Friday, September 06, 2013

Nicaragua in the 1980s: Syria in 2013

There are similarities: back in the 1980s, the UC Congress passed an amendment (the Boland amendment) to ban the US administration from arming the right-wing death squads of Nicaragua (the Contras who were referred to in US media as "revolutionaries").  Reagan turned to Saudi Arabia and Prince Bandar was in charge of financing and arming the Contras.  In 2013, the US Congress and public had no appetite to arm the Syrian death squads (the "revolutionary" groups, according to US right-wing and leftist media), so the Obama administration turned to...Saudi Arabia and none other than Prince Bandar was put in charge of the operation.  You would think that this is a kooky leftist conspiracy theory but it is true.

PS Another similarity: I disliked Ortega just as I dislike Bashshar.