September 11, 1973

Below is a letter to the editor published by City Magazine, Rochester, NY, and written by me in September 2004.

SEPTEMBER 11, 1973

I am from Irondequoit, but currently I am living in Santiago, Chile, and the date September 11, 1973, not 2001, is the date I refer to above. On this date a military coup, with tacit US support, ended the rule of Chile's democratically elected leader and put into place Augusto Pinochet's brutal military dictatorship.

We welcomed Pinochet's government because he overthrew a government from the extreme left and as such was helping us in the war against communism. In time, democracy returned to Chile, with some assistance by the Reagan administration in the late '80s, but as with the war on communism, we now continue to support many non-democratic regimes as part of our war on terrorism.

To the citizens of many countries, we appear to be hypocrites in stating the importance of building democracies in Iraq and Afghanistan while we quietly strengthen ties with the Saudi monarchy, the military dictator of Pakistan, and the strong-man despot of Uzbekistan among others.

By supporting such leaders, we risk losing the moral high ground that our nation traditionally has occupied. President Kennedy spoke of America as a beacon to the world, a shining city on a hill, but from my perspective in South America, it seems many people have mixed feelings because of our support for non-democratic regimes.

It is clear that because of the war on terror it has been necessary to work with many regimes that normally would not be viewed favorably. But we must also be aware of the impact of these alliances on the image of our nation abroad