Jacob on Augusto Pinochet

“How is Obama's killing of Abdulrahman any different from Pinochet's murder of Orlando Letelier and Ronni Moffitt?  In the one case, a 16-year-old boy has had his life snuffed out because he had the wrong father.  In the other case, a man had his life snuffed out because he had the wrong philosophical beliefs.  Given that the Letelier and Moffitt killings were treated as murders, why shouldn't the Abdulraham killing be treated as murder too?”

“Fortunately, there have been those whose conscience and consciousness enabled them to see things differently.  They correctly perceived Pinochet and DINA officials to be the terrorists—state terrorists.  They correctly recognized the right of people to peacefully resist a military regime, especially an anti-democratic regime that has gained power through the violent ouster of a democratically elected regime.  Nothing—not even “free-enterprise, Chicago-boys” economic policies—can excuse that sort of state-sponsored thuggery. That’s why people in the libertarian section of the political spectrum, unlike those in the conservative section, have long supported the criminal indictment of Pinochet and his DINA minions—because terror in the name of fighting terror is a grave criminal offense against humanity no matter what economic philosophy the state terrorist happens to hold.”