Thirty years ago the U.S. overthrew Salvador Allende, the democratically elected President of Chile. Allende happened to be an avowed socialist and was a perennial pain in the side for the U.S. Not only was he another socialist leader in our hemisphere (Cuba was the first and there was that whole domino theory to worry about), but Allende was elected, making him an obvious abomination of the democratic process. Who, after all, would vote for a socialist?!
So, Allende he had to go in the name of U.S. enforced freedom for the long suffering Chileans.
Then the U.S. installed General Augusto Pinochet as as dictator of Chile. With strong support from the U.S., Pinochet immediately declared martial law and relied heavily on his own military police to bring order to the country.
Now an independent investigative commission has concluded that during his bloody 17-year rule Pinochet tortured 27,255 of his own people, at least 3,400 of whom were women, most of them sexually abused, and 88 of whom were under the age of 12.
But at least he wasn't a socialist, and that's why he was our guy.
And besides, this was no Abu Gharib or Guantanamo. There isn't a shred of evidence that the U.S. was involved in the torture of Chileans.
The only thing we might be accused of is standing by and watching while torture happened.
Hey, wait a minute...
Knight Ridder (Washington) - Chilean torture victims demand compensation, prosecution
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