I say: As I recall, he was detained in England subject to a lawful > extradition request. No one invaded or even snuck into Chile and > dragged him out of his home (as the Israelis did to Eichmann--you got > a problem with that, Carrol?). When it was determined that he was > unfit to stand trial, he was sent home. Whats' the problem? I was too laconic. The primary problem is that England, not Spain, was the locus of the trial -- I say: No, he was detained pending extradiction to Spain, at least that was my understanding. I agree with you about the impropriety of the US or its pet poodle trying a foreign head of state. But them, P was our pal. Carrol:  and I don't like any imperial power presuming to judge the acts of state (no matter how horrid) of the ruler of a "third world" nation. Me: Generally agreed, though Chile is actually not a third world, underdeveloped country. Carrol: Next, in _every_ civil war (or even most large civil disturbances) at least a few foreign nationals get hurt. That must, for example, have happened to a few at the time of the Cuban Revolutionl. Me: Well, being hurt or even killed by the way is one thing. Beinf deliberately kidnapped, tortured, and murdered is another. Carrol: The Pinchet trial would have formed the basis (had Castro attended the WTO meeting at Seattle) for (say) some u.s. satellite someplace requesting that Castro be arrested and extradited. Me: Hardly: The US doesn't want to have its own leaders facing thsi kind of diffuculty either. Course these days, maybe we'd just insit on our specialness,a s we do with our armed forcesa nd the International Criminal Court, on the 1000 lb gorilla theory. Carrol: I want to keep heads of state pretty much untouchable except by their own people. Me: Generallt this is the rule. "Acts of state" are normally not actionable, period. Carrol: In political terms -- I think an important obligation of leftists in the U.S. is to build public repugnance at the U.S. claims to tutelage over weaker powers, _regardless_ of how one personally might regard any particular state in question. Me. Agreed. I'm with you and against Luke and Nathan on this one. US out of everywhere! Carrol: P.S. Where in the hell did you drag that e-mail name from? I'm too lazy to prowl the shelves for my german-english dictionary. Is it German or fractured German/english? As Yoshie said, it's the German title of Brecht's To Those Born Later, beginning, "Truly we live in dark times!" jks <hr size=1>Do you Yahoo!? <a href="http://webhosting.yahoo.com/ ">Y! Web Hosting</a> - Let the expert host your web site