Bush Seeks His Enemies’ Help in Iraq

By Halcyon

Even Pinochet Had a Supreme Court: "9/11 Changed Everything". On September 11, 1973 Salvador Allende, the democratically elected president of Chile, died during a coup. A junta headed by General Augusto Pinochet was established, which immediately suspended the constitution, dissolved Congress, imposed strict censorship, proscribed the leftist parties that had constituted Allende’s Popular Unity coalition, and halted all political activity. In addition, it embarked on a campaign of terror against opponents and perceived leftists in the country (Operation Condor).

Documents released during the Clinton presidency reveal the complicity of major U.S. corporations, the CIA, and Nixon/Ford administration figures in the coup and subsequent political repression, all redounding to the enormous financial benefit of U.S. corporations.

Throughout the Pinochet era, which lasted until 1990, a semblance of legitimacy was maintained, thanks, in part, to the compliance of the Chilean Supreme Court, which was apparently terrorized into rubber-stamping the actions of the regime.

On September 28, 1973, the four Junta members went to the courthouse to receive formal greetings from the judges. On behalf of his peers, Supreme Court president Enrique Urrutia Manzano, expressed his "satisfaction for the military pronunciamiento ("proclamation" or coup) and the change in government."

 

In November 1973, two months later, Supreme Court Judge Jose Maria Eyzaguirre, traveled to Europe as part of the first political delegation intended to promote the pronunciamiento abroad and improve the Junta’s international image.

On November 13, 1973 the Supreme Court declared itself incompetent to review military court rulings in time of war, reaffirming this position in December 1973 and again in August 21, 1974. The Court also empowered judges sympathetic to the regime to work with the military courts in time of war.

Such was the case of Hernan Cereceda, then Santiago Court of Appeals judge (who was later appointed to the Supreme Court and then impeached). He acted as legal council to the Air Force War Time military judge. Although Cereceda is credited with having influenced the repeal of death penalties issued by the Air Force War Council, he also construed, by way of Transitory Article 24 to the Constitution, as crimes of "treason to the nation" and "sedition," what prior to the coup were simply political opinions. (emphasis mine)

The Supreme Court judges avowed political nonpartisanship, but their rulings were influenced by the political ideology of the military regime as expressed in the Doctrine of National Security, which considered Communism and Marxism as the "internal enemy" to be eliminated through "war" and the suspension of peacetime norms.

Chipsites.com goes on to list cases in which the Chilean Supreme Court, one by one, abrogated the Chilean equivalent of the Bill of Rights:

Freedom of Assemby: Article 6 of the State Security Law prohibited mass public events in streets, squares and other public places. The Supreme Court ruled that "the exercise of human rights is subject to the limitations imposed by authority to protect… the public order, the common good and State security," and suspended freedom of assembly. (See Patriot Daily News’ `Disruptor’ diary)

Professional Confidentiality: The Supreme Court ruled that the need to solve crimes that affect National Security prevails over the obligation to maintain professional confidentiality.

Habeas Corpus:  

Under the state of emergency decreed in the early years of the military regime, the vast number of arrests carried out were, technically, legal since normal procedures justifying arrests were suspended.

 

The authorities’ justification for the majority of officially acknowledged arrests in the 1980’s came in the form of Transitory Article 24 of the 1980 Constitution, which gave military authorities sweeping powers when the President declared "a state of danger to internal peace."

See Ohio Patriot Act
See also SA 2515 to S 1042 (Graham Amendment)

Torture: "Courts ignored statements of victims who said they had been tortured."

Impunity: "With the enactment of the Amnesty Law, nearly all civil courts hastened to declare themselves incompetent, transferring their files on cases related to disappeared persons to the military courts, which promptly applied the amnesty law and closed the cases." (Over 100 `enemy combatants’ have died in the custody of the U.S. Has any soldier or C.O. been convicted of murder?)

Secret Laws: "The secret laws were known only to a select group of officials beyond Gen. Pinochet, Junta members, and the corresponding Cabinet minister." Nevertheless, the Supreme Court deferred to the military junta. (See: The Arrival of Secret Law)

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In my July diary Roberts the Enabler: It’s Not About Abortion, I warned of (now) Chief Justice Roberts’ deferral to the Executive, and the danger of what Al Gore refers to as the `unilateral executive.’ President Bush’s refusal to disavow the NSA spying on American citizens without warrants, and his choices for Supreme Court justices leave no doubt of his intention to disregard the Constitution and the laws he swore to uphold and faithfully execute. To confirm Judge Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court is tantamount to treason.

Sources:
Wikipedia: Augusto Pinochet
Wikipedia: Chile Under Allende
The NAtional Security Archive: Operation Condor: Cable Suggests U.S. Role
The Judiciary Under the Dictatorship
Kissinger Encouraged Chile’s Brutal Repression, New Documents Show