Palling around with terrorists

A foreign head of state orders a bombing in Washington, DC, which kills two people, an act intended to strike fear into that dictator's opponents. Then a U.S. senator later goes to the country, has a "warm" conversation with said dictator, and is given a posh vacation to boot. How does that sound?

One is Augusto Pinochet and the other is John McCain, as described by John Dinges, who has been covering Chile (and South America generally) for decades.

Ironically, Bush administration officials are now concerned about leaving the country, fearing they might be arrested just like Pinochet.

h/t Boz and Marc Cooper - comments on both posts trying to defend McCain are highly entertaining