WikiLeaks Cables Reveal "Profound Hatred for Democracy on the Part of Our Political Leadership"
November 30, 2010
World-renowned political dissident and linguist Noam Chomsky discusses the release of more than 250,000 secret U.S.
State Department cables by WikiLeaks.
In a national broadcast exclusive interview, we speak with world-renowned political dissident and linguist Noam Chomsky
about the release of more than 250,000 secret U.S. State Department cables by WikiLeaks. In 1971, Chomsky helped
government whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg release the Pentagon Papers, a top-secret internal U.S. account of the Vietnam
War. Commenting on the revelations that several Arab leaders are urging the United States to attack Iran, Chomsky says,
"latest polls show] Arab opinion holds that the major threat in the region is Israel, that’s 80 percent; the second
threat is the United States, that’s 77 percent. Iran is listed as a threat by 10 percent," Chomsky says. "This may not
be reported in the newspapers, but it’s certainly familiar to the Israeli and U.S. governments and the ambassadors. What
this reveals is the profound hatred for democracy on the part of our political leadership."
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Noam Chomsky is an author and Institute Professor Emeritus at MIT, where he taught for over half a century. He is
author of dozens of books. His most recent is Hopes and Prospects.
Amy Goodman is the host of the nationally syndicated radio news program, Democracy Now!.