Ronald Reagan in Power and Terror, by Noam Chomsky

On Foreign Policy: OpEd: Allied with South Africa despite a million killings

In southern Africa, where the estimates are that about a million and a half people were killed by South African depredations in the countries surrounding South Africa (forget what was happening inside South Africa). In Mozambique and Angola, about a million and a half people were killed and over $60 billion of damage were caused, just in the Reagan years alone, 1980 to 1988.

Those are the years of what was called "constructive engagement," at a time when South Africa was a valued ally and Nelson Mandela's African National Congress was an officially designated terrorist organization, in fact worse than that. The State Department listed it as one of the "more notorious terrorist groups" in the world. That was in 1988, when South Africa was still, of course, a valued ally after its actions in the preceding eight years.

Source: Power and Terror, by Noam Chomsky, p. 56-57&110 May 25, 2002

On Homeland Security: 1980s: Focus of US foreign policy would be "War on Terror"

Twenty years ago, the Reagan administration came into office, announcing very loud and clear that the focus of US foreign policy would be a "War on Terror." And they focused particularly on what was called, in the words of Secretary of State George Shultz, "the evil scourge of terrorism," a plague spread by "depraved opponents of civilization itself" in "a return to barbarism in the modern age."

Shultz, who was considered a moderate within the Reagan administration, went on to say that terrorism had to be dealt with by force and violence, not by utopian legalistic means like mediation and negotiations and so on, which were just a sign of weakness. The Reagan administration declared that the fight would be focused on the 2 areas where this crime was most severe, namely Central American and the Middle East.

Source: Power and Terror, by Noam Chomsky, p. 48 May 25, 2002

The above quotations are from Power and Terror Post-9/11 Talks and Interviews by Noam Chomsky. Click here for other excerpts from Power and Terror Post-9/11 Talks and Interviews by Noam Chomsky. Click here for other excerpts by Ronald Reagan. Click here for a profile of Ronald Reagan.
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