The Projection of American Influence and Power
Thirty-nine years ago on September 21, 1976, Orlando Letelier, a Chilean exile and Ronni Moffitt, an American citizen, were killed when their car exploded as they drove through Washington, D.C.’s Sheridan Circle.
The car had been booby-trapped by DINA, secret police under the direct control of then Chilean President Augusto Pinochet, as part of his Operation Condor.
This past Friday, the National Security Archive released previously classified US documents including one from then Secretary of State George Schultz to President Ronald Reagan dated October 1987, where he expressed concern over Pincochet. Schultz cited CIA intelligence as background.
George Schultz
Schultz said, “The CIA … provides “what we regard as convincing evidence that President Pinochet personally ordered his intelligence chief to carry out the murders.” It also confirms that “Pinochet decided to· stonewall on the US investigation to hide his involvement” and continues to do so, including by considering “even the elimination of his former intelligence chief.”
Later in the memo Schultz also says. “… this is a blatant example of a chief of state’s direct involvement in an act of state terrorism, one that is particularly disturbing both because it occurred in our capital and since his government is generally considered to be friendly. (italics added)
The CIA Would Know
Schultz goes onto cite “the need to work toward complete democratization of Chile.”
Ironically, Pincochet, a ruthless dictator responsible for the deaths and torture of thousands, came to power in a U.S.-backed coup in September, 1973.
Pinochet
The U.S. overthrew a democratically elected government and assisted the terrorists who then took control.
The CIA aggressively supported Pincochet and Operation Condor’s death squad which had a kill zone extending to within a few blocks of the White House.
Schultz, writing about 15 years after the US intervention in Chile, was effectively admitting our prior blunder.
At the very time Schultz was writing to Reagan about his grave concerns regarding Pinochet and terrorism, the US was pumping millions of dollars into Afghan dissident groups fighting the Soviets, among them Osama Bin Laden.
The 9/11 Report-Saudi Redaction
Now, 15 years after 9/11, President Obama is under pressure to release similarly classified information.
A few dozen pages of the 9/11 report were classified and withheld.
It is widely accepted that those pages detail the role played by Saudi’s in the attack.
The UK’s Telegraph reports that, “According to Bob Graham, the former Florida senator who was chair of the Senate Intelligence committee at the time of the report, they (the 28 blanked-out pages) show that Saudi Arabia was the “principle financier” of the attack.”
Which would be another example of an act of state terrorism, one that is particularly disturbing because the government (Saudi Arabia) is generally considered to be friendly.”
Gotta Eat
Is the U.S. love affair with forward power projection, often using subterfuge, really about economic security and our oil-based economy?
The not-so secret lesson of the Letelier/Moffit murders is that subterfuge abroad can lead a trail right back here.
9/11 continues to emerge as a similar lesson, writ both large and horribly.
As Obama hides Bush’s secrets we can only wonder what the next 15 years will bring.