Pinochet's Death Spares the Bush Family (Robert Parry)

[laststeamtrain]

Pinochet's Death Spares the Bush Family

By Robert Parry
December 12, 2006

Gen. Augusto Pinochet’s death on Dec. 10 means the Bush Family can breathe a little bit easier, knowing that criminal proceedings against Chile’s notorious dictator can no longer implicate his longtime friend and protector, former President George H.W. Bush.

Although Chilean investigations against other defendants may continue, the cases against Pinochet end with his death of a heart attack at the age of 91. Pinochet’s death from natural causes also marks a victory for world leaders, including George H.W. and George W. Bush, who shielded Pinochet from justice over the past three decades.

The Bush Family’s role in the Pinochet cover-up began in 1976 when then-CIA Director George H.W. Bush diverted investigators away from Pinochet’s guilt in a car bombing in Washington that killed political rival Orlando Letelier and an American, Ronni Moffitt.

The cover-up stretched into the presidency of George W. Bush when he sidetracked an FBI recommendation to indict Pinochet in the Letelier-Moffitt murders.

Over those intervening 30 years, Pinochet allegedly engaged in a variety of illicit operations, including terrorism, torture, murder, drug trafficking, money-laundering and illicit arms shipments – sometimes with the official collusion of the U.S. government.

In the 1980s, when George H.W. Bush was Vice President, Pinochet’s regime helped funnel weapons to the Nicaraguan contra rebels and to Saddam Hussein’s Iraq, an operation that also implicated then-CIA official Robert M. Gates, who will be the next U.S. Secretary of Defense.

<more>

http://www.consortiumnews.com/Print/2006/121106.html

[rurallib]

1. And when Saddam is shot or hung that will be another one silenced

Funny how that "trial" never gave the defendant a chance to speak. And he will be put to death as quickly as possible to keep his dealings with the BFEE quiet.

[Cleita]

2. I see no reason why we can't continue investigations into

the Nixon/Kissinger/Bush involvement with the Pinochet coup and subsequent years. Maybe we can't bring them to justice but we can record the truth for history. Perhaps an international agency like Amnesty International or even the World Court could do this.

[peacetalksforall]

3. Can't certain groups or countries still go after Kissinger and Sr?

Someone could lay out a case similar to the plan behind the de la Vega book about the Jr's impeachment - use a Grand Jury to lay out the case, step by step, but not make a decision - allow the reader to make their own decision. Make this one an International Grand Jury.

Kissinger - still can't land in certain countries - will that still hold or do they need a breathing Pinochet to progress?

[IndyOp]

4. Robert Parry is a national treasure.

I swear that if the Bush family connections were ever traced completely -- they'd lead back to Bonnie & Clyde; Sacco & Vanzetti; and every other piece of scum that ever drew breath in this nation.

:thumbsdown: