Word: pinochets
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Ryan McCaffrey’s December 13 op-ed, “The Wronging of a Dictator,” embodied an unforgivable flaw of the brutal dictator he eulogized, Augusto Pinochet: arrogance that attempts to excuse inhuman brutality in the name of ideological purity...
McCaffrey claims that the mainstream media’s depiction of Pinochet as a thief and murderer is overblown. The facts do not support his case. Pinochet’s thievery, perpetrated while ostensibly conducting the faithful realignment of his country’s economic institutions, resulted in a heist of $27 million stashed in bank accounts around the world. Evidently McCaffrey is also aware of the thousands of murders Pinochet perpetrated through the Dirección de Inteligencia Nacional, as the author himself acknowledges at least 3,000 of the deaths on Pinochet’s hands. This...
McCaffrey presumes, like Augusto Pinochet, to be the keeper of an ideological truth, a vision of pure conservatism that must be pursued at all costs. Emboldened by this presumptive omniscience, the author and Pinochet extend themselves into the arrogant defense of inhuman action to further their personal philosophies. This is the greatest sin of dictators and tyrants, because this simple construct allows for the denial of the rights and humanity of those who stand between the ruler and the achievement of his goal. Whether the despot must murder 3,000 or 11 million to achieve his ends, he will...
McCaffrey’s apology demonstrates his ignorance of this basic concept of the value of life. In defending Pinochet, he claims that the tyrant stood for “the principles on which Western nations were founded,” principles based in the free market. This misapprehension is unsurprising, coming from a young conservative, but no less troubling. There are three key foundational principles we respect in this Western nation, so much so that we know them as the “unalienable Rights” of “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness...
...twentieth century saw more than its fair share of both wicked men, and individuals who countered their iniquity with crusades of justice. Pinochet, I believe, was a bit of both, but for the most part one of the latter. Pinochet—a devout and caring Christian man with an understanding of the dangers of radical socialism—deserves the respect from democrats the world around for his fight for freedom from tyranny in South America...