSEC. The School of the
Americas (SOA), in 2001 renamed the “Western Hemisphere Institute for
Security Cooperation,” is a combat training school for Latin American
soldiers, located at Fort Benning, Georgia, and funded by our tax
dollars.
Over the last 60 years, it has trained over 60,000 soldiers from
many Latin American nations in torture, psychological warfare and war
against civilian populations. This school has graduated the worst human
rights abusers in Latin American history, and many of the shocking
tactics used at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay were pioneered at the SOA
to be used on civilians and those working for justice in Latin America.
Any day now, Rep. McGovern (MA) will introduce an amendment to the
Foreign Operations appropriations bill to cut funding for the SOA/WHINSEC and
stand up against the legacy of torture as a part of U.S.
foreign policy.
UFPJ member group SOA Watch has been working for years to close the
School of the Americas and says this moment is critical. They expect a
close vote and need as many people as possible flooding the offices of
the House of Representatives with calls, e-mails and faxes in support
of a YES vote on the amendment everyday through June 8th.
For background on the issue and a suggested message, visit
SOA Watch's website. | 
