Noam Chomsky - Turning the Tide U.S. intervention in

The Fifth Freedom
Classics in Politics: Turning the Tide Noam Chomsky
125
American Jewish Congress) after a visit to Nicaragua. The Jewish
Student Press Service reports that the ADL had “approached Presidental
advisers with the idea of a deal” in an effort to “gain clout with the
Reagan White House,” accepted by the Administration who saw a way
“to get the Jewish community to join the bandwagon” in the campaign
to enlist public support for its Central American policies; the report cites
officials in leading Jewish organizations, who denied the charges of anti-
Semitism. 85
Meanwhile, the White House, the media and the ADL, while
generally suppressing the cable from the Ambassador that reached
Reagan four days before the July 20 accusation, also have yet to report
the homilies of their favorite, Nicaraguan Archbishop Obando y Bravo,
who declaims that “the leaders of Israel . . . mistreated [the prophets],
beat them, killed them. Finally as supreme proof of his love, God sent
his Divine Son; but they . . . also killed him, crucifying him.” “The Jews
killed the prophets and finally the son of God . . . Such idolatry calls
forth the sky’s vengeance.” 86
The Council on Hemispheric Affairs observes that “The White House
keeps up a steady stream of calumny directed at Managua, charging the
ruling Sandinistas with everything vile: drug-running, genocide,
subverting their neighbors, and now international terrorism,” charges
that have not “been burdened with evidence” but are reported with only
rare attempts at evaluation. The technique is the one pioneered during
World War I, when the first major government propaganda agency, the
Committee on Public Information, discovered “that one of the best
means of controlling news was flooding news channels with ‘facts,’ or
what amounted to official information.” 87
Few are willing to undertake the tedious task of refuting the regular
flood of lies; they have little access to the public in any event, and they
can always be dismissed by the charge that they are apologists for the