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

The Race to Destruction
Classics in Politics: Turning the Tide Noam Chomsky
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only bring to the fore what is presupposed: the “constituency” are those
who hold state or private power, two categories that are closely linked.
Meanwhile, debate will be inconclusive. Strategic theories are highly
speculative at best; no one can guess what people in command
positions will do under this or that critical condition. There is no
certainty about crucial facts, for example, whether the Russians can
outfox Star Wars. When experts disagree and facts are uncertain, the
reasonable thing to do is to try. Meanwhile, the arms race can proceed
unencumbered.
The alternative is to tell people the truth: that the security of the US
or Western Europe has rarely been a matter of central concern, and that
the military system has been driven by different factors, to which we
turn in section 5. But those who undertake to do so, and to draw
appropriate conclusions for action, will not be too popular among elite
groups. They will have to abandon respectability, prestige, institutional
funding, media access, and the other perquisites of obedience to the
main tenets of the doctrinal system.