From the John Dinges article, McCain's Private Visit With Chilean Dictator Pinochet Revealed For First Time, posted today on Huffington Post:
On December 30, [1985,] McCain traveled back to Santiago for a 5 pm meeting with dictator Pinochet, followed by a meeting with Admiral Jose Toribio Merino, a member of the country's ruling military junta.
Hey, I have some questions for John McCain!
I'm in San Diego. When the Chilean tall ship Esmeralda (nicknamed White Lady) came to port in San Diego in 2006 there was a protest at the dock, because of the Esmeralda's notorious past as a torture ship under Pinochet. The Esmeralda, it turns out, is met by protests all over the world when she docks, as part of a human rights and truth campaign.
On the outside (h/t wikipedia):
And on the inside:
The September 11th Massacre They Don’t Tell You About
Countless numbers of people were taken by the U.S.-installed regime to secret torture centers, including on Chilean ships like the Esmeralda where torture included "the use of electric prods, high-voltage electric charges applied to the testicles, hanging by the feet and dumping in a bucket of water or excrement (Santiago Times, September 7, 1999).
"High-voltage electric charges applied to the testicles"? Hello! Other sources mention waterboarding.
So, John, I want to hear more about your 1985 meeting with Admiral Jose Toribio Merino, the one you had right after meeting with Pinochet.
The website for the documentary film The Dark Side of the White Lady posts an article saying Admiral Merino ordered documents burned that linked the Chilean Navy to human rights abuses. This guy knows.
John? Certainly if William Ayers is important, this must be REALLY important. What did you talk about, what did you know, and what did you then and do you now support?
This isn't old news and this isn't off topic. The US Navy has been reported by the UK Guardian to have secret "floating prison" ships:
US accused of holding terror suspects on prison ships).
The Reprieve study includes the account of a prisoner released from Guantánamo Bay, who described a fellow inmate's story of detention on an amphibious assault ship. "One of my fellow prisoners in Guantánamo was at sea on an American ship with about 50 others before coming to Guantánamo ... he was in the cage next to me. He told me that there were about 50 other people on the ship. They were all closed off in the bottom of the ship. The prisoner commented to me that it was like something you see on TV. The people held on the ship were beaten even more severely than in Guantánamo."
Clive Stafford Smith, Reprieve's legal director, said: "They choose ships to try to keep their misconduct as far as possible from the prying eyes of the media and lawyers. We will eventually reunite these ghost prisoners with their legal rights.
"By its own admission, the US government is currently detaining at least 26,000 people without trial in secret prisons, and information suggests up to 80,000 have been 'through the system' since 2001.
And by the way, John, I'm curious, how did you vote on this Senate resolution in 1986?
Protest marks Chilean tall ship's visit
In 1986, the U.S. Senate approved a resolution urging withdrawal of an invitation for the Esmeralda to participate in an event connected with the 100th birthday celebration of the Statue of Liberty.
"The Statue of Liberty would weep at the sight of the Esmeralda entering the gateway of freedom at New York harbor," said Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass.
The Senate measure described the Esmeralda as "the notorious vessel used for the torture of 112 political prisoners at the time Gen. Augusto Pinochet seized power in a military coup" in 1973. Pinochet remained in power until 1990. The ship took part in the Statue of Liberty celebration.
(God bless Ted Kennedy.)
John, I know how important it is for you to keep faith with your fathers -- that is, your father and your grandfather, both US Navy admirals, and how your ambition to be president is part of your ambition to live up to them, especially since you didn't make admiral as they did. My father served in the US Navy, and so did my mother, and I write this trying to live up to my parents' service. Please tell me how you are keeping the faith.
I would also like to know if you and Sarah Palin consider US Navy ships part of "Real America."