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

Patterns of Intervention
Classics in Politics: Turning the Tide Noam Chomsky
191
how “Resistance forces began to take on importance for the broader
effort to counter Sandinista ‘internationalism’,” and from 1983, “Armed
opposition within Nicaragua, generated by the policies of the
Sandinistas, continued to grow.” Even granting the expectations for state
propaganda, it seems to me a little odd that the press can let this
performance pass, merely noting that it does not prove its case. Note
that this account is one that can be checked against the historical
record, a fact that a rational person will use in assessing the claims
made without substantiation that constitute the government’s case.
Use of the term “resistance forces,” with its favorable connotations
(the resistance against the Nazis, etc.), to refer to the US proxy army
attacking Nicaragua from its foreign bases is a neat piece of trickery by
the state disinformation machine, quickly picked up by the loyal press,
which sometimes even goes so far as to intimate that Nicaraguan
officials refer to the terrorist forces in this way; thus we read that
“President Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua said yesterday his government
suspended civil liberties last week to ‘guarantee’ his army’s defeat of USbacked
resistance forces,” and that “he said, however, that defeat of the
resistance forces could create an even more ‘dangerous situation”’ by
prompting US invasion. 98
Government claims rest primarily on alleged material evidence that is
classified, not a very credible tale. It may be noted that with far more
meager resources, Nicaragua has no problem providing ample material
evidence of US supply to the contras fighting within Nicaragua, evidence
which for some reason they are not compelled to keep classified; and of
course the support, direction and training in the foreign bases from
which the attacks on Nicaragua are launched is not in question.
On Nicaragua’s alleged military threat, government propaganda is
entirely without credibility—indeed, barely rises to the level of
absurdity—unless, of course, we adopt the assumption that it is