One finds near our apartment in Santiago the Avenue of 11 September. It turns out that this date also has significance in Chilean history. But unlike the largely unifying effect of September 11 for U.S. society, the events surrounding September 11, 1973 produced very differing responses in Chile depending on with whom you speak .

In 1970, Salvador Allende, a Marxist, was elected President with only a 36 percent plurality of the vote. Before we look down our nose at that slim mandate, it is worth noting that the last three Presidential elections in the U.S. were won by a candidate with less than 50% of the popular vote. In any event, Allende and the fractious Popular Unity coalition ruled Chile with intent to create a socialist nation within a democratic framework. Lest I sound like a starry-eyed apologist for Allende, one should note that this approach amidst widespread nationalization of industries turned Chile into an economic basket case.

Significantly, and despite passionate feelings by many in Chilean society against the Allende government, the Popular Unity coalition actually GAINED seats in the March 1973 election. On September 11 of that year, a military junta seized power and Allende either was killed or committed suicide during the military’s bombing and storming of the Presidential Palace. While welcomed by a large portion of Chilean society fearful of a potential Marxist totalitarian state, the coup set in motion 17 years of military totalitarianism led by Augusto Pinochet in which thousands were detained, tortured and/or killed. As described by Pamela Constable and Arturo Valenzuela in their book, A Nation of Enemies – Chile Under Pinochet, “Most normal Chileans were neither Marxists or Pinochetists; they were dubious spectators caught in a system they had not chosen. Fearful of confrontation with authorities, shell-shocked by the upheaval of the Allende years, and faced with moral choices for which democracy had not prepared them, most Chileans ducked and kept quiet, praying they would survive the storm. Like all dictatorships, Pinochet’s made spies of the unscrupulous, sycophants of the ambitious, and conformists of the majority.” Pinochet eventually stepped down from power after losing a 1988 plebiscite on his rule that he was mistakenly confident that he would win.

About half of the current Chilean population was born after the 1973 coup so memories of this period are slowly fading. As one Chilean young adult described it to me, “All the young people now just want to move on and focus on making money,” but another Chilean assured me that “the scars run deep.” This Faustian bargain made by Chilean society in 1973 (protect us from this threat and we willingly give you total power over us) provides a cautionary tale for the United States as it responds to its own tragedy of September 11.

Unlike Chile’s internal Marxist trend in the early 1970's, the U.S. now confronts external threats from Al Qaeda and other entities that seek our destruction. Fearful of another September 11 attack, Americans faces tough choices, as Chile did, as to what degree we are willing to let our responses impact the fundamental fabric of our society. I find troubling the number of Americans that willingly embrace the restrictions on freedom from government actions such as the Patriot Act and advocate even greater restrictions on privacy and liberty in the name of security. Moreover, we seem to passively accept the Orwellian title of a “Patriot” Act that suggests merely questioning it is an unpatriotic act. Even calling our current conflict a war against “terror” is a sloppy, imprecise label that allows all sorts of abuses to elicit support for the war. A free, democratic society should demand more precision lest we become indifferent to a trend toward propaganda. Terrorism is an effective tool used by our enemy but it is not THE enemy. The enemy is Al Qaeda and allied organizations/states. The label “war on terror” leaves little room for argument, but one can and should reasonably debate the proper course of a justified war against Al Qaeda and its allies.