Pinochet only had to put a couple of thousand in the boneyard.
We put a lot more there in SE Asia and couldn't stop the Commies.
The man was a miracle worker.
Posted on 12/03/2006 1:29:35 PM PST by NormsRevenge
Pinochet only had to put a couple of thousand in the boneyard.
We put a lot more there in SE Asia and couldn't stop the Commies.
The man was a miracle worker.
Is he getting the same treatment Diem and Franco get?
Chile is a free society today in spite of Pinochet, not because of him. He ruled as an autocrat for 17 years, are you suggesting that the threat of a commie takeover lasted all those years? His loss in the plebiscite was a rejection of his heavy-handed rule.
Simply because the Chilean people voiced their opposition to Pinochet in the plebiscite does not mean that they made the correct choice nor does it mean that democracy in the answer in Latin America.
Just like slavery was ended and the Union saved in spite of Lincoln, not because of him, hmm ? You have a very strange mindset, sir.
The threat of a communist-totalitarian (throw in Islamofascism under that aegis, all leftist evils) takeover remains a clear and present danger, not just then, but still today, and not just in South America.
Republican democracy, as messy as it is, is not just any answer, it's the only answer.
You are a very poor judge of men but a great judge of women. I love your home page!! Excellent choices but did you have to add that last picture. I just lost my appetite.
Is Pinochet the answer here?
So you would be happier under a Pinochet than under a democratically elected government?
Hey, Mussolini made the trains run on time and Hitler eliminated the communists from Germany. Are you going to offer Sainthood to those folks as well?
That's the kind of thinking that has borne fruit such as Chavez.
"Hey, Mussolini made the trains run on time and Hitler eliminated the communists from Germany. Are you going to offer Sainthood to those folks as well?"
Very good point. Everyone should remember that the ends don't always justify the means.
Pinochet obviously didn't believe that at all.
This is the one thing that remains disturbing on this thread, the comparison of a great man who preserved a free and democratic society to legitimate tyrants and monsters... Stalin, Hitler, Mussolini. How many of these three stepped DOWN after calling an election ?
Pinochet restored democratic government after Allende sought to destroy it.
Lincoln managed to do that AND work with a democratically elected Congress AND operate within the guidelines of the Constitution AND hold an open election where he stood a very real chance of losing. Like I said, Pinochet was the very antithesis of Abraham Lincoln.
If he didn't believe it, he'd still be ruling Chile from his deathbed as that evil pig Castro is after nearly 48 years of real tyranny and true oppression. That's the difference between the right and the left. You need to get some perspective, sir.
By ruling as an autocrat for 17 years. I guess he had to destroy democracy in order to save it, huh?
"How many of these three stepped DOWN after calling an election?"
Pinochet just stepped down because of the mounting political pressure on him and the growing anger over his iron-fisted rule. And that was after 17 years of holding onto power. You think that Chile was in a state of emergency for that long? And dictatorship was the only answer for that long? I don't think so.
Thanks for pointing out the similarties between the Communist and Fascist tyrants.
I have always been troubled by having to pick between extremes from the Left or the Right.Castro is an abomination but Bautista was a thief and a brute.The Bolsheviks murdered millions but the Czar was a horrid police state ruler.Somoza was replaced by Noriega and the Marxist Sandinistas.A plague on both their houses.Then there is the Russian backed Communist regime that took over Afghanistan in 1979,replaced by who?Yep,THE TALIBAN!
Things that just want to make you SCREAM.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.