Such conclusions being unacceptable to U.S. elite opinion, the entire enterprise has been expunged from the record, ignored by the media and other commentary, a clear sign of how important the opinions of Salvadorans are to their benefactors. If our little brown brothers reveal their stupidity in such ways, it is hardly to be expected that we will humor them by paying attention. The return to forceful intervention during the Reagan years, and the Iran-contra affair, prompted reassessment of the resort to covert action more generally. Only an irresponsible fanatic would recall the hundreds of thousands of corpses, the disappeared, the countless victims of torture, starvation, disease and semi-slave labor. The victims of official enemies do warrant such concern in an enlightened society, but not the dregs of the world that we have to kick out of our way, in self-defense.
Nothing is said about the consequences for Nicaragua, deprived of any other support by U.S. edict.
No problems are perceived in the terror states, already within the reach of our benevolence. Go to the next segment . 18 WP-Manchester Guardian Weekly, Nov. 29, 1987. 19 Editorial, WP, June 20, 1988. 20 See Necessary Illusions , 243-4.