So whats the big deal? A pilot was arrested over the murder of 1,000 more people in the Dirty War. Fine. Just desserts.
But the Dirty War was not in some Third World dust bowl and the pilot wasn't some Russian mercenary who had a drinks problem and a spare plane like in the movies.
The Dirty War was alluded to in many of the Falklands War books I have read. It is given as one of the reason for the creation of the war back in April 1982 - not that long ago by many people's standards.
In his second book 'Spearhead Assault' John Geddes specifically mentions not only battalion 601, the now notorious army unit who created the concept of The Disappeared, but also The Naval Mechanics School which the Times article in the headline mentions.
The young man is dropped out of the back of the plane whilst it flies over the River Plate. There is no doubt in anyone's mind that the pilot knew when taking off that he was going to be coming back with at least one less passenger.
I apologise. I was a bit naughty. I cropped some words from the headline to this blog from the original article in The Times. It originally read;
A short stop pilot flying between Italy and Holland was arrested yesterday for assisting in the murder of over 1,000 people.
We have moved away from that war-torn Third World country in central Africa that the original headline alluded to, and are now discussing Argentina in the 1970s through to the 1990s killing people for their political beliefs. The victims who became known as 'The
Image via Wikipedia The Disappeared
Disappeared'
I don't know much about this period in time in South America but I do intend to find out more about how so many people could go 'missing' without there being more of an outcry throughout the world.
Argentina is after all the country who not only hid high ranking Nazis after the Second World War, but the only democratic nation I can think of, that could not decide which side to be on during the war. (France {probably} doesn't count).
I guess we should all be happy that we weren't on the flight that was delayed because of the arrest of the Captain due to Mass Murder. I just hope that some families in Argentina, and those who escaped to restart their lives scattered around the world, sleep better tonight knowing that one more killer is getting brought to justice.
