Pinochet finally died. Hooray!!!

[Valley Oak]

Pinochet finally died. Hooray!!!

Edward

["Mad" Miles]

Yeah, hooray.

But, essentially, he got away with it. So much for International Law and Human Rights. He was ninety-one years old and, except for house arrest in London a few years back, he walked on mass torture and mass murder.

Idi Amin Dada died in retirement in Saudi Arabia on 8/16/03.

How many death squad participants from the U.S. suppression of popular democracy in Central America in the early eighties are living in American (U.S.) suburbs?

Many of the worst Nazi's were snuck into the U.S. to build our Space Program or to continue the fight against the Commies.

"Our" Empire protects its faithful servants, no matter what horrors they've perpetrated on "our" behalf.

There has got to be a better way.


"M"M

:mad:

[Valley Oak]

I agree 100%.

What ads a little more spite to it (among other things) is the fact that the genocidal mass murderer lived approximately 20 more years than the average american male, which is just around 71 or a smidgen above. How much more time would the assasin had to have lived before being brought to justice is a mystery but they had plenty of time to do it. Quite possibly they never would have. I have no idea what exactly could have blocked his being tried and imprisoned, especially considering the female president of Chile today is a Socialist and was tortured as a young woman during the reign of terror.

Edward

Yeah, hooray.

But, essentially, he got away with it. So much for International Law and Human Rights. He was ninety-one years old and, except for house arrest in London a few years back, he walked on mass torture and mass murder.

Idi Amin Dada died in retirement in Saudi Arabia on 8/16/03.

How many death squad participants from the U.S. suppression of popular democracy in Central America in the early eighties are living in American (U.S.) suburbs?

Many of the worst Nazi's were snuck into the U.S. to build our Space Program or to continue the fight against the Commies.

"Our" Empire protects its faithful servants, no matter what horrors they've perpetrated on "our" behalf.

There has got to be a better way.


"M"M

:mad:

["Mad" Miles]

"I agree 100%.

...I have no idea what exactly could have blocked his being tried and imprisoned, especially considering the female president of Chile today is a Socialist and was tortured as a young woman during the reign of terror."


Cool! Thank You, Roble/Edward.


The reasons Pinochet was never brought to trial were (from my recollections as a news junkie): He retired as a Senator which gave him legal immunity from prosecution. In later years when lawyers started to chip away at his legal invulnerability, his lawyers used his ill health to prevent the courts from going after him. And, he had a political base.

How many active and former military and other civil servants had everything to lose if Pinochet's fall started their whole house of cards crumbling? And how much did the opposition politicians, now in power, fear a backlash and a return to the bad old dictatorship days if they pushed too hard?

The history is much more complex but those are the basics that I remember.


One might ask why our war criminals have never been tried? Nixon, Reagan and their underlings got away with murder. The architects of Vietnam are lauded and feted, consulted on Iraq and quoted as experts by the media.

Our new Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates, was part and parcel of Iran/Contra and the murderous policies in Latin America in the eighties. Yet he sailed through confirmation a week ago because of, among other things, "anybody but Rumsfeld, thank god the Wicked Wizard is leaving" thinking.

Some of us rail against Bush and demand his impeachment. But the "new regime" in Congress has declared they will not put it on the table. Why make waves when he'll be gone in two years? (Not my thinking, theirs.)

The system protects its own.

Never underestimate the power of human stupidity. And timidity which prevents what is obviously needed is a form of stupidity.

If you can terrorize everyone into thinking the end is nigh (and even make the likelyhood of catastrophe greater?) it makes the masses that much easier to control.

I remembered this when watching the previews before "Blood Diamond" on Friday afternoon. All the films being touted were horrific splatter flics. What better way to distract us from real problems?

Ever studied the local evening news? Why do you think all the senior citizens are convinced the world is coming to an end? Because they're told that every day on the hour. (fires, murders, floods, criminal violence of all kinds, "if it bleeds, it ledes".)


Who was worse than Pinochet? Those "commies" he stopped from taking over of course! That's why he got away with it. He and his supporters exploited the fear they engendered to justify their actions. Bullies always justify their abusive actions by claiming they were threatened and had to defend themselves.


"M"M

:tantrum:

For more on Pinochet and Chile check out:

www.slate.com/id/2155242/?nav=tap3

I think Hitchens is an &$$hole on Iraq, but he writes well on some things.