:-)
Pinochet is a hero. Ask Margaret Thatcher.
Chris Dodd took to the floor of the House and demanded we cut off aid to Lon Nol. The result was 2.5 million slaughtered by Pol Pot's troops.
Franco very well could be what stopped Hitler. He did not allow German troops to transit the country to take Gibraltar. He saved over 80,000 Jews. Any Jew which made it to Spain was safe.
Musharraf is useful and better than any alternative.
Many of the rest were forced on us by the Cold War. Our policy was to support authoritarian regimes in order to defeat totalitarian ones. It wasn't often pretty, but it worked.
You seem to say that we should judge Israel's actions regarding Mugabe by some universal standard. I don't. I only judge it by how it affects the United States. Israel or Israeli citizens arming Liberia, China, Zimbabwe, Sierra Leone and Angola is not, in general, in our interest. Israel selling to India is. For some reason, we do not seem to have the leverage over Israel we should. The relationship on our part should be more hard nosed.
My contention here is that we have not been shy about installing, aiding and supporting dictators. That transcends selling some weapons to them, and makes for a weak moral basis for criticism. There are even allegations floating around that the U.S. has something to do with Mugabe's continued presidency. Of course, I'll believe that when I see some reasonably solid evidence.
The broader point is that Israel's involvement in Zimbabwe isn't necessarily an international anomaly, nor a sign of a corrupt nation (or perhaps we all are?). Need I even dredge up the Rhodesia days?
Anyway, the discussion and investigation is interesting.
Imal