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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Almost every Reagan equipment program to date was begun under
Carter, or even before, with the notable exception of SDI.” At the same
time, Soviet increases in spending, which accelerated after the Cuban
missile crisis, tapered off to about 2% a year from 1976. 75
In fact, the whole charade is farcical. Windows and gaps appear
when they are needed to justify escalation of military spending; they
close when they no longer contribute to this end, or when other
concerns require reduction of military programs. In none of the three
crucial cases was there any significant change in the international
environment, any new threat to the US or its allies, to justify the military
programs undertaken. In each case, a threat was fabricated. In the latter
two, the arms buildup proceeded while its purported motivation was
conceded to be a fabrication; the first case differs only in that the fraud
was not conceded.
The similarities between the Reagan and Kennedy programs go
beyond the exploitation of fabricated crises. During the 1960
presidential campaign, Democratic liberals denounced the Eisenhower
Administration for frittering away American affluence in “indulgences,
luxuries, and frivolities” while the United States faced “the possibility of
annihilation or humiliation,” calling for “accelerating and enlarging our
defense effort” rather than diverting resources to consumer goods for
people who already enjoy a “frivolous standard of living,” while our
global enemy marches from strength to strength. 76
The story was re-enacted in 1980, with the tables turned. President
Reagan likes to say that he is following in the footsteps of John F.
Kennedy, a claim that the Democrats indignantly reject though it has
more than a little merit. Reagan’s programs are in several important
respects close to Kennedy’s, and the 1980 campaign rhetoric was
reminiscent of 1960. Like Eisenhower in the eyes of the Kennedy
liberals, Carter was portrayed by the Reaganites as not sufficiently