9-11

Naomi Klein, author of The Shock Doctrine, which I'm now reading, presents the Pinochet takeover of Chile as one of the major national case studies of what is going on now -- how it happened, who was behind it, and why.

After years of preparation, including the education of a phalanx of Chilean economists by Milton Friedman at U. Chicago, and extensive CIA training of the necessary "wet" "sportsmen" in the Chilean military, in just one day, Pinochet unleased tanks and rockets on the government of Salvadore Allende and acquired complete control of Chile.

Using the (yes, written down, bona fide) theory of total military Shock and Awe, which we saw unfolded again in Iraq, Pinochet made it quite clear to everyone in Chile, in and outside the capital, that dissent would mean death. The medium was the message. Total, instant, paralyzing force.

In the months that followed, Pinochet tortured and killed thousands, detained 80,000, and drove 200,000 more out of the country.

Until that day, Chile had lived in peaceful democratic rule for 160 years. What happened there had been utterly unthinkable. Not possible there.

Naomi Klein, author of Shock Doctrine, which I'm now reading, gives the Pinochet takeover of Chile as one of the major national case studies of what is going on now -- how it happened, who was behind it, and why.

After years of preparation, including the education of a phalanx of Chilean economists by Milton Friedman at U Chicago, and the CIA training of the necessary "wet" sportsmen in the Chilean military, in just one day, Pinochet unleased tanks and rockets on the government of Salvadore Allende and acquired complete control of Chile.

Using the (yes, written down, bona fide theory of total military Shock and Awe, which we saw unfolded in Iraq, Pinochet made it quite clear to everyone in Chile, in and outside the capital, that dissent would mean death.

In the months that followed, Pinochet tortured and killed thousands, detained 80,000, and drove 200,000 out of the country. Until that day, Chile had lived in peaceful democratic rule for 160 years. What happened there had been utterly unthinkable. Not possible there.

The date of that coup? September 11, 1973.