The Culture of Terrorism

Other than a crossed-out name on the inside cover, this is a tight and unmarked copy-" Perhaps the most widely read voice on foreign policy on the planet breaks down the Iran-Contra Affair and the scourge of clandestine terrorism (The New York Times Book Review on Theory and Practice). This classic text provides a scathing critique of US political culture through a brilliant analysis of the Iran-Contra scandal. Chomsky irrefutably shows how the United States has opposed human rights and democratization to advance its economic interests. The Culture of Terrorism follows an earlier study, Turning the Tide, but with the new insights provided by the flawed Congressional inquiry into the Irangate scandal. [Chomsky's] thesis is that United States elites are dedicated to the rule of force and that their commitment to violence and lawlessness has to be masked by an ideological system that attempts to control and limit the domestic damage done when the mask occasionally slips. Clandestine programs are not a secret to their victims, as he points out. It is the domestic population in the USA which needs to be protected from knowledge of them . . . The record, he argues, shows a continual pattern of violence and disregard for democracy. Manchester Guardian Weekly Chomsky's documentation neatly supports his logic. Leftist adherents will applaud, while the majority depicted as perpetrators or dupes of military-based state capitalism will ignore the book or dismiss it as rhetoric. But Chomsky has a point of view not frequently encountered in the press. Library Journal