The Other 9/11

Henry Kissinger urged President Richard Nixon to overthrow the democratically elected [Salvadore] Allende government in Chile because his " 'model' effect can be insidious," according to documents posted today by the National Security Archive. The coup against Allende occurred on this date [in 1973]. The posted records spotlight Kissinger's role as the principal policy architect of U.S. efforts to oust the Chilean leader, and assist in the consolidation of the Pinochet dictatorship in Chile.

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When Nixon complained about the "liberal crap" in the media about Allende's overthrow, Kissinger advised him: "In the Eisenhower period, we would be heroes."

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[E]ight days after Allende's election, Kissinger initiated discussion on the telephone with CIA director Richard Helm's about a preemptive coup in Chile.

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Their conversation took place three days before President Nixon, in a 15-minute meeting that included Kissinger, ordered the CIA to "make the [Chilean] economy scream," and named Kissinger as the supervisor of the covert efforts to keep Allende from being inaugurated.

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After U.S. covert operations, which led to the assassination of Chilean Commander in Chief of the Armed forces General Rene Schneider, failed to stop Allende's inauguration on November 4, 1970, Kissinger lobbied President Nixon to reject the State Department's recommendation that the U.S. seek a modus vivendi with Allende. [...] There was no way for the U.S. to deny Allende's legitimacy, Kissinger noted, and if he succeeded in peacefully reallocating resources in Chile in a socialist direction, other countries might follow suit.

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The next day Nixon made it clear to the entire National Security Council that the policy would be to bring Allende down. "Our main concern," he stated, "is the prospect that he can consolidate himself and the picture projected to the world will be his success."

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At the height of Pinochet's repression in 1975, Secretary Kissinger met with the Chilean foreign minister, Admiral Patricio Carvajal. Instead of taking the opportunity to press the military regime to improve its human rights record, Kissinger opened the meeting by disparaging his own staff for putting the issue of human rights on the agenda. "I read the briefing paper for this meeting and it was nothing but Human Rights," he told Carvajal.

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[When Kissinger met] General Augusto Pinochet in Santiago in June 1976, his top deputy for Latin America, William D. Rogers, advised him make human rights central to U.S.-Chilean relations and to press the dictator to "improve human rights practices." Instead, a declassified transcript of their conversation reveals, Kissinger told Pinochet that his regime was a victim of leftist propaganda on human rights.

  National Security Archive

Better a criminal dictator than a socialist, eh?

The essence of Henry Kissinger.  The fact that he's not rotting in jail is a testament to the true character of America.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Chileans Will Never Forget 9/11, Too

The US backed overthrow of democratically elected Chilean president Salvador Allende occurred (along with the death of President Allende) on September 11, 1973.

The United States opposition to Allende started several years before he was elected President of Chile. Declassified documents show that from 1962 through 1964, the CIA spent $3 millions in anti-Allende propaganda "to scare voters away from Allende's FRAP coalition", and spent a total of $2.6 millions to finance the presidential campaign of Eduardo Frei.[22][23]

Declassified documents related to the military coup have shown that although the CIA didn't "instigate" the 1973 coup, they were well aware of it and knew about it in advance. However, the US refused to "provide any assistance" because it was "strictly an internal Chilean matter." According to CIA documents, the United States "probably appeared to condone [the coup]," considering their intelligence collection and active participation in positively slanting propaganda in 1974 to place Pinochet and his military government in a positive light.[1]

The possibility of Allende winning Chile's 1970 election was deemed a disaster by a US administration that wanted to protect US geopolitical interests by preventing the spread of Communism during the Cold War.[68] In September 1970, President Nixon informed the CIA that an Allende government in Chile would not be acceptable and authorized $10 million to stop Allende from coming to power or unseat him.[69] Henry Kissinger's 40 Committee and the CIA planned to impede Allende's investiture as President of Chile with covert efforts known as "Track I" and "Track II"; Track I sought to prevent Allende from assuming power via so-called "parliamentary trickery", while under the Track II initiative, the CIA tried to convince key Chilean military officers to carry out a coup.[69]

  Wikipedia

For anyone too young to remember the coup, see the video at Democracy Now:
Another 9/11 Anniversary: September 11, 1973, When US-Backed Pinochet Forces Took Power in Chile

And here's the horse we backed to replace Allende:

General [Agusto] Pinochet seized power on Sept. 11, 1973, in a bloody military coup that toppled the Marxist government of President Salvador Allende. He then led the country into an era of robust economic growth. But during his rule, more than 3,200 people were executed or disappeared, and scores of thousands more were detained and tortured or exiled.

General Pinochet gave up the presidency in 1990 after promulgating a Constitution that empowered a right-wing minority for years. He held on to his post of commander in chief of the army until 1998. With that power base, he exerted considerable influence over the democratically elected governments that replaced his iron-fisted rule.

He set limits, for example, on economic policy debates with frequent warnings that he would not tolerate a return to statist measures, and he blocked virtually all attempts to prosecute members of his security forces for human rights abuses. Through intimidation and legal obstacles, General Pinochet sought to ensure his own immunity from accountability and in fact was never brought to trial.

  NYT