The Washington Post is an awful newspaper. I tend to read it occasionally, being my local paper - and every time I read it, I am reminded why it sucks. In today's edition, the editorial reflecting Pinochet's legacy claims the following:
It's hard not to notice, however, that the evil dictator leaves behind the most successful country in Latin America.
This is after the editorial has already admitted that Pinochet was a dictator who took power by force and murdered about 3000 people and tortured thousands more. The editorial goes on to favorably compare Pinochet with Castro; you see, Castro will leave behind an impoverished country while at least Pinochet did something for economic growth! Who cares if it benefits only the corporate class? Who wants to think about the fundamental role the US has played in the impoverishment of Cuba?
And if all this isn't enough, the editorial closes with quoting the-also-recently-deceased Jeanne frickin' Kirkpatrick!
In "Dictatorships and Double Standards," a work that caught the eye of President Ronald Reagan, Ms. Kirkpatrick argued that right-wing dictators such as Mr. Pinochet were ultimately less malign than communist rulers, in part because their regimes were more likely to pave the way for liberal democracies. She, too, was vilified by the left. Yet by now it should be obvious: She was right.
I know one isn't supposed to speak ill of the dead, but Jeanne Kirkpatrick probably caused more death and destruction than Pinochet could have ever dreamed of. Now that's some legacy.
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