The Pinochet case and the piracy/slavery exceptions to the traditional exclusive jurisdiction of nation-states raise a further point. Are there no modern-day analogues of pirates or slave traders, evildoers who are beyond the control of any government? Yes, there are. Modern-day terrorists fit the bill nicely. As in the case of pirates and slave traders, the state that punishes terrorists is acting on behalf of all states and is vindicating stated common values and interests, for all are pledged to fight terrorism. And even those who resist this extension of traditional jurisdiction would agree that states have a very clear right to punish persons who commit acts of terrorism on their soil, and by extension those who order such acts. The point is important, because it arises in the Pinochet case as well.

The Spanish judge, Baltasar Garzón, has sought to try General Pinochet for acts committed in Chile and covered by the Chilean amnesty. Here, in my view, Spanish jurisdiction seems far-fetched and, for all the reasons argued here, dangerous. But what if General Pinochet had committed an act of terrorism? It is arguable that he did commit such an act, and in downtown Washington, D.C. In 1976, a bomb killed the former Chilean ambassador to the United States, Orlando Letelier, a staunch supporter of the president whom Pinochet had overthown and an active opponent of Pinochet's regime.

Letelier's car was blown up, and both he and his American passenger died. The then head of the Chilean secret police was later convicted in Chile of ordering this act, and those who actually planted the bomb in Washington were convicted in a U.S. court. The unresolved question was whether General Pinochet, to whom the secret police reported, ordered the killing. The U.S. attorney who prosecuted the case, Lawrence Barcella, wrote recently that "there was not a shred of doubt in my mind that Pinochet ordered the murders," and he suggested that the United States government review the evidence and seek to extradite Pinochet.³

Here, my own conclusion that one must respect the amnesties and the efforts at national reconciliation in countries emerging from long periods of oppression and dictatorship is eclipsed by what I would call the "terrorist exception." If General Pinochet ordered that a murder be committed in Washington, D.C., then our judicial system has the right to try him, and to seek his extradition in order to do so. Perhaps he is innocent or cannot be proved guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, but we have the legal right to find out.