Terrorism by Any Other Name is Still Terrorism

Here are some little known U.S. history facts:

The Ambassador to Chile in 1973 was .:Ed Korry:.. That year the U.S. sponsored the overthrow of the democratically-elected Salvador Allende, and helped install one of the most brutal dictatorships in the hemisphere's history—Pinochet.

Before Allende's victory, Ed Korry publicly said:

"Once Allende comes to power we shall do all within our power to condemn Chile and Chileans to utmost deprivation and poverty."

.:Dan Mitrione:. was the head of the U.S. Office of Public Safety in Uruguay. Apparently, his job was to instruct Uruguayan police and military officials how to torture political enemies. Torturers need practice, so Mitrione instructed his pupils to abduct homeless beggars off the streets and test out the many devices of torture on them. That included electric shock to the genitals. The usual ending for test subjects was murder.

As karma would dictate, Mitrione was kidnapped and killed by an Uruguayan rebel group in 1970. Then Secretary of State William Rogers attended his funeral. Celebrities Frank Sinatra and Jerry Lewis staged a fundraiser for his family. White House Spokesman Ron Ziegler described Mitrione's work as

"devoted service to the cause of peaceful progress in an orderly world will remain as an example to free men everywhere."

.:Robert Martens:. served in the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta when an Indonesian coup brought Suharto to power in 1965. The consequence of that coup was the mass murder of an estimated 500,000 people. Apropos to how the CIA provided the Indonesian military with the names of supposed subversives to assassinate, Martens blithely said:

"It really was a big help to the Army. They probably killed a lot of people, and I probably have a lot of blood on my hands, but that's not all bad. There's a time when you have to strike hard at a decisive moment."

We've been a great example to al-Qaeda.