Bichsel and Dicks were not strangers. Bichsel had previously been arrested in Dicks' office in Tacoma for his protest against Dick's support of military aid to Central America. When the vote on the amendment to close the school was taken for the second time, it again failed, this time with a vote of 217-175. Uncharacteristically, Dicks voted in favor of closing the school, as did all the other Washington state representatives with the exception of Republican Jennifer Dunn. We're talking about a barrelful and the barrel itself has got wood rot.
Defenders also speak of the school as an institution necessary for the transmission of democracy.
If this was a way to import democracy, there would have been a change in the government structure of these countries. The regimes under which these soldiers operate have become more and more repressive. It's like saying the wolf is a good guardian of the chicken coup. Despite the continued operation of the school, critics like Bichsel and Bourgeois are not dissuaded. It was the first time since the school began in Panama in 1946 that there has ever been a public debate about its role, let alone its funding.