Remembering the other September 11
By Farooq Sulehria The News | September 10, 2005 http://jang.com.pk/thenews/ As the fourth anniversary of September 11 is approaching, the other September 11, the other mastermind of September 11 and the other terrorist organisation will again go missing in the media hype on this occasion. It is not because the Western media are ignorant of the other September 11, unleashed on Chile in 1973, masterminded by Henry Kissinger and carried out by CIA. It is because the Chilean September 11 is embarrassing. Or perhaps because world remains the same when USA attacks another country. But the "world will not be the same again" if the US is attacked. After all, it is not a dog biting a man that makes news. It is man biting a dog that makes headlines. The 9/11, 1973 was a case of routine dog bite. Hence, while a hunt for Osama goes on, the USA refuses to hand over the other 9/11 mastermind to Chile, even when Chilean judge Juan Guzman filed an international subpoena for Henry Kissinger to appear for questioning regarding the coup and its aftermath. Instead, a war-is-peace kind of joke by George Bush was his decision to appoint Henry Kissinger to head up an investigation into the adequacy of US defenses against Al-Qaeda. In a way, it was a wise decision since "it takes one to know one". But it was like asking Mullah Omar to investigate abuse of women rights in Afghanistan. Now when another September 11 anniversary is approaching, it is time to join Chilean masses in demanding for the trial of Henry Kissinger for his role in military coup claiming 30,000 lives. A coup Nixon-Kissinger administration unleashed merely because Kissinger, in his own words, saw no reason why a certain country should be allowed to "go Marxist" merely because "its people are irresponsible". The "irresponsible people" of Chile had voted Communist Party candidate Dr Salvador Allende to power weeks before the declaration of this Kissingerian doctrine. Allende's election scared US corporations (doing business in Chile. The corporation concern was communicated to Nixon. The president was beholden to Pepsi Cola. As a young lawyer, Nixon was given his first corporate account by Pepsi Cola President, Donald Kendall. Nixon's immediate reaction was: Allende was not to assume office. He screamed: "$ 10,000,000 available more if necessary. Full time job -- best man we have...Make the economy scream. 48 hour for plan of action". Unlike Pakistan, Chile had a military that for 150 years had stayed away from politics. Chilean General Staff Rene Schneider also posed problems since he was adamantly opposed to military intervention in politics. The Kissingerian team planned to kidnap Scheneider and implicate Allende in this crime. The resulting confusion, thought Kissinger, would panic the Congress into denying Allende the presidency. In a rare show of democratic spirit, outgoing president Eduardo Frei, a Christian Democrat, said he was opposed to any US intervention and would vote to confirm Allende. Two days before his oath taking, hired military thugs belonging to a right wing gang murdered Scheneider. Allende, nonetheless, took his oath to become the first communist elected head of a state. On November 9, 1970, Kissinger authored National Security Council's "Decision Memorandum 93" reviewing policy towards Chile in the wake of Allende's confirmation as president. The "Decision Memorandum 93" was merely a reflection of secret cable traffic that went on at a hectic pace prior to Allende's oath taking. In one of his cable messages, Kissinger has passed the message to his agents in Chile: "It is firm and continuing policy that Allende be overthrown by a coup. It would be much preferable to have this transpire prior to 24 October but efforts in this regard will continue vigorously beyond this date." The "Decision Memorandum 93" proposed routine measures to "make (the) economy scream" on one hand and remove Salvador Allende by all means necessary. This is what CIA code-named as Project FUBELT. All aid to Chile was cut off. The CIA spent at least $8 million to bring down Allende. On September 11, l973, US efforts finally bore fruit. A military coup assassinated Allende and destroyed democracy in a country that had enjoyed nearly l50 years of democratic government. Thousands were killed. Tens of thousands were tortured. Dr Salvador Allende, with a pistol in his hand, died the heroic death of a martyr. Either it was the murder of democracy or assassination of his friend Dr Allende, that Noble laureate legendary Chilean poet, Pablo Nureda, found it hard to live anymore. It was him the Chilean Communist party had nominated as presidential candidate but he had stepped down in Allende's favour. A week after military coup, heart broken poet also died of "September 11". A post-junta truth commission found that the Argentine military had "disappeared" at least 10,000 Argentines in the "dirty war" against "subversion" and "terrorists" between 1976 and 1983. The human rights groups in Argentina put the number at 30,000. Newly declassified State Department documents show that Secretary of State Henry Kissinger gave his full support to the Argentine military junta and urged them to hurry up and finish the "dirty war" before the U.S. Congress cut military aid. When Vanity Fair columnist Christopher Hitchens (yes the one George Galloway called "drink-sodden ex Trotskyist popinjay") was not on the same side of fence as Kissinger is, he considered Kissinger an appropriate candidate for the dock. In his book "The Trial of Henry Kissinger", he wrote regarding Kissinger's role in Chile: "All of above-cited crimes and many more besides, were committed on Kissinger's 'watch' as secretary of state. And all of them were and are punishable, under local and international law, or both." Hitchens believes that Henry Kissinger could be brought to the dock under four different sets of laws: 1) International Human Rights Law comprising covenants on the rights of individual in relation to state, as well as other actors in the international community. 2) The Law of Armed Conflicts governing "law of war". 3) International Criminal Law concerning any individual, including any agent of state, committing atrocities against his "own 'citizens or citizens of another state' ". 4) Domestic Law and Law of Civil Liberties that govern crime such as murder, kidnapping, etc. These laws in many cases permit a citizen of any country to seek redress in the courts of offender's "host" country or country of citizenship. In USA, one such statute is Alien Tort Claim Act. But alas! Laws are like cobwebs. Strong enough to detain Pinochets (or Milosovics) but too weak to hold the Kissingers! PS: A good September 11 barter would be trading Osama with Kissinger. The writer is a freelance journalist based in Sweden. Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Life without art & music? Keep the arts alive today at Network for Good! http://us.click.yahoo.com/FXrMlA/dnQLAA/Zx0JAA/uTGrlB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> -- This is ZESTGlobal. Post articles on international affairs to [email protected] If you got this mail as a forward, subscribe to ZESTGlobal by sending a blank mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] OR, if you have a Yahoo! ID, by visiting http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTGlobal/join/ Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTGlobal/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
