BoRev.Net

So yesterday Chile's president met our president in the White House. Readers will recall that back in the day, Michelle Bachelet and her entire family were detained for many months and tortured repeatedly by Augusto Pinochet and his evil squads of awfulness. Her father, in fact, was tortured to death because he'd been an official in the government of Salvador Allende, who was, of course, overthrown in 1973. And murdered. By the U.S. government. So you can imagine how this whole White House meeting thing had the potential for a little...awkwardness.

But hey, these guys are pros! And Obama and Bachelet never batted an eye even when a Chilean reporter asked if Obama wanted to, like, apologize for all that mess, or when Obama politely declined, "looking to the future" and all, blah blah blah. Whatever.

Not so smooth were English language reporters, who had a heck of a time explaining the whole situation to their ding-dong-dumb readership without rehashing all that unpleasantness or otherwise sounding unpatriotic. Here's how AFP took a stab at it:

"US President Barack Obama on Tuesday declined to apologize for a past CIA interventions (sic) and alleged coup attempts in Latin America, after talks with Chilean leader Michele Bachelet."

"During a photo opportunity in the Oval Office on Tuesday, a reporter asked Obama if he cared to apologize for CIA interference in Chilean elections."

Honestly, it's all such a mindfuck sometimes.