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

Patterns of Intervention
Classics in Politics: Turning the Tide Noam Chomsky
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translate from Newspeak: it aimed specifically at civilian targets). But
while this was true of “1983 and early 1984,” now matters are much
improved (though the air war has stepped up, and guerrillas, now
scattered in small groups, are relatively secure from air attack).
Furthermore, evidence about the air war is suspect: “much testimony
condemning bombing comes from peasants who identify themselves as
rebel supporters,” from witnesses who “are usually highly partisan,” and
therefore cannot be trusted. Curiously, little eyewitness testimony about
the air war comes from business circles in San Salvador or Miami. A
woman in a refugee camp states that “we could not stand the bombing.
We had four years of suffering.” But the reporter in San Salvador “could
not confirm the accounts,” most surprisingly. 78
To learn about ongoing atrocities of the air war as reported by
refugees in the Church-run camps, we must turn to the alternative press,
where we read testimony about how “the enemy was bombing us almost
every day—like crazy men,” with many casualties and much
destruction. 79
Meanwhile, unencumbered with such trivialities, we may look
forward to happier days as Duarte “can be expected to progress with
reforms that the conservative majority previously had blocked.” 80
Duarte’s role from the beginning has been to facilitate the slaughters
and repression by exploiting his image as a democratic reformer,
ensuring that Congress provides the support to allow them to proceed
effectively. This image, carefully crafted by the US government and the
media, is based on real achievements and courage in earlier years, when
there was no interest here because the military dictatorship was safely in
power. Since he lent his prestige to the military regime in March 1980,
the true image is a far uglier one. Duarte’s term has “been a lesson in
public relations skills,” but little else. The murderers proceed
unpunished and “there are few signs of any imaginative approaches to