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

Patterns of Intervention
Classics in Politics: Turning the Tide Noam Chomsky
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illegitimate for a country to defend itself against attack by the US and its
proxies. The fact that the topic is even discussed in a serious voice is a
great tribute to the efficacy of the propaganda system. As for the claims
about Nicaraguan military might, before which we must quake in terror,
discussion of the military balance in Central America is nonsensical to
begin with, since the US would react massively in the case of any
Nicaraguan aggression—or to be more accurate, the US would welcome
any act that could be interpreted as aggression with unrestrained joy,
since at last the long-yearned for invasion could then be undertaken. But
even if we enter this arena of state propaganda, the fevered rhetoric
about Nicaraguan regional predominance is easily shown to be a
carefully-contrived fraud.
Furthermore, the evidence now available indicates that Nicaragua
began to acquire such military resources as it has after the contra
attacks began. According to senior officials at the Pentagon, Nicaragua
acquired its first Soviet-made tanks in mid-1981: “Until then, another
Defense Department official said, they had been receiving ‘small arms
and light artillery, mostly’.” FDN spokesman Bosco Matamoros stated
“that armed rebels began attacks in 1980,” which is “when Sandinista
officials began complaining of attacks.” They also date their “training
and assistance from the Argentine military” to 1980. Rand Corporation
specialist Brian Jenkins, discussing “indirect forms of warfare,” observes
that “Argentina acted as a proxy for the United States in Central
America,” referring to Argentina under the neo-Nazi generals during the
period when congressional human rights restrictions were hampering
direct US engagement in state terrorism. The formation of a “large
citizen militia” in Nicaragua was announced in February 1981. 99
Salvadoran aid to the contras may have begun in 1979 (see section 6.2
below).
The US claims to have authorized CIA aid for the contras in late