The Disappeared Documents

   The historical record of United States support for General Pinochet 
remains -- disappeared -- like so many victims of his violent regime --  
a singular opportunity to find answers to unresolved cases of 
atrocities against Chileans and Americans, and to the role the 
U.S. played in this tragedy, will be lost. 

   The Clinton Administration has been conducting a special "Chile 
Declassification Project." On 2/1/99 U.S. agencies were directed to 
begin searching their archives "and review for release...all documents 
that shed light on human rights abuses, terrorism, etc during and prior 
to the Pinochet era in Chile." 

   This devolved into censors holding history hostage. The "securocrats" 
are blocking release of all documents that chronicle the full extent of 
the U.S. role in Chile. News reports revealed CIA ran massive operations
to [overthrow Allende] -- and generated a slew  of secret documents. 
So, too, did the 1973 murder in Chile of two U.S. citizens, freelance
writers Charles Horman and Frank Teruggi, as well as the 1976 car bombing 
in Washington that killed former Chilean ambassador Orlando Letelier and
Ronni Moffitt. 

   (Despite Clinton's order) Americans are learning almost nothing about 
U.S. actions. Among more than 25,000 pages released to date, there is not 
a single page of the thousands of CIA, NSC or NSA records on U.S. policy 
and operations to bring down Allende and help Pinochet. CIA, which has 
the most to hide, has refused to conduct a full file search of its
Directorate of Operations. 

   Consider one example: The CIA released one heavily blacked-out cable on 
10/70 kidnapping and murder of Chilean Gen. Rene Schneider, who opposed a
military move against Allende. But the agency did not even submit for 
review the dozens of secret "memcons" (memorandums of conversations), 
meeting minutes and briefing papers showing that the White House and 
CIA orchestrated this operation in an aborted attempt to instigate a 
coup in Chile.

   To the surprise of the intelligence community, the National Archives 
Records Administration found such documents among Nixon's papers. These 
records were submitted to the Chile Declassification Project, but CIA 
and NSA officials objected to their release. They should have been made 
public on Oct. 8. They weren't. 

Op-ed by Peter Kornbluh in the Washington Post 10/24/99 B1.