Will Bush the Beheader use terrorism to become America's Pinochet?

By Harvey Wasserman

Augusto Pinochet seized absolute power in Chile on September 11, 1973. The US national security apparatus, including George H.W. Bush, used terrorism as an excuse to help Pinochet destroy what had been a constitutional democracy.

Ultimately, Bush's real peers are not US presidents but Third World dictators, like Pinochet, many of whom his father also put in office. Their coda is clear:

Use of "terror" as an excuse for totalitarian control;

Official secrecy for its own sake;

Seizure of power in contempt of free elections;

Totalitarian militarism;

Abuse of human rights and liberties;

Love of the death penalty;

Hatred of a free press;

Imprisonment without legal recourse;

Widespread torture;

Brazen theft of public billions;

"Free market" smokescreens for corporate domination;

Taxing the poor to benefit the rich;

Hatred of labor unions;

Decimation of the natural environment;

Assaulting elected leaders anywhere, anytime;

Contempt for international treaties;

Reactionary alliance with right wing church groups;

Contempt for women's rights;

Manipulating divisions of race and class.

Bush may try to follow Stalin's (and brother Jeb's) lead by stealing the 2004 election, as in 2000. Or he may try to seize power like Pinochet did on 9/11/73 in a repressive crusade against convenient terrorism.

But one thing is certain: if Shrub's hyped-up power play succeeds, the beheading of America will be complete.