[WikiEN-l] Wikipedia's coverage of 1973 Chilean coup

[Daniel P.B.Smith]

> From: "libertarian" <libertarian at myway.com>
> On the coup that overthrew Allende, it ***was backed by United 
> States***, but there are several reasons that Americans refuse to have 
> that information out there.
...
> Wiki admins can still redeem themselves and prove that they are not 
> White Supremacists. All they have to do is allow the point about USA 
> backing the coup against Allende to be put up along with other facts.

Since I happen to be a U. S. citizen who believes that the USA almost 
certainly did back the coup against Allende, and since I have been 
utterly uninvolved in any articles about that subject, I decided to see 
whether there really is a problem with Wikipedia's coverage of the 
topic. I typed in "Allende," it redirected to "Salvador Allende," and 
under "The coup" I read:

"In the aftermath of the coup, many Allende supporters began to allege 
that the president's overthrow had been the result of an 
US-orchestrated scheme. The CIA denies having actively supported the 
coup and claims that it was merely informed of it. Classified documents 
indicate that the CIA was at least supportive of a coup to overthrow 
Allende, though not necessarily in favour of bringing Pinochet himself 
to power."

The section on "Legacy and Debate" links to "Chilean coup of 1973." 
That article contains a seven-paragraph-long section entitled "US role 
in 1973 coup." It notes that "the CIA actively supported the military 
junta after the overthrow of Allende." It says the CIA "contends it 
'played no direct role in' the coup," where the word "contends" 
distances the article from the CIA's denial.  It quotes Colin Powell as 
saying "With respect to your earlier comments about Chile in the 1970s 
and what happened with Mr. Allende, it is not a part of American 
history that we're proud of" and says that "Chilean newspapers hailed 
the news as the first time the U.S. government had conceded a role in 
the affair." It does says "claims of [the CIA]'s direct involvement in 
the actual coup are not supported by documentary evidence" but 
immediately qualifies this with the phrase "although many documents 
still remain classified."

It seems to me to be a very well-supported, well-written section.

Libertarian, why do you suggest that the admins are "not allowing the 
point" to be made? It seems to me that the point _is_ being made. Do 
you insist on some particular phraseology?

--
Daniel P. B. Smith, dpbsmith at verizon.net alternate: 
dpbsmith at alum.mit.edu
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