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When I told him about Israel's concerns over Iran's nuclear program, and our concerns, too, of what might become of neighboring Pakistan's nukes if instability deepened in his country, he assured me gravely that Pakistan had never conceived of Israel as a nuclear target and told me a little hesitantly of reports back home that Israel might seek to strike at Pakistan's nuclear facilities. He looked relieved when I waved away the notion.
But he waved away Israel's anxieties, too, about extremism in his country and the prospect of those nukes falling into irresponsible hands. Asif Zardari, Pakistan's new president, has a reputation both for corruption and psychiatric problems. Pakistan has already produced the world's leading rogue nuclear sales entrepreneur in A.Q. Khan. Meanwhile, al-Qaida in Pakistan is reportedly making notable gains in its battle against the government.
The Chilean coup d'état of 1973 was a watershed event in the history of Chile and the Cold War. Historians and partisans alike have wrangled over its implications ever since.
On September 11, 1973, less than two months after the first failed coup attempt (Tanquetazo), and less than a month after the Chamber of Deputies, where the Opposition held a majority, condemned Allende's alleged breaches of the constitution, the Chilean military overthrew president Salvador Allende, who died during the coup. US intervention in Chilean politics and support to opponents of Allende, including support for an assassination, has been documented by the declassification in 1998 of documents concerning the Project FUBELT operations, although its exact nature is still controversial. General Augusto Pinochet took over and established an anti-communist military dictatorship which lasted until 1990.
It has sometimes been argued that the removal of the democratically-elected socialist Allende by the US-backed Pinochet, among other factors, led the Soviet Union to partially step away from détente, and pursue a more ambitious foreign policy concerning Third World influence. As such the coup may have had a considerable geopolitical impact.
On September 11, 1973, by 7:00 AM, the Navy took over Valparaíso, stationing ships and marines in strategic places throughout the central coast and closing down all radio and TV networks. The prefect of the province called Allende to inform him of the mysterious actions by the Navy. Allende immediately left for the presidential palace together with his personal bodyguards (Grupo de Amigos Personales, GAP). By 8:00 AM, the Army had silenced many TV and radio stations in Santiago, while others were bombed by the Air Force. The information that reached Allende was still very sketchy, and he was convinced the coup was by a "sector" of the Navy.
Allende and his Minister of Defense, Orlando Letelier, fruitlessly attempted to contact the leaders of the Armed Forces. Admiral Montero, the commander of the Navy and a loyalist, had had his telephone lines cut and his cars sabotaged before the coup began to ensure he did not interfere in the coup. The leadership of the Navy was transferred to second-in-command and coup-planner José Toribio Merino. Augusto Pinochet, General of the Army, and Gustavo Leigh, General of the Air Force, did not respond to Allende's phone calls. The General Director of Carabineros (uniformed police), José María Sepúlveda, and the head of the Investigations Police (plainclothed detectives), Alfredo Joignant, were the only ones who responded to Allende and went immediately to La Moneda. When Letelier arrived at the Ministry of Defense, controlled by Admiral Patricio Carvajal, he was immediately arrested: the first prisoner during the coup.
…what are we to do about the jackal's wedding
You remember the old days:
In the cool of the evening
Under a bamboo roof
Propped on soft cushions stuffed with fine wool
We'd sip tea ( a tea I've never since tasted)
Among friends….
…
then a cackling explodes
from the long grass and date palms-
the jackal's wedding!
…
today isn't yesterday
(truth is as evanescent as the dream of a child)-
truth is, this time we're at their wedding reception,
yes, the jackal's wedding
you've read their invitation:
…
I'll go in your place
(Damascus is too far away from that secret hotel…)
I'll spit in the jackal's faces,
I'll spit on their lists,
I'll declare that we are the people of Iraq-
We are the ancestral trees of this land,
Proud beneath our modest roof of bamboo.