September 11, 1973

[Puregonzo1188]

While I am sure we are all remembering, with great sadness, the tragedy that befell our nation nine years to ago today, I think it's important we also remember another tragedy that befell another nation today. Thirty-seven years ago a coup was carried out in Chile that removed the democratically elected government and replaced it with a brutal military dictatorship that lasted until 1990.

In the months that followed 40,000 supporters of the democratically elected government were rounded up, imprisoned, tortured, and in many cases killed or disappeared. Among them was a folk singer Victor Jara.







http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1973_Chilean_coup_d'état



Because every human life is sacred, not just American life, I think it's important that remember not only the American who lost their lives today, but the Chileans as well, as well as, everyone human life that was needlessly extinguished by violence, terrorism, and/or war.


Presente

[Whoa_Nelly]

1. K&R

[EFerrari]

2. K&R

[Smarmie Doofus]

3. RECOMMEND. And lest we forget....

... our gov't was complicit in bringing down the democracy.

[abq e streeter]

4. And complicit is if anything, an understatement

[Doctor_J]

9. That's for sure

more like, "the architects of"

[abq e streeter]

13. Just finished re-reading the chapter on Chile in Naomi Klein's The Shock Doctrine

Sickening is not an even remotely strong enough word.

[me b zola]

5. K&R

[leftstreet]

6. K&R

[WinkyDink]

7. Kissinger. The Common Denominator:

President Richard M. Nixon and his national security adviser, Henry A. Kissinger, joked that an “incompetent” CIA had struggled to successfully carry out an assassination in Chile, newly available Oval Office tapes reveal.

At the time, in 1971, Nixon and Kissinger were working to undermine the socialist administration of Chilean President Salvador Allende, who would die during a U.S.-backed military coup two years later. One of the key figures to stand in the way of Chilean generals plotting to overthrow Allende was the Chilean army commander-in-chief, Rene Schneider, who was killed during a botched kidnapping attempt by military right-wingers in 1970.
http://www.antifascistencyclopedia.com/allposts/nixon-joked-with-kissinger-over-allende-assassination


WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Facing questions about potential conflicts of interest, Henry Kissinger resigned Friday as chairman of the September 11 commission.

President Bush named Kissinger to lead the 10-member commission last month, dropping his longstanding opposition to an independent probe of the events leading up to the September 11 terrorist attacks.
http://archives.cnn.com/2002/ALLPOLITICS/12/13/kissinger.resigns/

[truedelphi]

11. The fact that Kissinger was named as head of the Commission

On our Nine Eleven event adds further punch to the MIHOP or LIHOP notions.

Thank you for yr post and its URL links

I realize he was not actually confirmed to that post, but naming him was indicative of what the powers to be wanted to have happen.

[WinkyDink]

19. You are welcome. Amazing that there was finally a last straw with Bushco.

[Cleita]

36. Nixon did die in disgrace, something that hasn't

happened to BushCo yet, but Kissinger is still wandering around rich and free. Why hasn't Chile petitioned The Hague to put him on trial for his crimes in Chile, most notably the assassination of a legitimate President of a sovereign nation?

[abq e streeter]

53. Am I remembering correctly, that there WAS a move afoot to charge Kissinger as a war criminal

in the weeks before September 11th, 2001? Which of course never went anywhere after the attacks of that day...(Am I remembering this correctly?)

[truedelphi]

57. I wasn't aware of that - but it sure makes sense.

The official tally of the Florida electorate's contested vote came in right before the 9-11 attacks.

NYT's announced that Gore had officially won the state of Florida. On Sept. 12 2001.

[Starry Messenger]

8. k & r

[truedelphi]

10. K & R, and luvving yr sig line. n/t

[Puregonzo1188]

14. Thanks. Eugene Debs was quite an amazing person (n/t).

[abq e streeter]

12. Please remember Victor Jara, in the Santiago Stadium...Es verdad

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZA300yj0WM


As every cell in Chile will tell

by the cries of the tortured men.

Remember Allende and the days before

before the army came.

Please remember Victor Jara

In the Santiago Stadium

ES VERDAD - those Washington bullets again!

[Ken Burch]

29. Here are the words to the last song Victor Jara ever wrote, in that stadium

(they were smuggled out of the Stadium after Victor's death by others who were held there. They end abruptly, because Victor was led away by the guards to be savagely beaten to death AS he was writing them)

IN THE STADIUM

We are five thousand, here in this little part of the city.
We are five thousand, how many more will there be?
In the whole city, and the country ten thousand hands
Which could seed the fields, make run the factories.
How much humanity, now with hunger, pain, panic, and terror?

There are six of us, lost in space among the stars,
One dead, one beaten like I never believed a human could be so beaten.
The other four wanting to leave all the terror,
One leaping into space, others beating their heads against the wall
All with gazes fixed on death.

The military carry out their plans with precision;
Blood is medals for them, Slaughter is the badge of heroism.
Oh, my God, is this the world you created?
Was it for this, the seven days, of amazement and toil?

The blood of compañero Presidente is stronger than bombs,
Is stronger than machine guns.
O you song, you come out so badly when I must sing - the terror!
What I see I never saw. What I have felt, and what I feel, must come out!
"Hará brotar el momento! Hará brotar el momento!"*
(*the moment will bloom.)

[defendandprotect]

38. Thank you -- chilling words . . . especially when I reflect on how over almost a decade now ....

America has brutalized so many more young men in creating one of the most violent

and cruel militaries ever -- and almost 5,000 of them dead!

And how many more have they slaughtered --

It is violence which drives men crazy --


And the invasion of two nations and how many more deaths?

All for lies!

[abq e streeter]

42. And all so the already rich could get richer, and as a nice little laboratory

for Milton Friedman and the Chicago Boys and their "free market" economic theories. I hope every last one of them, from Friedman and Reagan and Pinochet, to the lowliest soldier/torturer/murderer, rots in hell for this.

God bless The Clash for doing their little part to try to make sure Victor Jara and the rest of those brutalized souls are never forgotten.


On some level, I can sort of almost comprehend the bloodlust and greed and thirst for power of leaders who order this type of brutality. What I cannot ever wrap my mind around is how these individual soldiers who were the ones who literally, physically carried out the torture and killings, were able to come to believe that this was an acceptable way to live one's life. Have, or will, some of them be struck with terror themselves as their moment of death approaches, for the knowledge of what they've done. Or will/did they go to their graves believing what they'd done was justified, as apparently many Germans still did after the Holocaust? I just can't comprehend it no matter how hard I try.
And most Americans do not know any of this, and don't care. I remember being at a band practice and were taking a break and watching TV when Pinochet was arrested in London. I made a comment to the effect of thank God, and the two other guys watching with me, educated citizens, started laughing , thinking this was amusing that I actually gave a damn that this monster was finally going to answer for his crimes. Of course, as it turned out, neither of them had the slightest idea who Pinochet was, yet laughed at me for knowing and caring. This is what we're up against. Sorry for the directionless rambling; I still get viscerally upset at the willful ignorance of most Americans about the crimes committed in their name. That's all; thank you for posting those chilling words of Victor Jara.

[Ken Burch]

43. self-delete.

dupe post.

[Ken Burch]

44. Some people will always mock anyone who isn't as apathetic and selfish as they are.

btw, I've heard that Emma Thompson has been trying to make a movie about Victor's life. I hope she manages to do so.

[leveymg]

15. Two evil murders on 9/11 separated by 28 years: two democracies died that day. Mourn both.

Crimes against humanity. Crimes against democracy. Some crimes are much greater than just mass murder, some victimize the whole world and set back progress, prolonging widespread human suffering and conflict for generations. Both 9/11s were such days.

[defendandprotect]

39. 9/11/01 was another product of corrupt US government ...

and our democracy if we ever actually had one may be permanently gone --

[Puregonzo1188]

16. Kicking.

[marmar]

17. I'm not a conspiracy theorist by any stretch of the imagination, but when I read about 9/11/73......

...... I get these ever-so-slight tinfoilish feelings.

[defendandprotect]

40. Shakespeare: "Only fools never doubt" --

[philly_bob]

18. Chilean coup was backed by U.S. intelligence, if I remember correctly. (nt)

[WinkyDink]

20. See my post #7.

[Puregonzo1188]

22. Yes it was.

[leveymg]

23. Maybe, you wondered why so many people hate and fear Henry Kissinger?

And, why Richard Helms was the first and only CIA Director convicted for lying to Congress? Chile.

That operation rubbed a lot people raw. 131-year history of democratic elections, a model of social democracy. Second oldest democracy in the Americas. Basically sacrificed to Henry Kissinger's enormous ego and fear that any accomodation to social democracy in this hemisphere would lead eventually to the Euro-socialization of America. Gawd forbid.

[mitchum]

27. Your tax $$$$$ at work

[stevedeshazer]

21. +1

[Angry Dragon]

24. How many terrorists has this country produced??

And then we have the balls to complain when they bring the terror home to roost.

Perhaps I am the only person in this country that believes that when you go around
toppling governments that you disagree with, fund terrorists to fight other governments,
attack countries that have not attacked you, and just point your guns at anyone you feel like,
you have to figure they are going to some day point guns at you and try to kill you.

The world and universe is shaped by balance and circle. If one tries to force the balance the
circle will come back on you. The elected and non-elected officials of this country have never
figured this out. 9-11-2001 started in 1953 and we are paying that price today.
For a country that promotes looking forward, we can not see past the events of today.

[FarLeftRage]

25. K & R

N/T... just too angry for any words.

[mitchum]

26. And I had a thread disappeared today because I was critical of the scumbag CIA

that murderous and corrupt organization contributed a great deal to the coup

[ThatsMyBarack]

28. I was only 2 years old....

What a tragic loss, though....

[burrowowl]

30. K&R

I remeber it and was outraged. The French were very aware of CIA complicity.

[alp227]

31. Read a Guardian article about this event today too.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/sep/11/chile-coup-anniversary-pinochet

Thanks for posting.

[Odin2005]

32. K&R +1,000,000,000,000

[heliarc]

33. ¡Allende, Allende, el pueblo te defiende!

¡Viva Chile! Viva los trabajadores!

[slipslidingaway]

34. knr nt

[earcandle]

35. Amen.

[defendandprotect]

37. Agree ... but when is US government and CIA apologizing for that coup.... ????

Or making amends in any way --

or even reforming its immoral and violent behavior?

[puebloknot]

41. K&R That 9/11 has been largely forgotten, or was never known by most Americans. nt

[unapatriciated]

45. k&R

We must remember our history or we will be doomed to repeating it over and over again.

[Name removed]

46. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[ck4829]

47. K&R

[davidwparker]

48. I'm sure the date of both is just a coincidence. Like, who

would have imagined Operation Iraqi Liberation really meant oil.

[amyrose2712]

49. HUGE K AND R!Thanks for posting.EOM

[Faygo Kid]

50. My Mom died Sept. 11, 2003. She defined the Greatest Generation.

She was the first woman in the U.S. to win the WPB award; Eleanor Roosevelt came to Detroit to congratulate her. Later, she raised my brother and me (father was a violent alcoholic) by herself. She was loved and respected by all who knew her.

[Overseas]

51. K&R. //nt

[BlancheSplanchnik]

52. Kick. Rec. n/t

[whathehell]

54. Along with Charles Horman, the american journalist on whom the movie "Missing" was based. n/t

Much on this case was censored, but apparently research is still being done.

http://www.buzzflash.com/contributors/04/05/con04212.html

[valerief]

55. Our 9-11 was the beginning of our end, too. nt

[Art_from_Ark]

56. A few years later, Pinochet had the gall to issue this coin

The figure is supposed to be "Winged Liberty breaking the bonds of servitude", with the date of the coup written as 11 IX 1973

:puke: