_______________HE CAN'T GO HOME AGAIN BY MARC COOPER (11/12/98)

Here are some other thoughts on the murderous dictator Augusto Pinochet, currently luxuriating in England for the 100th time since the Sept. 11, 1973, coup. Really, the record of his "comings and goings" into the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth countries should be revealed so we can view how so many of Churchill's heirs welcomed the gangster general. In fact, the total record of the gangster general's international traveling since the coup might be a very revealing Baedeker. What countries and governments threatened certain gangsters while stroking others? Contrast Gadhafi vs. the U.K. and other gangsters (heads of state) vs. the U.K. Substitute USA for U.K. And what roles were played by U.K. intelligence in the project of the coup? In cooperation with U.S. intelligence? Or as freelance operations? If run by Pinochet's trainers, the Western intelligence services, the following is the way he would have been detained: How Augusto Pinochet should have been captured and become interrogated. It should have happened while the gangster general was preening for his New Yorker photograph. As he was being groomed, a black canvas hood should have been thrown over his head. A 3/4-inch-diameter rope with a hangman's noose should have been used to secure the hood, with the noose coils brought up tight against the gangster general's larynx. The gangster general should have been forced to feel the orifices of large bore weaponry: double-barreled 12-gauge shotgun, large caliber pistol. The gangster general's arms should have been tightly reverse-cuffed behind the gangster general's back. His ankles should have been cuffed and shackled with 18 inches of chain. Then the gangster general should have been prodded -- with police batons, electrical cattle prods, rifle butts, fists and feet for hitting, slapping and tripping -- from the photo session onto the floor of the back of a military utility vehicle. The trip to the gangster general's place of incarceration and interrogation should last an hour, with roughness and extreme high-speed maneuvers used to throw the gangster general around, bruising him and disorienting him. After the ride, the gangster general should have been stampeded into a solitary cell, like the cells into which the prisoners of his junta were thrown: smelling of piss and shit; crawling with cockroaches, lice, fleas, rodents and slimemolds; unheated; a slop bucket for a toilet; no bed or mattress; no light switch. In a cell illuminated by a bare, high-wattage bulb, the capturing hood would be removed, to be replaced by one that provided for nostril and mouth access, This hood should have been so constructed and so locked about the neck that it could not be removed, even though the hand cuffs are removed. After this modification of his restraints, he should have been kicked behind the knee so that he fell to the floor. At that point, the captors should have left the cell and locked the door. For 72 hours, twice a day, a chunk of moldy bread and pork fat, rendered liquid, should have been passed into the cell through the access port. On the fourth day, the gangster general should have been moved to an interrogation room, constructed in the style of those depicted in the manuals of the school of the Americas: all white, brightly illuminated in the area of the interrogatee. It should have two zones of hvac. The interrogatee should be in an area whose temperature can be controlled by the interrogators independently of the hvac for the areas of the interrogators. Interrogators would also be seated in comfortable theater chairs in a less harshly lit area of the interrogation arena. If the floor is white tile, then there will a 12-inch diameter central drain. There will be a fire hose and nozzle and valve fixed to a wall, so as to hose down the waste products of the interrogation process. Alternatively, if the location was not prepared for routine and large numbers of interrogations, then the area of the theater for the interrogatee will also consist of a white, portable potty chair. The gangster general would be stampeded into the room, possibly so that he falls to the floor. Nonetheless, before being seated, he would be forcibly stripped naked. shoved into the chair or the portable toilet. He would be cuffed to that chair, then wired with a multi-channel device. A pair of wires would go to each ear, another pair to each nipple; each nostril would be connected; wire would be inserted in the urethra, another wrapped around the testicles. After that the interrogators would test the performance of the system in the manner that follows: INTERROGATION SUPERVISOR: OK, we're doing the tests now -- zzzz What do you think? Are we hooked up? INTERROGATION TECHNICIAN: Yes, he is connected. He has shit and pissed and is moaning. Having brought the gangster general to this destination of interrogation, in a manner similar to the manner that he brought his political opponents to "questioning," the process of questioning would then commence. INTERROGATOR: There will be no niceties, no easy questions. What we want are the answers to the important questions, right away. There is no pretense here of politeness. Even if you are a senator for life. Even if you were the head of the Chilean state. All those roles, all those titles are the profit from the murders that you arranged. The murders of your former army superiors -- Carlos Prats, Rene Schneider -- then the constitutionally elected president of Chile, Salvador Allende. And later, in the capital city of the United States, Orlando Letelier and his associate, Ronnie Moffitt (a U.S. citizen). So tell me, senator for life, when was it that the intelligence operatives of the United States of America first approached you to become a traitor to the country of your birth? THE GANGSTER GENERAL: I was never in communication with any -- THE INTERROGATOR: Shut up, gangster general. We have the files. So that you will understand that you must stop trying to lie, please feel how we shall notify you of any future lying. ZZZZZZZ What do you think, Augusto? Don't you think that you will speak freely now? I would. That was only level 1 voltage. And only to your ears. What do you think about a jolt of level 2? And to your ears and genitals? Don't answer right away. Think about your situation for a while. [Half a minute elapses.] OK, Augusto, time is up. Will you answer the questions promptly, thoroughly and honestly? Or will you force us to burn off your balls and pecker? I take it from the nodding of your head that you have decided to cooperate. That is a very wise decision. So, once again, Augusto, tell us how you came to work undercover for the agents of the United States? Tell us how you committed treason. THE GANGSTER GENERAL: I never committed treas -- ZZZZZZZ THE INTERROGATOR: Come, come, Augusto. Somewhere deep inside you must see that when you took money from the agents of the U.S., money that propelled you to plan the murders of two Chilean generals, two Chilean patriots, then to murder the duly elected president of the Chilean republic, that you were committing acts of treason. So, recover your composure, Augusto. Tell us the story of how you sold your soul and the soul of your country to Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger. To the CIA. When did you first start taking their money, Augusto? And first start doing their dirty work? Well, enough. You get my point. It is necessary to contrast Pinochet's victims, with legitimate rights to violent revenge, seeking redress in a legal, civilized manner, with the gangster general, who having no justification for committing any violent acts against the victims, committed all the acts of heinous terror against civilians. Think about that: civilians. Noncombatants. The violation of that electoral republic by a bunch of guys with guns, stimulated by the U.S., supported by the U.S. (and possibly the U.K.), is the real horror story provoked by considering Augusto Pinochet. Do not, by any means, let this criminal escape so that his testimony can remain ungiven. If he cannot be questioned aggressively, under oath, then he must be sequestered somehow, so that his story of evil can be recorded. Sort of like the trial of Adolf Eichmann. They are the same sort, you know. -- A.R. Brenholts After reading that lawyers for Pinochet are using in his defense the argument that he was the head of state and therefore falls under Britain's amnesty for such persons, I had to wonder: If killing a constitutionally elected president makes you the head of state, does Lee Harvey Oswald qualify? -- Adriane Wollaston Bravo to Salon for printing what others omit, in this case a firsthand assessment of the murderous coup that brought Augusto Pinochet to power in Chile and led, shortly thereafter, to mass murders and mass "disappearances." Marc Cooper should be commended for his writing, and for keeping faith, along with other coup survivors, that eventually justice would be served. If the extradition of Pinochet were to go no further, at least Chileans now have an opportunity to freely discuss their nightmare, and Pinochet's Chilean accomplices now have their names exposed to the light of day. -- Lawrence Broh-Kahn The wonderful article written by Allende's former translator brought tears to my eyes. I had a dear friend who was teaching in Santiago when the coup happened. He ran for his life to the American embassy, which had locked its gates! He waved his passport and yelled, "Let me in, I am an American citizen." They kept the gates locked. Being very athletic and tall, he flung himself upon the gates and managed to get over anyway. This saved his life. Many were not so lucky, and I salute them and weep for them. Justice at last! -- Elaine Supkis Petersburgh, N.Y. N E X T+P A G E+| Why Siripongs deserves the death penalty; don't compare Microsoft to the Catholic church