Really!
I just read all about it on Free Republic:
On 11 September 1973, in response to formal requests by his nation's judiciary and legislature, General Augusto Pinochet led a military coup against the regime of the elected president of Chile, Salvador Allende, an avowed Marxist whose government had placed foreign agents of revolution in positions of power, stolen the private property of Chilean citizens, nationalized many of the country's major industries, and wrecked Chile's economy and sense of public order. The coup succeded: stolen property was returned, the foreign terrorists with Chile were hunted down and eliminated, and law and order were restored to the country. Allende died by his own hand, shooting himself with a gun given him by Fidel Castro of Cuba.
You see...? He was a true Hero of the People!
more...
Bruce Lewis, the FReep author, goes on to let us know that Pinochet's
real "crime"is that he fought communism and won — and for that crime the socialists and Marxists of the world will never forgive him.
Lewis acknowledges that Augie wasn't without blemishes - but seems to hold him up as a template for Conservative governance, worthy of emulation by the McPalinistas:
Pinochet was a military dictator. I make no bones about that. He held power for fifteen years, all the while ruthlessly searching out and destroying those whom he deemed to pose a threat to Chile. During his war on his country’s dometic [sic] enemies, winning came first, and civil rights came second — and, sometimes, not at all. As is true in every war, there is no doubt that some of those who ended up injured or dead during his regime were innocent.
Yeah - war is messy, innit? But Augusto was strong!
Lewis goes on to canonize his hero:
General Augusto Pinochet is a hero, He singlehandedly prevented his country from being turned into a Pacific version of Cuba, and in so doing won a critical battle of World War Three, the so-called "cold war" — that fifty-year global battle for dominance between the Judeo-Christian, capitalist West and the atheistic communists of the USSR and her thralls. Did he get his hands dirty in the process? Yes, he did. He dealt with the communist bandits who hijacked his country in the only proper manner: he killed them. By so doing, he prevented them from killing Chile, a proud nation which is now the jewel of South America.
But the record shows a different picture
This site contains accounts of the crimes of Augusto Pinochet, who ruled Chile from 1973 to 1990. The texts explain what people are talking about when they call him a "dictator" or "strong man" who committed a few "human rights violations". These reports tend to confirm one another, and collectively give some idea of the range and scale of the atrocities.
There are graphic accounts here, which are really, really tough to read.
His first interrogation took place two days after arrest. It was conducted in another room in the presence of about five other people. He was asked about his connections with political parties. He was beaten: struck on the head, punched on the right side of his chest and beaten with a rubber truncheon on the shoulders. Afterwards he was stretched out on a bed, to which his wrists were tied with cloth, this causing sharp, painful extension of the elbows. A cloth strap was tied round his thighs; his ankles were tied down and his head was put in a special device which prevented him from raising it. He was gagged with a towel. A metal object was fastened to the inner side of his right foot. Two electrodes (in addition to the one fastened to his foot) were then used to administer electric shocks to the lobe of his right ear, to his chest, abdomen, testicles, penis area, anus, legs and the soles of his feet. He was electrically tortured three times that day. He thought the electrodes used were electric wires. While he was being electrically tortured he could hear a generator, so he believed it was possible to vary the current. He did not lose consciousness during the electric torture, nor did he have generalized convulsions.
In January 1974, Chilean Air Force troops deposited the body of a seventeen-year-old boy, an MIR party member, in a town south of Santiago. Part of the boy's abdomen had been subjected to vivisection. Both his legs were broken, and also his left arm. His entire body was covered with holes made by cigarette burns. He had also been castrated. The coroner later cited as cause of death "acute anemia."
Wait - that stuff sounds familiar...!
Sergeant Samuel Provance from Alpha Company 302nd Military Intelligence battalion, in interviews with several news agencies, reported the sexual abuse of a 16-year-old girl by two interrogators, as well as a 16-year-old son of an Iraqi general who was driven through the cold after he had been showered and who was then besmeared with mud in order to get his father to talk. He also pointed out several techniques used by interrogators that have been identified as being in violation of the Geneva Convention.
oh, yeah...that's the direction America Republicans have traveled, in their march to supremacy.
Certainly, there's just no equivalence between McCain enjoying a "warm" visit with this genuine anti-Communist hero with the extremely concerning nature of the then eight-year-old Obama's relations with terrorist William Ayers, right?
After McCain's visit with Pinochet, he
...added that talking to Pinochet was somewhat similar to talking with the head of the John Birch Society."
Wow! That's what Sarah Palin was reading in that shot of her at her desk!
Dots, connected.
update I will donate a dollar to Obama for every rec on this diary, plus $25 to kick it off. Thanks!