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

Notes
Classics in Politics: Turning the Tide Noam Chomsky
411
“U.S. actions in Grenada and Central America are no different from
actions in Afghanistan”—their paraphrase of my statement: “There are,
of course, numerous respects in which Soviet aggression in Afghanistan
is not comparable to U.S. intervention in El Salvador [Grenada is
nowhere mentioned]; a closer comparison would be to the U.S. attack
against South Vietnam . . .” The latter comparison cannot even be heard
in these circles, so offensive is it to jingoist sensibilities. This material is
worth reading for its insight into the intellectual bankruptcy of these
“conservative” circles and the curious incapacity to understand that
chanting of government slogans does not constitute argument.
71. Roy Gutman, “America’s Diplomatic Charade,” Foreign Policy, Fall
1984.
72. General Assembly Resolutions 194 and 273; reprinted in John Norton
Moore, ed., The Arab-Israeli Conflict, vol. III (Princeton 1974).
73. “La Prensa’s editors have lobbied for continued U.S. funding of the
contras, never acknowledging their human-rights violations” (Council on
Hemispheric Affairs and Newspaper Guild (AFL-CIO, CLC), Press
Freedom in Latin America 1984-85, 51, discussing the “inexcusable”
government harassment of La Prensa); Joel Brinkley, NYT, March 26,
1985, reporting the grant, through a federally-financed foundation.
74. Fateful Triangle, 139; Hadashot, May 23, 1985; Al Fajr (Jerusalem),
Aug. 9, 1985; Matti Peled, Koteret Rashit, Aug. 14, 1985; Hadashot,
May 16, 1984; Dan Fisher, LAT, Oct. 5, 1985; Ha’aretz, July 10,
1985; Moshe Negbi, April 5, 1985, excerpted from a forthcoming book.
On the mechanisms of self-censorship, see also Moshe Negbi, Koteret
Rashit, June 19, 1985.
75. News conference, NYT June 19, 1985.
76. Stephen Kinzer, NYT, Sept. 9, 1985.
77. Interview, COHA’s Washington Report on the Hemisphere, July 9, 1985.
See Penny Lernoux, Nation, Sept. 28, 1985, for a reasoned discussion of
the current situation. The US secured British recognition of the
sovereignty of Nicaragua over the Miskitos, which the US regarded as
“unquestionable,” in 1895; Perkins, Monroe Doctrine, III, 40f.