Salon Newsreal | The ghosts of bombings past

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All conservatives do not think alike
By David Horowitz
In a reply to Joel Dreyfuss, David Horowitz defends his view that the black community has locked itself into positions that are destructive to its own interests
(12/03/98)

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How should (or shouldn't) we be shaping our genetic future? Weigh in on gene manipulation in the Science and Health area of Table Talk

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Debunking the "ethno-bomb"
By Jeff Stein
U.S. experts are skeptical that Israel has developed a biological weapon that can target Arabs
(12/02/98)
Who's behind ethnic violence in Indonesia?
By Peter Dale Scott
"Provocateurs," most likely within the military, are trying to bury the country's hopes for a secular civilian democracy
(12/01/98)
"Black people must be stupid"
By Joel Dreyfuss
David Horowitz can't accept that African-Americans shrewdly voted their self-interest in the last election
(12/01/98)
A conversation with Jonathan Pollard
By Walter Ruby
Betrayed by Gingrich and Netanyahu, the convicted spy for Israel blasts the politics behind his latest failed hope for clemency
(11/30/98)
One big happy family
By Alan Wolfe
The election was a referendum on morality, after all, but Americans voted for tolerance, not vengeance
(11/25/98)
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The ghosts of bombings past
Richard Nixon
Declassified documents from the Pinochet era may finally shed light on how much U.S. officials knew about an assassination in Washington.
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BY JEFF STEIN
It was one of those rare, tingling moments in the intelligence business when a hot tip affecting the highest levels of governments was whispered across a table. An FBI agent was meeting confidentially in Buenos Aires with his source, a well-placed Argentine military officer.
"Write down these words," the officer told him: "Operation Condor."
It was Sept. 28, 1976. A few days earlier a powerful car bomb had gone off in a spectacular Washington, D.C., terrorist attack, killing Orlando Letelier, a former Chilean diplomat who was organizing a government-in-exile against the Chilean military regime of Gen. Augusto Pinochet, which had taken power in a U.S.-backed coup three years earlier. The blast had erupted in the heart of Washington's Embassy Row, as if somebody was trying to make a point.
FBI agent Carter Cornick raced to the scene, where the smoking, twisted wreckage was encircled by fire trucks and ambulances. He identified himself to Michael Moffitt, a charred survivor of the blast. Moffitt's wife, Ronni, who was Letelier's secretary, was dying on the sidewalk from shrapnel in her neck.
"It was DINA! DINA did it," Moffitt screamed at the FBI man. What was Moffitt yelling about? the FBI agent wondered. Who was Dina?
DINA, he soon learned, was not a woman. It was the acronym for the Chilean secret police, the National Intelligence Directorate. To Moffitt, or anyone else with the slightest knowledge of the Pinochet regime's record of torture and killings since 1973, there could be only one culprit in the murder that had taken the lives of Letelier and his wife: DINA, the thugish Chilean gestapo with the motto "By Reason or By Force."
A few days later, Cornick learned more about DINA: According to the FBI's man in Argentina, DINA was at the head of something called Operation Condor, a worldwide operation that combined the intelligence services of a half-dozen Latin American military regimes in a worldwide subterranean Murder, Inc., headquartered in Santiago. Condor's mission: Hunt down and assassinate enemies of the regimes.
Orlando Letelier was just one of Condor's targets, it would turn out. And now, like ghosts calling out from the mists of history, the names of DINA and Condor are coming back to haunt Pinochet, the former Chilean military strongman awaiting his fate at the hands of the British and Spanish governments.
Bending to international pressure, the U.S. government has begun to declassify its own documents on Chile and turn them over to the Spaniards. These may come back to haunt U.S. officials as well.
N E X T+P A G E+| The report on Condor

A L S O+T O D A Y All conservatives do not think alike By David Horowitz In a reply to Joel Dreyfuss, David Horowitz defends his view that the black community has locked itself into positions that are destructive to its own interests (12/03/98) T A B L E+T A L K How should (or shouldn't) we be shaping our genetic future? Weigh in on gene manipulation in the Science and Health area of Table Talk R E C E N T L Y Debunking the "ethno-bomb" By Jeff Stein U.S. experts are skeptical that Israel has developed a biological weapon that can target Arabs (12/02/98) Who's behind ethnic violence in Indonesia? By Peter Dale Scott "Provocateurs," most likely within the military, are trying to bury the country's hopes for a secular civilian democracy (12/01/98) "Black people must be stupid" By Joel Dreyfuss David Horowitz can't accept that African-Americans shrewdly voted their self-interest in the last election (12/01/98) A conversation with Jonathan Pollard By Walter Ruby Betrayed by Gingrich and Netanyahu, the convicted spy for Israel blasts the politics behind his latest failed hope for clemency (11/30/98) One big happy family By Alan Wolfe The election was a referendum on morality, after all, but Americans voted for tolerance, not vengeance (11/25/98) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Browse the Newsreal Archives - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - S A L O N E M P O R I U M FREE! 12-ounce bag of Salon Blend with a purchase of $30 or more. While supplies last.
		The ghosts of bombings past Declassified documents from the Pinochet era may finally shed light on how much U.S. officials knew about an assassination in Washington. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - BY JEFF STEIN It was one of those rare, tingling moments in the intelligence business when a hot tip affecting the highest levels of governments was whispered across a table. An FBI agent was meeting confidentially in Buenos Aires with his source, a well-placed Argentine military officer. "Write down these words," the officer told him: "Operation Condor." It was Sept. 28, 1976. A few days earlier a powerful car bomb had gone off in a spectacular Washington, D.C., terrorist attack, killing Orlando Letelier, a former Chilean diplomat who was organizing a government-in-exile against the Chilean military regime of Gen. Augusto Pinochet, which had taken power in a U.S.-backed coup three years earlier. The blast had erupted in the heart of Washington's Embassy Row, as if somebody was trying to make a point. FBI agent Carter Cornick raced to the scene, where the smoking, twisted wreckage was encircled by fire trucks and ambulances. He identified himself to Michael Moffitt, a charred survivor of the blast. Moffitt's wife, Ronni, who was Letelier's secretary, was dying on the sidewalk from shrapnel in her neck. "It was DINA! DINA did it," Moffitt screamed at the FBI man. What was Moffitt yelling about? the FBI agent wondered. Who was Dina? DINA, he soon learned, was not a woman. It was the acronym for the Chilean secret police, the National Intelligence Directorate. To Moffitt, or anyone else with the slightest knowledge of the Pinochet regime's record of torture and killings since 1973, there could be only one culprit in the murder that had taken the lives of Letelier and his wife: DINA, the thugish Chilean gestapo with the motto "By Reason or By Force." A few days later, Cornick learned more about DINA: According to the FBI's man in Argentina, DINA was at the head of something called Operation Condor, a worldwide operation that combined the intelligence services of a half-dozen Latin American military regimes in a worldwide subterranean Murder, Inc., headquartered in Santiago. Condor's mission: Hunt down and assassinate enemies of the regimes. Orlando Letelier was just one of Condor's targets, it would turn out. And now, like ghosts calling out from the mists of history, the names of DINA and Condor are coming back to haunt Pinochet, the former Chilean military strongman awaiting his fate at the hands of the British and Spanish governments. Bending to international pressure, the U.S. government has begun to declassify its own documents on Chile and turn them over to the Spaniards. These may come back to haunt U.S. officials as well. N E X T+P A G E+\| The report on Condor