1) David Cole’s “Enemy Aliens: Double Standards and Constitutional Freedoms in the War on Terrorism”

2) Leti Volpo’s essay “The Citizen and the Terrorist”

3) Amitava Kumar’s “A Foreigner Carrying in the Crook of His Arm a Tiny Bomb”

This led to a bigger US involvement: secretary of State, Henry Kissinger, started pressurizing publicly the Chilean Congress to influence its decision: “I have yet to meet somebody who firmly believes that if Allende wins there is likely to be another free election in Chile” he famously declared.

In June before the elections the White House was planning to take action in case of Allende’s victory, and the CIA was given 400,000 dollars to be used to oppose Allende candidacy. In September Kissinger suggested that other 350,000 dollars would be given to the CIA to corrupt the members of the Congress in favour of Jorge Alessandri, the other candidate running against Allende. Nevertheless, the Congress confirmed Allende, hence the military intervention: the CIA was officially entitled to dispose of eight million dollars to “destabilize” the Chilean government in the years 1971-1973.

It’s crucial to remember all “9/11″ and identify who’s responsible, to prevent such criminal acts from happening again.

Juan, I can only assume by “fairy story” you mean fairytale, as in made up information. I did not say that Salvador Allende was killed, I said that he died. Whether he was killed or commited suicide may or may not be up for dispute, I decided to phrase it that way specifically because I do not wish to add fuel to the fire of either side.

As for the rest of the article, whether the institution of one government or the other benefited or disadvantaged the people of Chile, and who supported one government or the other, I suppose there are as many stories as there are humans who experienced the event, of whom I am not one. I am a United States citizen who lives in Chile by the grace of the Chilean government, and am thankful for the opportunity to do so.

Thanks all for your responses, and keep them coming, even if you think I’m spinning tales. It’s an important conversation to have.

To my horror, on the day you posted this article, a student of mine was talking about Chile’s September 11th and said “Well, for me, it wasn’t a military coup, just a change of government”. I imagine that the families of those murdered would have a rather different view.

The fact that so many of those responsible have failed to be punished in any way and that so few people wish to discuss it, saddens me deeply.

I’m glad your article is here and that people are responding to it.

Ex-British right-wing prime minister Margaret Thatcher considered herself a friend of Pinochet. As always, the British and American governments have a hell of a lot to answer for.

Though it lacks of a good research and intentionally omits historical facts:

1. Allende cowardly killed himself with a shotgun on sept 11th, gift from Fidel Castro, his friend and supporter. This is recognized by his own family.
2. Allende was declared inconstitutional in August 1973 by 75% of the congress.
3. Many many cubans and soviets were in Chile supporting the instauration of the other cuba en Latin America.
4. The so called “democracy restauration” started in Sept 11th 1973, plus the reconstruction of the country. The institutions and Constitution built during Pinochet’s time havent changed a bit, even with 20 years of left side government.
5. 2.200 people died during the military government. Out of which many died fighting to reinstate the marxist government… as cuba… as rusia… as east germany…

Funny how it goes… victims of leftist communications marketing campaigns…

Adam — you’re a wuss! And I mean that only in the kindest sense.

Your comparisons are either inaccurate, or inane.

While I don’t know about drawing the connection between this 9/11 and the other, this is something we should have kept in mind when we reacted. As horrible as the WTC attacks were (and horrible they certainly were), even more frightening for me was watching the reaction from our government.

The profiling, the attempts to get access to public library records and to provide public school students’ names to the military. The scare tactics that they used with journalists and anyone else who tried to speak out against them. They were like Nixon at his worst, selling Chile to Kennecott Copper. It was like Pinochet, disappearing citizens to protect the Patria.