Augusto Pinochet 1915-2006: He took his crimes to the grave
By David Usborne
Published: 11 December 2006

Augusto Pinochet, the former dictator who ruled Chile with an iron
fist from 1973 until 1990, died in a high-security military hospital
in the capital, Santiago, yesterday. His death from heart failure
leaves a disputed legacy of brutal political repression; salvation
from Marxism; and civil turmoil.

Doctors said they rushed the discredited dictator back into the
hospital's intensive care unit yesterday morning after a sudden
deterioration of his condition. He was only released from the unit
last Thursday where he had been under treatment for an acute heart
attack suffered one week ago after which he underwent an emergency
angioplasty to widen a clogged artery.

In a brief announcement, the hospital said the one-time military
strongman - who in recent years had been hounded by charges at home
and abroad of human rights violations, corruption and fraud - had died
at 2.15pm local time in Chile. He was 91.

His death sparked champagne-soaked celebrations, skirmishes with
police and displays of lasting devotion as Chileans took an anguished
look back at the dictator who brutally ruled for 17 years.

Celebrations broke out in several parts of the Chilean capital. At a
major plaza, hundreds of cheering, flag-waving people gathered to pop
champagne corks and toss confetti.

Outside the hospital where Pinochet died, Chileans who believed he
saved them from communism wept and hoisted posters with the general's
image. Some chanted that Pinochet and his feared secret police were
Chile's saviours. " He will live forever in my memory - I love him as
much as my own children," said Margarita Sanchez.

Meanwhile, police clashed with demonstrators who threw rocks and
erected fire barricades that sent up thick plumes of smoke and blocked
traffic on the city's main avenue. Tear gas and water cannons were
used to disperse the protesters, many of them masked, who quickly
regrouped.

Officials blamed the violence on a small contingent among the
thousands of demonstrators who poured into the streets to denounce
Pinochet's legacy. At least two bank offices were damaged.

The clashes spread past midnight to several working class districts
and police said 23 officers, including a major and a captain, were
injured.

Deputy Interior Minister Felipe Harboe said there had been a number of
arrests but did not give a figure.

"The government makes an appeal to peace," Harboe said. "We do not
want people to be affected today by facts of the past."

Chile's government said Pinochet will not receive the state funeral
normally granted to former presidents, but only military honours at
the Santiago military academy.

This morning, Pinochet's coffin was transferred to the Military Academy.

The coffin, covered with a Chilean flag and Pinochet's military hat
and sword on top if it, was placed in a large hall, but the media was
kept at a distance and could hardly see it through large windows.

As he requested, Pinochet will be cremated, according to son Marco
Antonio, to avoid desecration of his tomb by "people who always hated
him."

Cindy Sheehan about her visit to Daechuri

Siege and Seizure in Korea
By Cindy Sheehan
t r u t h o u t | Guest Columnist
Monday 27 November 2006

Traveling around the world these past months has given me an education about American history that majoring in the subject at UCLA never did. I have witnessed first hand what US imperialism and militarism can do to countries and societies. I sat with indigenous Hawaiian tribal leaders who shared their tragic stories of how US colonialism and militarism ruined their fishing waters and turned their lands into super-fund sites. I stood in solidarity with Irish peace activists who want the US military off their soil and want US transport and rendition planes to stop using Shannon Airport to land for refueling. These are just a few stories. Everywhere I go, the local populations have stories of greed, crime, corruption, pollution, etc., that all go hand in glove wherever the US military is present. Not to mention the "hot" war zones, where hundreds of civilians are murdered, maimed or displaced on a daily basis.

This rampant, arrogant, and care-less US militarism has nowhere been more evident than here in South Korea, especially in the village of Daechuri, near Pyong-taek City. The loathing for George Bush, America, Americans, irresponsible capitalism, corporatism, imperialism and militarism is a planetary phenomenon, but apart from what the US is doing to the wretched countries of Iraq and Afghanistan, I have never been more ashamed of the US government than when I visited the village of Daechuri with 17 other American peace and social-justice activists and a campesino from Colombia.

Kim Ji Tae designated "Prisoner of Conscience" by Amnesty International

Amnesty International Designates Daechuri Village Leader Ji Tae Kim a Prisoner of Conscience

Hangyuraeh
1 December 2006

The international human rights organization Amnesty International has designated Kim Ji Tae (47), leader of the Village of Daechuri (Kyung-gi Province, Pyongtaek City, Paeng-sung district), a prisoner of conscience. Mr. Kim was sentenced to two years in prison on charges of obstruction of civil affairs for his leadership role in demonstrations protesting the expansion of an American base in the area.

On November 30th Amnesty International formally designated Village Leader Kim a prisoner of conscience an announced their intentions to carry out an international petition campaign calling for his release. This is the first time that a Korean person other than those imprisoned under the National Security Law, has been designated a prisoner of conscience.

This is Fisk at his best, a journal--ist rg

Robert Fisk: 'I think there are enough weapons for the next war'

In his diary of a week which saw yet another assassination, our man in
Beirut reflects that the present violence in Lebanon creates longings
for a supposedly peaceful past

Sunday Independent/UK
26 November 2006

Sunday 19 November

To Khiam, in the far south of Lebanon, to photograph Israeli bomb
craters in which a British scientific team say they have found traces
of enriched uranium. Spanish troops - along with Indian soldiers - now
patrol this dangerous corner of Lebanon, and their UN vehicles hum
past us as we drive under a white-bright winter sky.

All of this has a screen of irrelevance over it - journalists writing
yesterday's story for tomorrow's paper - as the dangerous political
war between supporters of the Lebanese government - Sunni Muslims and
Christians - and the pro-Syrian forces opposed to it, especially the
Shias, employ increasingly incendiary language. The Shia Hizbollah's
leadership demand an end to the democratically-elected Fouad Siniora
cabinet, set up after the murder of the ex-prime minister, Rafiq
Hariri, last year. The Christians are calling Hizbollah
fascists. Tomorrow the cabinet is supposed to sign up to the new UN
tribunal to try suspects for Hariri's murder, even though all six Shia
ministers (largely pro-Syrian, of course) have resigned.

Monday 20 November

Sure enough, Syria's faithful Lebanese president, Emile Lahoud, claims
the cabinet is constitutionally unable to approve the UN's tribunal,
which just might point a finger at Emile Lahoud himself.

My driver, Abed, mourns for the French mandate of Lebanon under which
he was born. The French, according to Abed, provided a respite between
the brutality of the Ottoman Empire - Abed's father was taken from his
young bride only days after his marriage to fight for the Turks
against General Allenby in Palestine - and the corruption of
post-independence Lebanon.

I am not sure I agree with Abed. The French cruelly suppressed riots
in Sidon with troops from Senegal and resisted independence. But in
these fearful, sectarian days, it's easy to see how the grand
boulevards built by the French, the Parisian cafés and boutiques - all
exquisitely restored by Hariri after the 1975-1990 Lebanese civil war
(150,000 dead, no less) - has become a useful myth, an oasis of
colonial peace between Oriental massacres.

The cease-fire will go up in flames
By Gideon Levy
Here is the forecast: In a few days, there will be a targeted killing operation. The military correspondents will recite: "He was one of the senior operatives of Hamas (or Islamic Jihad), and was responsible for producing and smuggling large amounts of armaments." In response, a barrage of Qassams will fall on Sderot. One of the residents might be injured. In the process of the targeted killing operation, some passersby might also be killed; the correspondents will then recite: "They were armed."
Several days later, there might be a terror attack. The leaders of the right-wing parties and the Labor Party will be interviewed on television and will recite: "Abu Mazen has once again demonstrated that he is incapable and unwilling to fight terror. There is no one to talk to." Public Security Minister Avi Dichter will propose turning Beit Hanun into a ghost town. Eli Yishai will suggest bombing from the air. The next day, Qassams will fall again, and the IDF will enter the northern Gaza Strip. The cease-fire will go up in flames.
This is not a bold wager. This is almost the exact series of events that occurred in previous cease-fires. What was is what will be. There are plenty of examples. In January 2002, after several months of quiet, the Tanzim activist Raed Karmi was assassinated in Tul Karm. Dichter, who was then the head of the Shin Bet, pushed for this action, of course. Immediately afterwards, Fatah began its suicide bombing attacks.