Although the SOA has sought to change its image through a name change and sanitised curriculum, critics continue to call attention to a trail of suffering and death in every Latin American country where its 'graduates' have returned. In this updated and expanded edition, Pallmeyer reviews the case for closing the school and lays bare the case of its proponents. But he also shows how the school has functioned as an instrument of US foreign policy and spells out connections with globalization. Third World debt and the ongoing "war against the poor" around the world. The SOA has trained over 60,000 soldiers from Latin America in commando ops, psychological warfare, and counter-insurgency skills - all paid for by US taxpayers. These soldiers return to their home countries with the 'skills' to defend a socio-economic system that keeps a small elite very wealthy and the vast majority very poor.