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December 11, 2006

Cheating The Hangman

Dennis P. examines the near-simultaneous passing of Augusto Pinochet and Jeane Kirkpatrick, here.

I'd forgotten this Jeane Kirkpatrick quote about the Maryknoll nuns raped and murdered by the Salvadoran National Guard in 1980:

"The nuns were not just nuns, they were political activists, and we should be very clear about that."

EVEN BETTER: During the eighties the U.S. encouraged Chilean arms manufacturers to help arm Saddam Hussein. This effort was spearheaded by a man now forgotten by history named Robert Gates.

Posted at December 11, 2006 11:24 AM | TrackBack
Comments

Let's not forget Milton Friedman, high priest of upward redistribution on whose behalf Kirkpatrick and Pinochet (and Thatcher and Reagan and North and ...) toiled. Death is passing a scythe through a generation of empire's gargoyles. Can Henry the K be far behind?

Posted by: Jason Z. at December 11, 2006 02:11 PM

There is a Japanese comic called "Death Note" if you have heard of it, in which possession of a little black notebook and writing the name of someone in it guarantees that person's Death, maybe it's in someone's hands in DC?

Posted by: En Ming Hee at December 11, 2006 07:13 PM

When Pinochet was arrested in London in 1998, Chilean youths gathered around the British Embassy in Santiago and began to collect the garbage.

Asked by the British guards what they thought they were doing, they replied: "You picked up our garbage, we'll pick up yours."

Posted by: Bernard Chazelle at December 11, 2006 07:42 PM

I love how the BBC news turned this dictator into the economic savior of Chile: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6167941.stm

After all, who cares about the lives of the few thousand innocent people who were tortured and murdered when corporations are profiting.

Posted by: Dimitria at December 11, 2006 11:05 PM

I mean Robert Parry, not "Patty"

Posted by: mistah charley at December 12, 2006 07:55 AM

a) anyone who seeks to transform into reality the words of the Beatitudes is a "political activist."
b) I guess it's OK to rape and murder political activists. Just don't crucify them. That analogy would be a little too on the nose.

Posted by: cavjam at December 12, 2006 09:01 AM

Sadly, an acquaintance and nun who fought on the other side of Pinochet/Kirkpatrick/Friedman died just before this better-known trio did. For some perspective from the other side of the struggle:
http://library.stkate.edu/topics/sister_rita.html

(P.S. the obit -- detailing her life work for justice -- doesn't have room to describe what a warm and funny person Rita was).

Posted by: Whistler Blue at December 12, 2006 04:31 PM

I'm hoping Rummy joins them in the death march to hell.

Posted by: Susan at December 13, 2006 04:48 AM