Good news on SOA accountability!

Thanks to much grassroots pressure, on Friday, the House approved the McGovern-Sestak-Bishop (GA) amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act for FY 2009, forcing the public release of names, rank, country of origin, courses and dates of attendance of graduates of the School of the Americas/Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (more widely known as the torture school at Fort Benning.)

The amendment, which was approved 220 to 189, will release information that in the past has been vital in identifying the perpetrators of massacres, targeted assassinations, and human rights abuses committed in Latin America. Access to information about WHINSEC students and instructors will help human rights organizations monitor the school and identify those graduates and instructors who have violated human rights or taken part in criminal activities in their home countries.

A similar amendment will have to pass the Senate--follow the campaign here and be ready to make a call to support global democracy.