this is part of an chomsky interview in 1999. way before 9/11. its his answer about the drug war and the US policy on that.
http://www.chomsky.info/interviews/19990312.htm
he says very interesting things, that are almost a profetical glance into the future (present) of GWB policies.
QUESTION: And the drug war...?
CHOMSKY: Controlling the population in the United States is a big problem. In fact, it's the biggest problem: How do you control your own population? Well, one way to control them is by having a foreign enemy. So, if the Russians are coming, then people are scared, and they are obedient. For about ten or 15 years now it's been pretty obvious the Russians aren't coming. You can no longer play that game. So, new enemies have to be concocted: international terrorists, Hispanic narcotraffickers, Islamic fundamentalists, and so on -- whoever you want. None of these are credible threats. Let's take Islamic fundamentalism. The United States has nothing against Islamic fundamentalism per se -- after all, one of the leading U.S. allies is Saudi Arabia, the most extreme Islamic fundamentalist state in the world. We're not worried about them. Furthermore, the United States has nothing against fundamentalism. In fact, religious fundamentalism is probably more extreme in the United States than in Iran, so it can't be fundamentalism that's the problem. It can't be Islam that's the problem -- Saudi Arabia's just fine. So was Indonesia, the largest (mostly) Islamic state, as long as the corrupt and murderous dictatorship was maintaining control. The real problem is independent nationalism. Sometimes it takes the form of Islamic fundamentalism. Sometimes it takes the form of the Catholic Church, as in the 1980s when the United States was at war with the Catholic Church in Central America. Who were they killing? There's a picture of Archbishop Romero over there. He wasn't an Islamic fundamentalist. He was a "voice for the voiceless" -- so you kill him. The Jesuits who were killed in El Salvador were dissidents who were the voice of the poor, so you kill them. In fact, a good part of the Central American war was a war against the Catholic Church which dared to adopt a "preferential option for the poor."
.....
In the United States for the past 25 years, maybe two-thirds of the population has seen their incomes stagnate or decline even though they work much harder. Many more hours of work -- more than any other industrialized society -- for stagnating or declining incomes. It's hard to get people to accept that, but one way is to keep them frightened, and crime and drugs do that. So, it's not that the drug war is a failure; in fact, it's a great success. It has nothing to do with the availability of drugs, but that's not what it's for. It's serving other purposes, and serving them pretty well....
who is the common enemy now i wonder???
http://www.chomsky.info/interviews/19990312.htm
he says very interesting things, that are almost a profetical glance into the future (present) of GWB policies.
QUESTION: And the drug war...?
CHOMSKY: Controlling the population in the United States is a big problem. In fact, it's the biggest problem: How do you control your own population? Well, one way to control them is by having a foreign enemy. So, if the Russians are coming, then people are scared, and they are obedient. For about ten or 15 years now it's been pretty obvious the Russians aren't coming. You can no longer play that game. So, new enemies have to be concocted: international terrorists, Hispanic narcotraffickers, Islamic fundamentalists, and so on -- whoever you want. None of these are credible threats. Let's take Islamic fundamentalism. The United States has nothing against Islamic fundamentalism per se -- after all, one of the leading U.S. allies is Saudi Arabia, the most extreme Islamic fundamentalist state in the world. We're not worried about them. Furthermore, the United States has nothing against fundamentalism. In fact, religious fundamentalism is probably more extreme in the United States than in Iran, so it can't be fundamentalism that's the problem. It can't be Islam that's the problem -- Saudi Arabia's just fine. So was Indonesia, the largest (mostly) Islamic state, as long as the corrupt and murderous dictatorship was maintaining control. The real problem is independent nationalism. Sometimes it takes the form of Islamic fundamentalism. Sometimes it takes the form of the Catholic Church, as in the 1980s when the United States was at war with the Catholic Church in Central America. Who were they killing? There's a picture of Archbishop Romero over there. He wasn't an Islamic fundamentalist. He was a "voice for the voiceless" -- so you kill him. The Jesuits who were killed in El Salvador were dissidents who were the voice of the poor, so you kill them. In fact, a good part of the Central American war was a war against the Catholic Church which dared to adopt a "preferential option for the poor."
.....
In the United States for the past 25 years, maybe two-thirds of the population has seen their incomes stagnate or decline even though they work much harder. Many more hours of work -- more than any other industrialized society -- for stagnating or declining incomes. It's hard to get people to accept that, but one way is to keep them frightened, and crime and drugs do that. So, it's not that the drug war is a failure; in fact, it's a great success. It has nothing to do with the availability of drugs, but that's not what it's for. It's serving other purposes, and serving them pretty well....
who is the common enemy now i wonder???