Libertarians vs. Conservatives on Torture by Jacob G. Hornberger December 17, 2014 Sometimes people who are new to libertarianism think that libertarianism is just a subset of conservatism. Nothing could be further from the truth. While there are some overlaps on economic issues, libertarianism is a philosophy that stands squarely against conservatism and, for that matter, liberalism or, as it is commonly known, progressivism. The current national debate on torture provides a good dividing line between libertarians and conservatives. Conservatives love the fact that the U.S. government has a program of “enhanced interrogation.” They want to see more of it. Libertarians hold that the U.S. government’s torture program is one of the most shameful and despicable federal programs in U.S. history. Consider these two articles by two prominent conservatives, which pretty much express the views of the conservative movement: “I Am Not Sorry the CIA Waterboarded” by Bret Stephens and “Tortured Reasoning” by Thomas Sowell, both of whom are conservatives. If you would like to understand how conservatives view the torture scandal, ...
Judicial Deference to the Torturers by Jacob G. Hornberger December 15, 2014 In case anyone is wondering whether any of the CIA’s torture victims will be able to recover damages from CIA torturers, the answer is an unequivocal no. The federal judiciary decided a long time ago that it would not permit lawsuits brought by victims of the CIA or, for that matter, the U.S. military. Among the best examples are two cases that came out of the Chilean military coup of 1973, a coup that was secretly engineered by the U.S. government, operating primarily through the CIA and the U.S. military establishment. One case involved the kidnapping-murder of Chilean General Rene Schneider, who was the overall commander in chief of the Chilean armed forces during the Salvador Allende administration. Schneider angered the CIA because he refused to discuss the CIA’s wish for a military coup that would oust Allende from power and install a military dictator in his stead. The CIA’s position was that it was the moral duty of Chile’s national-security establishment ...
Make the CIA Release Its Chile Torture Files by Jacob G. Hornberger December 10, 2014 With the long-awaited release of the U.S. Senate’s Torture Report, it would be tempting to believe that the CIA’s torture regime began after 9/11 2001. Nothing could be further from the truth. Let’s not forget the torture regime in Chile that began on 9/11 1973 and continued for years after that. From 1970 to 1973, the CIA did everything it could to bring about a military coup in Chile, one designed to oust the democratically elected president of the country, Salvador Allende, a self-proclaimed Marxist, from office and install a military dictatorship in his stead. Since the election had been thrown into the Chilean congress given that no candidate had won a majority of votes, the CIA first tried to bribe the members of congress with U.S. taxpayer money to vote against Allende. When that didn’t succeed, the CIA orchestrated the kidnapping of the commanding officer of the entire Chilean armed forces, a man named General Rene Schneider. Why Schneider? Schneider was standing in ...
Congressional Fear of the National-Security State by Jacob G. Hornberger December 2, 2014 During the 1973 military coup in Chile, Chilean national-security state goons murdered two American citizens, Charles Horman and Frank Teruggi. The purpose of the coup, which was headed by military strongman Augusto Pinochet, was to oust the democratically elected president of Chile, Salvador Allende, a self-described communist, from power and install a military dictatorship in his stead. The coup had ...
December 2014 by Future of Freedom Foundation December 1, 2014 MOBI Version December 2014 EPUB Version December 2014
The U.S. Executions of Charles Horman and Frank Teruggi, Part 3 by Jacob G. Hornberger December 1, 2014 Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 As soon as World War II ended, the U.S. government proceeded to convert the Soviet Union from a wartime partner and ally to a new official enemy of the United States, one that Americans were told posed a greater threat ...
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The U.S. Executions of Charles Horman and Frank Teruggi, Part 2 by Jacob G. Hornberger November 1, 2014 Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 To understand the full context of the U.S. executions of Charles Horman and Frank Teruggi Jr. (see part 1), it is necessary to first do a broad survey of American history. We begin with the Constitution, the document that brought the ...
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The U.S. Executions of Charles Horman and Frank Teruggi, Part 1 by Jacob G. Hornberger October 1, 2014 Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 In 1999, in response to an order issued by Bill Clinton to U.S. departments and agencies to release long-secret records of the U.S. national-security state relating to the 1973 military coup in Chile, the U.S. State Department released a memo ...
Remembering the Criminal Conviction of the Director of the CIA by Jacob G. Hornberger September 12, 2014 With yesterday marking the 41st anniversary of the U.S.-supported military coup in Chile, which resulted in the kidnapping, detention, rapes, torture, disappearances, and murders of thousands of innocent people, we would be remiss if we failed to commemorate the criminal conviction of Richard Helms, the Director of the CIA, for lying to Congress about the CIA’s role in ...
U.S. Officials Were Partners in Pinochet’s Kidnappings, Rapes, Torture, and Murders by Jacob G. Hornberger September 11, 2014 REMINDER: Our Upcoming One-Day Blockbuster Conference on October 18 at Columbia University in New York City. Don't be caught short. Sign up now because space is limited. Admission price: FREE. Today marks the 41st anniversary of the military coup in Chile, a coup in which Chilean military personnel under the command of Army General Augusto Pinochet brutally raped ...
