On Sept. 11, we were bombarded with images of heroism and American values. Let us also remember the forgotten victims of terror caused by U.S. foreign policy on that date in history.

Sept. 11 is also an anniversary for Chile. On Sept. 11, 1973, Chile witnessed its own terrorist attack that killed far more people than the barbaric actions of Sept. 11, 2001. The perpetuators of that terrorist attack in Chile were not Marxist terrorists or radical insurgents. It was the United States, in the form of a bloody coup, that brought Latin America’s most notorious dictator, Augusto Pinochet, to power.

The U.S.-backed coup not only helped bring about Pinochet’s rise, but it also resulted in the deaths of 30,000 Chileans, a majority of who were civilians. The justification of the U.S. for what International Law and Amnesty International classifies as outright terrorism was to “liberate” Chile from a tyrannical and brutal dictator.

Pinochet fit the description all too well, surpassing Salvador Allende in brutality and military control. Allende, who was democratically elected and self-declared Marxist leader of Chile, was seen as a threat by the U.S. in its quest to democratize the whole of Latin America.

Then, as now, the U.S. tried to rid the region of Marxist ideals and socialism. These ideals were an alternative for many Latin Americans who had looked at capitalism as exploitive and unfair — a consequence of European colonialism and U.S. intervention in the region since the late 19th century.

Allende was either killed or committed suicide alongside thousands of his dying countrymen. Once in power, Pinochet, along with his U.S.-backed junta, killed 3,000 Chileans. Thousands of people soon disappeared — similar to what is happening in Russia’s breakaway republic of Chechnya. Many families of the disappeared have yet to find their relatives and loved ones. Numerous people, both dissidents and non-political civilians, were sent to brutal prisons that were 10 times crueler in practicing punishment and methods of torture than Guantanamo Bay.

Thirty years later, Chile is still reeling from Allende’s overthrow and Pinochet’s takeover. The U.S. ignored Pinochet’s brutality for the most part. Today, after living a rather comfortable life, Pinochet has finally been convicted of the use of torture, committing atrocious human rights abuses and for being responsible for numerous civilian deaths.

However, this Sept. 11 is never mentioned or talked about in U.S. history and politics, or mentioned in the mainstream media. Leaders see it as a dark episode in American, indeed, world history that needs to be left in the dark and quickly forgotten.

After all, the administration echoing President Bush will say, we do not murder or indiscriminately bomb civilians. We do not overthrow governments that are our allies. We are not terrorists. They are.

There neither was an apology nor a memorial dedicated to the thousands of dead from Sept. 11, 1973. This event is not recognized or remembered by many Americans. We mourn and remember Sept. 11, 2001, but we ignore Sept. 11, 1973.

• Lisa Bondo of Tracy is a San Joaquin Delta College student. She is majoring in international relations and has been studying the tactics and consequences of U.S. foreign policy from the Cold War to the present.