Pinochet takes responsibility for 'everything'

[Judi Lynn]

Nov. 25, 2006, 11:13PM
Pinochet takes responsibility for 'everything'
Thousands were tortured and killed in Chile under his dictatorship

Associated Press

SANTIAGO, CHILE — Gen. Augusto Pinochet took full responsibility for the first time Saturday for the actions of his 1973-90 dictatorship, which carried out thousands of political killings and is blamed for widespread torture and illegal imprisonment.

At a celebration of his 91st birthday, Pinochet also defended the bloody military coup that toppled freely elected Marxist President Salvador Allende, in a statement read aloud by his wife as he sat by her side.

"Today, near the end of my days, I want to say that I harbor no rancor against anybody, that I love my fatherland above all and that I take political responsibility for everything that was done, which had no other goal than making Chile greater and avoiding its disintegration," he said.
(snip)

Extensive comments rare
According to an official report, 3,197 people were killed for political reasons under Pinochet, including more than 1,000 who were made to disappear. Thousands more were illegally imprisoned, tortured or forced into exile.
(snip/...)

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/world/4360086.html

[pretzel4gore]

1. official reports?

in the movie 'missing' with jack lemmon/sissy spacek, there's a scene where the father of the missing american youth is taken to the santiago stadium- dead people are stacked up like cordwood, in endless rows, and there are estimated many thousands of them....
i guess the official reporters never saw that show(?)

[Judi Lynn]

3. The numbers get careful grooming, it seems, when it comes to admitting just how many there were,

since it was a U.S.-backed violent, bloody coup which got the Chilean people's President killed and Nixon/Kissinger's vile right-wing-puppet/dictator installed in order to crank up a hideous machine bent on torturing and terrorizing ALL Chileans who didn't support those murderous right-wing plans.

A hasty search reveals that a lot of people credit this report with being the "official" one:

Rettig Report
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Rettig Report, officially The National Commission for Truth and Reconciliation Report, is a report encompassing human rights abuses resulting in death or disappearance committed in Chile during the years of military rule under Augusto Pinochet, which began on September 11, 1973 and ended on March 11, 1990.

The report established that around 3,000 were killed or disappeared during the dictatorship (the number had been presumed to be much higher, particularly by human-rights groups and Chileans who opposed the dictatorship). The report is today generally accepted by the majority of the country, if with misgivings due to the nature of the problem and the circumstances.
(snip/...)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rettig_Report
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augusto_Pinochet

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I've heard there were many, many more who are unnaccounted for, who just disappeared.

I hope many more people will eventually see "Missing" on tv, as it has been running periodically on cable, and it gives people something very important to think about.

[IntiRaymi]

13. Kosta Gavras is a hell of a Political Scientist.

[DoYouEverWonder]

2. If Pinochet is finally admitting to all this

shouldn't he be spending his birthday in jail?

[Judi Lynn]

4. It's a miracle he's not there, yet. I'll bet his next move is another "health problem."

If I'm not mistaken, his people also have resorted to the "too mentally incompetent to stand trial" ruse to buy time when he was in England.

[pretzel4gore]

5. but lucifer awaits!

old horny's rubbing his hands, augusto's space is all hot and fulla dread ready :)
in the end, looking at history, where villains like pinochet nearly got away, while heroes like JFK and Bobby, MLK and Malcom X /John Lennon/Che/Paul Wellstone etc were hunted down...when the pinochets/samozas/francos/hitlers/bushes are on deathbed, they enter eternity knowing -they raped children and kittens and feasted on innocence. pinochet is trying to convince himself he was a good man (but he knows damn well he's a liar/thief)
the bible calls that the unforgivable sin

[UpInArms]

7. shouldn't he hang next to Saddam?

n/t

[IndianaGreen]

6. Pinochet is as repentant as Michael Richards

The point is the Pinochet has not admitted to any of the crimes committed as the result of his coup against the democratically elected Allende government. Pinochet has not ask for forgiveness from the families of those that disappeared or were tortured.

The only way the Pinochet can seek redemption is by his facing justice in Spain, in front of Judge Baltazar Garzon's court, for his role in the killings of Spanish citizens during the coup.

[gratuitous]

8. Oh, he "takes responsibility"

Another little gift from the Bush administration. Publicly announce that you "take responsibility" for some atrocity or other, and then it's all better. No need to discuss it anymore. The amen chorus of the right-wing media will say, "Well, he's taken responsibility, what more do you haters want? You're all just a bunch of haters!"

Thanks again, Mr. Bush. Can you head to Paraguay now, please?

[sam sarrha]

9. Killinger must have made a deal with him.. very VERY conservative estimates 3000 dead 30K tortured..

[Laelth]

10. No apology, just an excuse.

He says he had "no other goal than making Chile greater and avoiding its disintegration." That's not taking responsibility. That's called offering an excuse. Can there be an excuse for torture, political assassination, and genocide?

:mad:

-Laelth

[Octafish]

11. Will Kissinger ever admit his responsibility?

It'd help his rehabilitation, too.

[stepnw1f]

12. His Rehabiliation will Have to Wait for Pugatory

or whatever after-life has in store for him. People like Kissinger will never admit what they have done against humanity unless they are forced to by the people.

[Solly Mack]

14. How touching. He harbors no rancor...

Now let's ask his many victims...(those that lived, that is)

What a phony - arrogant - apology.

He takes responsibility for nothing - he makes excuses for his crimes.

[Hieronymus]

17. I zeroed in on that comment as well ..

It was a non-apology.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

15. Did he say fatherland????? n/t

[Barrett808]

16. Don't forget the Nazi torture/disappearance camp, Colonia Dignidad

Former Nazi Pedophile Nabbed in Argentina

German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer on Friday hailed the arrest of former Nazi Paul Schaefer in Argentina and said he hoped it would shed light on alleged child sex abuse at a shady sect he led in Chile.

Paul Schäfer, 83, was arrested in the community of Tortuguitas, a town 30 kilometers (18 miles) west of Buenos Aires along with six people described as his security team, Argentine police said.

Schäfer was the charismatic leader of a notorious German enclave in southern Chile called "Colonia Dignidad." He has been hiding since a warrant for his arrest on multiple counts of pedophilia was issued in August 1996. Schäfer was convicted of the charges in November 2004 along with 22 other Dignidad members.

"The arrest of Paul Schaefer is good news," Fischer said. "His arrest will allow a comprehensive investigation all the criminal activities in the former Colonia Dignidad to be carried out and punishments to be handed down."

...

Chilean officials also want Schäfer in connection with torture during the 1973-1990 Pinochet dictatorship. The colony apparently served as a torture center for the Chilean secret service as well as a torture school where former Gestapo and Nazi officers gave lessons.


(more)

http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,1564,1515223,00.html

[daleo]

18. Basically, he just confessed

It's not too late to charge him with murder.

[bronxiteforever]

19. Sting said it and sang it best years ago

Hey Mr. Pinochet
You've sown a bitter crop
It's foreign money that supports you
One day the money's going to stop
No wages for your torturers
No budget for your guns
Can you think of your own mother
Dancin' with her invisible son
They're dancing with the missing
They're dancing with the dead
They dance with the invisible ones
They're anguish is unsaid
They're dancing with their fathers
They're dancing with their sons
They're dancing with their husbands
They dance alone
They dance alone