Cuba and Egypt: Spreading Democracy and Loving Dictatorship by Jacob G. Hornberger March 7, 2011 In yesterday’s blog post, I provided four possible reasons why President Obama is likely to refuse to open up U.S. files on the 1973 Pinochet coup, in response to a probable request from Chilean officials when Obama visits Chile next month. There’s actually another possible reason: The files might reveal CIA complicity in the murder of former Chilean official Orlando Letelier and his 25-year-old American assistant Ronni Moffitt in 1976. Here are pictures of them in case you would like to see what they looked like: Letelier and Moffitt. Letelier and Moffitt were killed on the streets of Washington, D.C., by a bomb that had been planted under Letelier’s car. The bomb exploded, killing Letelier and Moffitt and seriously injuring Moffitt’s husband. Here’s a picture of their bombed-out car. The man who orchestrated the bombing was a CIA operative in Chile named Michael Townley. Of course, the CIA denies that Townley was working for the CIA when he set off ...
Why the CIA Might Oppose Disclosing the Pinochet Files by Jacob G. Hornberger March 4, 2011 In yesterday’s blog post, I provided four possible reasons why President Obama is likely to refuse to open up U.S. files on the 1973 Pinochet coup, in response to a probable request from Chilean officials when Obama visits Chile next month. There’s actually another possible reason: The files might reveal CIA complicity in the murder of former Chilean official Orlando Letelier and his 25-year-old American assistant Ronni Moffitt in 1976. Here are pictures of them in case you would like to see what they looked like: Letelier and Moffitt. Letelier and Moffitt were killed on the streets of Washington, D.C., by a bomb that had been planted under Letelier’s car. The bomb exploded, killing Letelier and Moffitt and seriously injuring Moffitt’s husband. Here’s a picture of their bombed-out car. The man who orchestrated the bombing was a CIA operative in Chile named Michael Townley. Of course, the CIA denies that Townley was working for the CIA when he set off ...
U.S. Darkness in Chile by Jacob G. Hornberger March 3, 2011 When President Obama visits Chile next month, he is going to be hit with a request that is certain to make people in the Pentagon, the CIA, and the U.S. State Department uncomfortable. According to an article in today’s Washington Post, survivors of Chilean military dictator Augusto Pinochet’s reign of terror are going to request that Obama declassify hundreds of secret U.S. government documents relating to the 1973 military coup that led to the ouster of democratically elected socialist-communist President Salvador Allende and the subsequent U.S.-supported brutal military dictatorship of Pinochet. Why does the U.S. government persist on keeping documents secret that relate to a foreign coup almost 40 years ago, one in which the U.S. government has consistently maintained it had nothing to do with? Several possible reasons arise: 1. U.S. officials, especially those in the Pentagon and the CIA, might still feel a sense of loyalty to Pinochet’s memory and his henchmen. Don’t forget that before the Pentagon and the CIA were ...
Hornberger’s Blog, March 2011 by Jacob G. Hornberger March 1, 2011 Friday, March 18, 2011 American Dictatorship Would someone please tell me what limits constrain President Obama in foreign affairs? A dictator is a government ruler with omnipotent powers, one who has no constitutional or legislative constraints on his powers. Operating through his military, paramilitary, intelligence, and police forces, he can do whatever he chooses to do. He can use his forces, which ...
The Courage to Confront the Darkness by Jacob G. Hornberger February 8, 2011 The Chilean government is investigating hundreds of cases of human-rights abuses under the dictatorial regime of army Gen. Augusto Pinochet, who took power in a violent coup in 1973. Notably, the probe will include an investigation into the death of Salvador Allende, the democratically elected president of the country who Pinochet and his military henchmen ousted in the coup. ...
Hornberger’s Blog, February 2011 by Jacob G. Hornberger February 1, 2011 Monday, February 28, 2011 Jury Nullification Prosecutorial Abuse While the U.S. government was expressing outrage over attacks on freedom of speech at the hands of U.S.-supported dictators in the Middle East, the U.S. Justice Department was securing a federal grand jury indictment against a man named Julian Heicklen. The charge? The feds are charging Heicklen for handing out jury-nullification pamphlets to ...
Hornberger’s Blog, July 2010 by Future of Freedom Foundation October 3, 2010 Friday, July 30, 2010 An Open Border in My Hometown by Jacob G. Hornberger I grew up in Laredo, Texas, a border town that no doubt causes no small degree of consternation to those who lament Mexican culture in the United States. Id estimate that when I was growing up, about 95 percent of Laredoans were of Mexican descent. When ...
Luis Posada Carriles’ Insurance Policy by Jacob G. Hornberger July 12, 2010 The former head of Cuba’s Department of State Security, Fabian Escalante, tells the Washington Post that accused terrorist Luis Posada Carriles has an insurance policy that ensures he will be provided excellent treatment at the hands of U.S. officials. According to an article in today’s Post, Escalante states, “He has a life insurance policy, which is what he knows about the Kennedy plot.” Posada ...
The CIA and the Assassination of John Kennedy, Part 2 by Future of Freedom Foundation July 5, 2010 Part 1 | Part 2 Among the reasons the CIA should have been made a specific target of a criminal investigation in the John Kennedy assassination were: (1) the CIA was the worlds premier expert in assassination and coups; and (2) the CIA was in a partnership with one of the most crooked and ...
The CIA and the Assassination of John Kennedy, Part 2 by Future of Freedom Foundation July 5, 2010 Part 1 | Part 2 Among the reasons the CIA should have been made a specific target of a criminal investigation in the John Kennedy assassination were: (1) the CIA was the world’s premier expert in assassination and coups; and (2) the CIA was in a partnership with one of the most crooked and ...
Hornberger’s Blog, July 2010 by Jacob G. Hornberger July 1, 2010 Friday, July 30, 2010 An Open Border in My Hometown I grew up in Laredo, Texas, a border town that no doubt causes no small degree of consternation to those who lament Mexican culture in the United States. I’d estimate that when I was growing up, about 95 percent of Laredoans were of Mexican descent. When Laredoans were summoned for jury duty, ...
Hornberger’s Blog, July 2010 by Jacob G. Hornberger July 1, 2010 Friday, July 30, 2010 An Open Border in My Hometown by Jacob G. Hornberger Igrew up in Laredo, Texas, a border town that no doubt causes no small degree of consternation to those who lament Mexican culture in the United States. Id estimate that when I was growing up, about 95 percent of Laredoans were of Mexican descent. When Laredoans were summoned for ...
