Orlando Letelier, a Chilean diplomat associated with the deposed socialist President Salvador Allende, was assassinated by agents of General Augusto Pinochet in a car-bombing in Washington, DC on this date in 1976. With him died Ronni Moffitt, his 25-year-old American assistant (her husband of four months was also in the car but survived the blast). The CIA, headed by George H.W. Bush, quickly covered up the role of the Chilean secret police, but in 1978 Michael Townley, a CIA contract agent, confessed to hiring five anti-Castro Cubans exiles to booby-trap Letelier’s car. Townley then provided evidence against these men in exchange for a ten-year sentence; he was soon after freed under the federal Witness Protection Program. Ronni Moffit (Ronni Susan Karpen) was born in Passaic, New Jersey and had been a public school teacher in Maryland before coming to work at the Institute for Policy Studies, which awards an annual Letelier-Moffitt Human Rights Award.
“It was said of my sister that when the revolution came, she would most certainly be a part of it; maybe not on the front lines, but she would be there giving support and guidance to those who needed it, and probably serving chicken soup to the injured and the ill. . . .”—Michael Karpen
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
I didn’t know that G.H.W. Bush had covered up the role of the Chilean secret police in this operation, but it fits perfectly with other things Old Bush has done.
G. H. W. Bush tempted Saddam Hussein to invade Kuwait by letting Ambassador April Glaspie tell Saddam that the United States would not object to this action. After Saddam was driven out of Kuwait, he set oil wells on fire, causing an environmental catastrophe. Bush proceeded to let Saddam snatch victory from the jaws of defeat by permitting him to carry out a massive slaughter of Kurds in northern Iraq and marsh Arabs in southern Iraq.
For some incomprehensible reason, Old Bush is admired by leftists and rightists alike.
G.H.W. Bush and Mitt Romney are cut from the same cloth.
It is troubling that a young Jewish couple should be involved in the politics of a foreign country to the extent to have been assassinated for it. They had no business being in that car in blind exposure to hired killers.
•President Barack Obama awarded George H.W. Bush the 2010 Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, for his commitment to service and ability to inspire volunteerism throughout the country, encouraging citizens to be “a thousand points of light.” The administration continues to promote service and civic engagement, honoring heroes of local communities as “Champions of Change” and fostering civic participation.
I heard people on the left praising G.H.W. Bush for joining the rest of the U,N, Security Council in voting to condemn Israel for deporting terrorists to the Lebanese border, where they were stranded After Clinton was elected, a compromise was reached.
Old Bush’s average approval rating during his term in office was 60.9%, according to Gallup Historical Statistics and Trends, which necessarily included some people on the left.
The only difference between the Bushies and the Mob is that the Bushies are richer, and if you think this is bad, you better hope to hell that the Mitt and his ex Bush crowd do not get into office or China will own this country..