Taking Note
The Uses and Abuses of History EIGHTEEN MONTHS AGO, WHEN WE CHANGed the look of NACLA's Report on theAmericas, we introduced a new feature called "Press Coverage." Later, it became "On the...
...Among disenchanted liberals, Nicaragua is a self-imposed test case of their ability to stand tough against the Third World...
...The aim of the column has been to find the off-the-cuff statements that reveal how the administration and its allies really see the world...
...power in Central America, but also changing inconvenient perceptions of reality: that is the impulse behind the Big Lie...
...We have no quarrel with anyone else or the system...
...We also vividly remember the trials of National Guardsmen after the Sandinista victory in 1979-that un - ending parade of innocent gardeners, cooks, chauffeurs and medical orderlies, all of them "just following or- ders...
...The modish comparison in administration circles these days is between Central America and World War II...
...group opposed to the administration's Central America policy...
...It declared, "Documents obtained by The Washington Times and CISPES' own publications reveal that the organization openly supports the Marxist Sandinista guerrillas (FMLNFDR) in El Salvador and elsewhere in Central America...
...The modish comparison in administration circles these days is between Central America and World War II...
...Dig further into administration comments during the trip, and especially Reagan's seductively crafted anti-communist tirade at Bitburg air base, and the parallels with Nicaragua become more apparent...
...T HE ADMINISTRATION LISTS MANY REAsons to rationalize its hatred of Nicaragua: Soviet expansionism, defense of vital sea lanes, millions of "foot people" flooding northward and human rights...
...Nowhere was this more true than in Reagan's visit to West Germany...
...Three days later, the paper directed its fearless search for unscrambled facts against the Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (CISPES...
...Its recent comment on the tenth anniversary of the U.S...
...The fear of losing credibility means not only opposing by force any reduction of U.S...
...But no matter how it enumerates the supposed sins of the Sandinistas, the obsession comes down to one thing...
...The Sandinistas are the main target for this worldly wise, neo-liberal worldview...
...At the same time as it launched its private campaign to raise $14 million for the contras, the Reverend Moon's Washington Times ran a four-part expos on U.S...
...defeat in Vietnam was a masterpiece of the genre...
...Both the SS and Somoza's National Guard, two not dissimilar institutions, have been rehabilitated by the revision of history...
...Both the SS and Somoza's National Guard, two not dissimilar institutions, have been rehabilitated by the revision of history...
...COMING SOON IN NACLA'S REPORT ON THE AMERICAS US...
...Three days later, the paper directed its fearless search for unscrambled facts against the Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (CISPES...
...The overriding lesson of Vietnam was that liberals must do everything possible to avoid "misplaced enthusiasms for anything that calls itself a revolution or a national liberation struggle," lest they "once again lead us to cheer what we will soon lament...
...The Sandinistas have the misfortune to be fighting for their survival at a time when the Reagan Administration's concern for "credibility" dovetails with major shifts in elite liberal opinion...
...Over the months, it has pieced together gems from Jerry Falwell and Jeane Kirkpatrick, Elliott Abrams and Jeremiah Denton, which hint at the flagrant double standards, the lack of regard for truth, the willingness to subvert the meaning of language to serve ideological ends...
...In Reagan's own words, "If we cannot defend ourselves there, we cannot expect to prevail elsewhere...
...The decision to announce an economic embargo against Nicaragua from German soil was no accident...
...What masquerades as intellectual sophistication is vengeful spite against the Third World...
...Again, concern for credibility (of a different, but no less pernicious kind) is the key...
...Ambassador to Costa Rica...
...Day one of the series brought the bold editorial headline, "DISINFORMATION: TWISTED FACTS DISTORT REALITY...
...The fear of losing credibility means not only opposing by force any reduction of U.S...
...Day one of the series brought the bold editorial headline, "DISINFORMATION: TWISTED FACTS DISTORT REALITY...
...The Reagan Administration's rampage through the English language has reached new extremes in recent weeks, and the common thread is an attempt to deny the meaning of history...
...I never com- mitted a war crime, and I don't know anyone who did...
...Nowhere was this more true than in Reagan's visit to West Germany...
...group opposed to the administration's Central America policy...
...I never committed a war crime, and I don't know anyone who did...
...Jeane Kirkpatrick agreed that Munich is "the appropriate analogy" with the need of the Western democracies to stop communism in Central America before it is too late...
...The overriding lesson of Vietnam was that liberals must do everything possible to avoid "misplaced enthusiasms for anything that calls itself a revolution or a national liberation struggle," lest they "once again lead us to cheer what we will soon lament...
...The Sandinistas have the misfortune to be fighting for their survival at a time when the Reagan Administration's concern for "credibility'' dovetails with major shifts in elite liberal opinion...
...The decision to announce an economic embargo against Nicaragua from German soil was no accident...
...We are reminded of the anti-Somoza businessman who joined the revolution at the last minute, declaring that: "The problem is the man...
...F INALLY, A WORD OF SOLACE FOR THOSE who fear that the right has seized the intellectual, if not the moral, high ground in Ronald Reagan's America...
...military and economic policies in the English-speaking Caribbean The Vatican and Latin America...
...The aim of the column has been to find the off-the-cuff statements that reveal how the administration and its allies really see the world...
...T~c~ei4...
...Americans should view Nicaragua not from the perspective of Vietnam, "but from the perspective of Nazi Germany," remarked Curtin Winsor, U.S...
...One SS Death's Head veteran, praising President Reagan as "a real straight guy," explained that the SS "were soldiers, just like the others...
...Our credibility would collapse, our alliances would crumble...
...The special character of Nazism, meanwhile, is downgraded to "one man's dictatorship," just as the official Reagan/contra history of the world depicts Somoza as a bad apple whose excesses discredited a fundamentally good way of life...
...Must be those "generic Sandinistas" that George Bush is always talking about...
...Later, it became "On the Record...
...Again, concern for credibility (of a different, but no less pernicious kind) is the key...
...But no MAY/JUNE 1985 matter how it enumerates the supposed sins of the Sandinistas, the obsession comes down to one thing...
...N~~l The Uses and Abuses of History EIGHTEEN MONTHS AGO, WHEN WE CHANGed the look of NACLA's Report on the Americas, we introduced a new feature called "Press Coverage...
...Just get rid of him...
...The special character of Nazism, meanwhile, is downgraded to "one man's dictatorship," just as the official Reagan/contra history of the world depicts Somoza as a bad apple whose excesses discredited a fundamentally good way of life...
...We are reminded of the anti-Somoza businessman who joined the revolution at the last minute, declaring that: "The problem is the man...
...In Reagan's own words, "If we cannot defend ourselves there, we cannot expect to prevail elsewhere...
...Among disenchanted liberals, Nicaragua is a self-imposed test case of their ability to stand tough against the Third World...
...In the 1970s, concludes the editorial, the Third World suckered us...
...Its recent comment on the tenth anniversary of the U.S...
...Over the months, it has pieced together gems from Jerry FaIwell and Jeane Kirkpatrick, Elliott Abrams and Jeremiah Denton, which hint at the flagrant double standards, the lack of regard for truth, the willingness to subvert the meaning of language to serve ideological ends...
...What masquerades as intellectual sophistication is vengeful spite against the Third World...
...The neoliberal motto is: "We won't get fooled again...
...Jeane Kirkpatrick agreed that Munich is "the appropriate analogy" with the need of the Western democracies to stop communism in Central America before it is too late...
...Americans should view Nicaragua nat from the perspec- tive of Vietnam, ''but from the perspective of Nazi Germany," remarked Curtin Winsor, U.S...
...Must be those "generic Sandinistas" that George Bush is always talking about...
...We also vividly remember the trials of National Guardsmen after the Sandinista victory in 1979-that unending parade of innocent gardeners, cooks, chauffeurs and medical orderlies, all of them "just following orders...
...No publication more typifies the trend than The New Republic, whose editorial line grows more odious by the week...
...The Sandinistas are the main target for this worldly wise, neo-liberal worldview...
...It declared, Documents obtained by The Washington Times and CISPES' own publications reveal that the organization openly supports the Marxist Sandinista guerrillas (FMLNFDR) in El Salvador and elsewhere in Central America...
...Just get rid of him...
...Dig further into administration comments during the trip, and especially Reagan's seductively crafted anti-communist tirade at Bitburg air base, and the parallels with Nicaragua become more apparent...
...F INALLY, A WORD OF SOLACE FOR THOSE who fear that the right has seized the intellectual, if not the moral, high ground in Ronald Reagan's America...
...power in Central America, but also changing inconvenient perceptions of reality: that is the impulse behind the Big Lie...
...No publication more typifies the trend than The New Republic, whose editorial line grows more odious by the week...
...Later, it became "On the Record...
...At the same time as it launched its private campaign to raise $14 million for the contras, the Reverend Moon's Washington Times ran a four-part expose on U.S...
...Our credibility would collapse, our alliances would crumble...
...T HE ADMINISTRATION LISTS MANY REAsons to rationalize its hatred of Nicaragua: Soviet expansionism, defense of vital sea lanes, millions of "foot people" flooding northward and human rights...
...Ambassador to Costa Rica...
...In the 1970s, concludes the editorial, the Third World suckered us...
...defeat in Vietnam was a masterpiece of the genre...
...We have no quarrel with anyone else or the system...
...The Reagan Administration's rampage through the English language has reached new extremes in recent weeks, and the common thread is an attempt to deny the meaning of history...
...The neoliberal motto is: "We won't get fooled again...
...One SS Death's Head veteran, praising Pres- ident Reagan as "a real straight guy," explained that the SS ''were soldiers, just like the others...
Vol. 19 • May 1985 • No. 3
