Yep it real.
Here's an paragraph from wikipedia:
[H4]Human rights abuses[/H4] The SOA has been accused of training members of governments guilty of serious [A title="Human rights abuses" href="vny!://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_rights_abuses"]human rights abuses[/A] and have been found to advocate techniques that violate accepted international standards, particularly the [A title="Geneva Conventions" href="vny!://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geneva_Conventions"]Geneva Conventions[/A]. Graduates of the SOA include men such as [A title="Hugo Banzer" href="vny!://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugo_Banzer"]Hugo Banzer Suárez[/A], [A title="Leopoldo Fortunato Galtieri" href="vny!://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leopoldo_Fortunato_Galtieri"]Leopoldo Galtieri[/A], [A title="Manuel Noriega" href="vny!://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuel_Noriega"]Manuel Noriega[/A], [A title="Efraín Ríos Montt" href="vny!://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Efra%C3%ADn_R%C3%ADos_Montt"]Efraín Ríos Montt[/A], [A title="Vladimiro Montesinos" href="vny!://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimiro_Montesinos"]Vladimiro Montesinos[/A], [A title="Guillermo Rodríguez" href="vny!://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guillermo_Rodr%C3%ADguez"]Guillermo Rodríguez[/A], [A title="Omar Torrijos" href="vny!://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omar_Torrijos"]Omar Torrijos[/A], [A title="Roberto Viola" href="vny!://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roberto_Viola"]Roberto Viola[/A], [A title="Roberto D'Aubuisson" href="vny!://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roberto_D%27Aubuisson"]Roberto D'Aubuisson[/A], and [A title="Juan Velasco Alvarado" href="vny!://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Velasco_Alvarado"]Juan Velasco Alvarado[/A].[A class="external autonumber" title=vny!://www.soaw.org/new/article.php?id=205&cat=63 href="vny!://www.soaw.org/new/article.php?id=205&cat=63"][6][/A] Because many of its students have been associated with [A title="Death squad" href="vny!://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_squad"]death squads[/A], the school's acronym is occasionally reparsed by its detractors as the "School of [A title=Assassin href="vny!://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassin"]Assassins[/A]".
And here's the link:
[A href="vny!://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Hemisphere_Institute_for_Security_Cooperation#Human_rights_abuses"]vny!://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Hemisphere_Institute_for_Security_Cooperation#Human_rights_abuses[/A]