Precisely. I was criticizing Pinochet not because he stopped Communists, but some of the tactics he used were brutal, or at least questionable. I would have preferred that he did something like Vargas did in Brazil and made the public see the threat of the Communists, allowing him to root them out and systemetically imprision them and remove their power. No death squads necessary.
And I must say that some of the steps he did seemed, well, dictatorial. If Chile really was in such a bad state that Pinochet couldn't bring back the civilian gov't (as his initial supporters in the CDP and the Catholic Church wanted), whey couldn't he call for the U.S. or some sort of OAS force to aid him in restoring order? Why didn't he respond to accusations of brutalities by going, "I have nothing to hide, I only serve my country", and answering the accusations?
Fair enough - I'm not claiming the man was a saint. Only that he did more good than harm.