spinnin’ radio blues
This morning’s NPR news show ‘weekend edition’ broadcast an interview with historian Michael Beschloss on the topic of congressional commissions in US history (the lead-in was the recently-released Iraq Study Group report). While discussing other commission reports from the past, Beschloss mentioned the Iran-Contra affair of former President Reagan (where the president secretly sold weapons to Iran and used the proceeds to fund the Contras fighting Nicaragua).
Beschloss called the Contras ‘freedom fighters’. In fact, the Contras were a militia killing people in order to overthrow the country’s government. Today in Iraq, militias killing people in order to overthrown the government are called ‘insurgents’, not ‘freedom fighters’ eh?
‘Freedom fighters’ vs ‘insurgents’, it’s like the good guys vs the bad guys. If we’re talking sports you choose your side and root, but unfortunately this isn’t sports…these teams are killing people and destroying families. It pisses me off to hear highfalutin historians spinning facts like this on publicly-funded airwaves. Grrrr…good morning!