Not long after the Al Qaeda terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, George Monbiot wrote in the Guardian/UK that the United States Government itself sponsors terrorist training - at the U.S. Army School of the Americas in Ft. Benning, GA.

A documentary by director John Smihula says that these horrific stories have been 'Hidden In Plain Sight', and culpability is strangely obscured despite a trail of evidence linking U.S. foreign policy to the bloodstained history of Latin America in the 20th Century. 'Hidden' gives interviews of both SOA supporters and critics, and shows flinchworthy footage of soldiers and victims. This film has debuted in more than 40 U.S. cities and has featured a national and international film festivals - including the Istanbul and Amnesty International film festivals. This month, 'Hidden' will screen at the International Documentary Festival in Amsterdam.

Noam Chomsky, Michael Parenti and Eduardo Galeano all give equally damning testimonies for ways in which U.S. imperialism and military intervention have worked against the Latin American poor, the workers and the indigenous, and benefited the large corporations who have taken advantage of cheap labor and compliance from regional leadership.

Christopher Hitchens distributes the blame and much more widely: "I think that the SOA reminds people in a very blunt way that Americans too can be collectively responsible for torture, for murder for dictatorship and not just for defending these things or for covering them up, or being complicit with them, but actually teaching people how to do them, which is more than complicity, it is direct responsibility."

Is it a stretch to say that U.S. taxpayers keep the school open? Is it feasible that through our oil dependency and consumptive behavior we give an implicit nod to U.S. foreign policy, consenting to whatever means are necessary to keep gas prices low? Silence is acceptance, and ignorance is no excuse.

Moreover, the U.S. war on terror and oil imperialism connects the dots from the Middle East through Ft. Benning to Central and South America. Petroleum-rich countries like Ecuador and Venezuela take heed: if Plan Colombia is any indication of how the U.S. intends to secure South American oil, the continent is certainly in for more trouble. Plan Colombia has funneled millions of dollars toward anti-narcotics efforts, attempting to quash the thriving coca industry, and has been denounced by human rights groups as a war against the people of Colombia. This funding is not used for social welfare but to protect oil pipelines, train soldiers, fumigate civilian areas with toxic chemicals, and supply weapons for "protection."

U.S. culpability in crimes against humanity is overt in the eyes of many Latin Americans. In 'Hidden', El Salvadoran death squad member tells an American reporter, "We learnt from you. We learnt from you the methods, like blowtorches in the armpits, shots in the balls." Their victims died unspeakable deaths, and those who lived carry the weight of remembrance, like Ana Chavez Fisher whose husband was killed in El Salvador. And like Hector Aristizabal whose brother was tortured and killed in Colombia. And like Sr. Dianna Ortiz who survived torture in Guatemala

For them, the existence of the school at Ft. Benning, GA is indefensible.

Yet 'Hidden' takes another look at the situation, soliciting views from proponents of the renamed-SOA.

One supporter, Congressman Mac Collins (R-GA) takes stabs at the largely Catholic "School for the Americas Watch" movement, saying that of all institutions, the church should be willing to see the good in people working for, as fellow supporter Colonel Glenn Weidner says, "peace in the hemisphere." Led by Father Roy Bourgeois, a Maryknoll priest and himself a victim of torture in South America, SOA Watch has maintained a vigil outside the gates of Ft. Benning every November since 1990 to commemorate the murders committed by graduates of the SOA of six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper and her daughter, committed by graduates of the SOA.

Card-carrying Amnesty International member and Ft. Benning Base Commander Maj. Gen. John Lemoyne, who has been implicated in the "Highway of Death" massacre in the 1991 Gulf War, claims that "Amnesty has reviewed this school and said it was the best institution to help our Latin brothers." Paul Paz y Mino, an Amnesty International representative, counters: "General LeMoyne's statements are completely false. No one in Amnesty has ever or would ever make such a statement endorsing any military training, even though we don't oppose it officially."

LeMoyne's military career underscores the claim that even at the highest levels, those associated with the SOA act with impunity, sending implicit messages to the soldiers who train there that they are beyond reproach. With testimony from critics and even supporters, 'Hidden' still paints a bad picture of the school.

Latin Americans have suffered under two silences, one in the climate of fear and repression under their own governments, and another in Americans' lack of awareness or capacity to believe that the U.S. could be involved. Generations of Americans grew up believing that citizenship meant supporting one's country, right or wrong. Perhaps this is the only real explanation for the degree of convincing required to help a country see the forest for the trees, that which has truly been 'Hidden In Plain Sight.'

Leah C. Wells is a freelance journalist and peace teacher with a degree in Linguistics from Georgetown University. She may be reached at leah@peaceed.org.

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