Your article is a clear message of truth and paints war exactly for what it is, a tragedy made by men. As a career military officer and combat pilot, I find the Iraq war to be the greatest failure of the American system ever recorded. The death and destruction this country has inflicted upon Iraq will require a century to overcome. We have truly lost our way. I applaud your excellent article.
~ Col. Thomas W. McGuire, Jr., USAF Ret., Alabama
This article by Chris Hedges deserves to be in every major newspaper in the U.S. Unfortunately, this won’t happen because of the very reasons that Chris has stated – most people only see war through the eyes of Hollywood and John Wayne, not through the eyes of some poor devil who has just been shot or burned – he is just one more collateral damaged person as we display shock and awe to the world. As a Christian, I am ashamed at what I and many like me have allowed our government to do!
We don’t need to wait for a child to grow up and tell us the real story of this horrible, unnecessary Iraq war and the impact it is having on the civilian population. The story is being told on blogs out of Baghdad right now. I think one of the best is at: http://riverbendblog.blogspot.com/.
~ Russ N., KalamazooPride.blogspot.com
If Pinochet Is Guilty, so Is Bush
Prior to reading Paul Craig Roberts’ article: “If Pinochet Is Guilty, so Is Bush,” I took him for a principled anti-imperialist.
Apparently I was mistaken.
First, I found it amazing that Roberts (supposedly an anti-imperialist) could give an account of the Allende-Pinochet affair without even mentioning the U.S. government’s apparent role in destabilizing the Allende regime.
Also conspicuously absent was the inconvenient fact that Allende was elected.
What takes the cake are the following two paragraphs:
“Uninformed people believe that terrorism was a response to Pinochet’s ousting of Allende. Few Americans are aware that the Chilean parliament denounced Allende for abrogating the Chilean constitution. Allende made it clear that both he and the armed revolutionaries he unleashed represented a threat to Chilean democracy.
“Pinochet was called to power. He put down terrorism. He assembled scholars and members of the opposition to devise a new constitution. When the task was done, Pinochet submitted to elections and handed over power to a civilian government.”
After being “called” to power, Pinochet’s junta (according to Wikipedia): “immediately suspended the constitution, dissolved Congress, imposed strict censorship, proscribed the leftist parties that had constituted Allende’s Popular Unity coalition, and halted all political activity. In addition, it embarked on a campaign of terror against leftist elements in the country. As a result, approximately 3,000 Chileans were executed or disappeared, more than 27,000 were imprisoned or tortured, and many were exiled and received abroad as political refugees.”
Pinochet apparently didn’t just target “terrorists” (whatever exactly they are); like most brutal U.S.-supported dictators, he targeted political opponents as well.
Lastly, Roberts makes it sound like Pinochet is some kind of reluctant, selfless, humble, who, me? kind of happy-go-lucky guy, who promptly did what he had to do and handed power to a civilian government. Yet Pinochet didn’t hand over power for 16 years, and even then he made himself a senator for the rest of his life.
Either Wikipedia (and all the other sources that basically agree with it) is lying or Roberts should go get a job with Fox “News.”
Paul Craig Roberts replies:
It is very difficult to help people who are so convinced by misinformation. I did spend several years researching the Allende-Pinochet era and co-authored a book on the basis of interviews with former terrorists, members of the former military government, Pinochet himself, and opposition politicians. The book was published in Spanish in Chile in 2000. The Allende government destabilized itself, and the response to Allende was Chilean, romantic notions about American spooks notwithstanding.
Acts of domestic terrorism continued for a number of years. The process of economic reconstruction took time, as did the crafting of a consensus new constitution. The Senate position that Pinochet filled was part of the constitution. It was put there for stability reasons and was part of the transition. Pinochet did not dictate the new constitution.
If the reader is unaware that Allende was denounced by the elected congress, then he knows nothing of the period and his outrage is a measure of his ignorance.
Dear Mr. Raimondo,
I read Antiwar.com every day. I am a conservative person, a traditionalist in a lot of ways, studying Catholicism, and solidly antiwar. I appreciate your Web site and your comments very much.
There is one thing I wanted to bring up. I volunteer for the International Action Center, attend meetings to get information about what is happening in the world, and help out at demonstrations. I march with them because they are so vocal and ANGRY about America’s imperialism, and they come out and protest. At least they’re on the streets!
Where are the conservatives? Where are the hundreds of thousands of thoughtful, informed, outraged American citizens who aren’t on the Left, but are appalled at what is going on? Why don’t they come out and march, too? This is something I can’t understand. I know that marching isn’t everything, but it sure is SOMETHING. People all over the world see it when Americans protest. The Iraqis see it. Even Washington sees it.
~ Stephanie Bodene, Philadelphia, PA
