The Foreign Service Journal, December 2003

officers suffered. However, during the last six or seven years this atti- tude has changed dramatically. In my last two posts (Beijing and Bangkok), consular issues were sen- sitive and had important conse- quences for our bilateral relation- ships. Ask most ambassadors or DCMs whom they want on the front line when there is a major disaster, war or civil disturbance, and most will choose their consular staff. I agree with Hutson’s statement that defending our national security must not be considered to be “down” in the consular section, and there is no question that the role of consular officers has changed dra- matically over the last two years. It is the responsibility of consular managers to make sure that all Foreign Service staff understand and appreciate these changes and the importance of our work. Charles Bennett FSO American Institute in Taiwan Pack Journalism Two assignments in Chile and a reasonable amount of reading lead me to comment on George Gedda’s September article, “Chile’s Own 9/11.” Pack journalism and the print equivalent of the sound bite com- bine all too often to produce inaccu- rate stories. Gedda’s article is a case in point. Gedda repeats the pack’s asser- tion that before the coup of Sept. 11, 1973, Chile had enjoyed 150 uninterrupted years of “peaceful transfers of power from one elected government to another.” Baloney. From the deadly power struggle among its founding fathers to the arrival in power of Colonel Ibanez in 1926, Chile had its fair share of vio- lence and less-than-democratic rule. Gedda also refers to Allende’s 10 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / D E C E M B E R 2 0 0 3 L E T T E R S