UG, I have not felt like calling you a moron for a long time, too bad you had to revert to type. Please explain to us why, since according to your sources there were "ONLY" a few thousand people murdered by Pinochet and his goons, that his own country has tried him for murder and crimes against humanity and sentenced him to be executed? He gets a free pass, though, because he is about to croak any minute from a variety of illnesses. Are you suggesting that your supposed number is "acceptable collatoral damage" for a US-backed dictatorship? Gee, Pinochet accomplished so much to keep US interests functioning in Chile, when you factor it those lives probably average out to 20 million bucks per which we got in return, a real bargain!
As for why it was so "vital to our national interests" to kill a legally elected head of state and hurl Chile into a vicious military dictatorship, you do not have to look for communists under every bush. The Mormons had more to do with our getting involved than the Russians did!!! In case somebody doesn't know, they own the largest copper producers in the US. Think they contribute much to politicians here to protect THEIR interests?
Here is information from a research paper I found online, which sums up what I already knew about the role of the US copper industry as key players in getting us into the mess:
MNCs took action in Chile in order to prevent Allende from being elected before his election. The purpose was to prevent Allende from accomplishing his intention to nationalize the copper industry along with other profitable subsidiaries in Chile. In order to do this, International Telephone and Telegraph Corporation (ITT), Anaconda Copper, and Kennecott Copper helped to fund Allende’s opponent, Jorge Allesandri, with the help of the CIA. ITT has good reasons to back up Jorge Allesandri in the election against Allende because it had a total investment of $200 million in Chile, the largest holding of any single corporation. In addition, “ITT president Harold Geneen offered $1 million to the CIA to help defeat Allende” (Online posting, Corporate involvement).