Empire's Workshop: Latin America, the United States, and the Rise of the New Imperialism (American Empire Project) by Greg Grandin (2007-05-01) by Greg Grandin;

Author:Greg Grandin; [Grandin;, Greg]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Amazon: B017V8FPE4
Publisher: Holt Paperbacks
Published: 1800-02-14T23:00:00+00:00

GOING ON THE OFFENSIVE

The ties between the White House and conservative groups focused on Central America were tight and grew tighter still as a result of their work. Reagan’s assistant Faith Ryan Whittlesey presided over a White House Outreach Working Group on Central America, which coordinated the efforts of the NSC and CIA with those of more than fifty private organizations, including Jerry Falwell’s Moral Majority, Pat Robertson’s Freedom Council, Phyllis Schlafly’s Eagle Forum, and the Heritage Foundation.91 John Singlaub, described by TV journalist Mike Wallace as the “virtual director” of the Contra war, headed the 1984 Defense Department panel that recommended increased use of unconventional warfare tactics; he also solicited Contra aid from Asian dictators and served as the NSC’s primary fund-raiser on Nicaragua.92 Many of the right-wing foreign policy lobbying groups, such as Western Goals and Citizens for America, began to work closely with the NSC and the Office of Public Diplomacy, disseminating information, assisting on political campaigns, keeping tabs on dissidents, and raising money to buy arms and supplies for the Contras and other anti-Communist struggles around the world. Christian economists such as Gary North, Richard DeVos, and Rousas John Rushdoony, along with Robertson, Falwell, Schlafly, and North, himself a member of the charismatic Church of the Apostles, founded the Council for National Policy, which, as the religious right’s steering committee in the 1980s, was deeply involved in North’s Central American exploits. Christian businessmen funded the myriad organizations that worked closely with the NSC and the Office of Public Diplomacy to sway public opinion and congressional votes in favor of Reagan’s policy in El Salvador and Nicaragua. They raised money for arms and humanitarian work and joined with Opus Dei and other conservative Catholics to form a broad front to counter peace Christianity.

The White House, through the offices of Oliver North, supervised much of the Christian mobilization.93 In 1984, the administration made it easier for evangelical groups to synchronize their activities with US AID. It pushed through Congress a law that allowed the Defense Department to use its planes and ships to transport privately raised humanitarian aid and established a “coordinator for humanitarian assistance.” These measures effectively reversed a 1976 ban that prohibited the CIA from entering into contractual relations with missionaries.94 At the same time as the FBI was launching its “plan of attack” against CISPES, the Internal Revenue Service was granting tax-exempt status to Singlaub’s Council for World Freedom and other New Right “humanitarian” organizations.

Central American policy, as well as the grassroots mobilization that supported it, became the linchpin that helped hold the Reagan coalition together. Contrary to the antigovernment rhetoric that accompanied Reagan’s rise, all components of his political base believed in a strong government. The Christian right, propelled by victory in the fight against the Equal Rights Amendment, wanted to reorient the state away from promoting and protecting individualism and secularism to defend family morality, to overturn Roe v. Wade, and to stop the advance of gay rights. Neocons sold a vision of America as a world enforcer of liberal morals.

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