The Soviet Pretext

You may have to sell [intervention or other military action] in such a way as to create the misimpression that it is the Soviet Union that you are fighting. That is what the United States has done ever since the Truman Doctrine.  Samuel Huntington

The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary. H.L. Mencken

The Middle East is a vivid example, however, of a region in which, even as East-West tensions diminish, American strategic concerns remain . Threats to our interests—including the security of Israel and moderate Arab states as well as the free flow of oil come from a variety of sources. In the 1980s, our military engagements—in Lebanon in 1983-84, Libya in 1986, and the Persian Gulf in 1987-88—were in response to threats to U .S . interests that could not be laid at the Kremlin's door. The necessity to defend our interests will continue.  National Security Strategy of the United States - 1990

a Communist-dominated government in Guatemala is only 700 miles from Texas--only 960 miles, or a few hours' bomber time, from the refiners, the chemical plants, and the homes of my own Second District in Texas.  Representative Jack Brooks of Texas

WASHINGTON — With a critical congressional vote just two weeks away, President Reagan escalated his rhetoric Monday in an effort to gain support for his $100-million aid package for the guerrillas fighting the Sandinista government in Nicaragua.

With three rebel leaders at his side, Reagan told a group of conservative supporters in the Cabinet Room that defeat for the guerrillas--the so-called contras-- would create "a privileged sanctuary for terrorists and subversives just two days' driving time from Harlingen, Texas."  Eleanor Clift writing in the Los Angeles Times, March 04, 1986

I want to provide links to two commentaries related to the Soviet pretext.  In this concise summary of Cuban history we learn that while Americans are successfully driven to fear Mexicans don't always go along.  JFK enlisted the help of Mexico in resisting Cuba because Cuba was a security threat.  The Mexican diplomat replied that he couldn't do that because "If we publicly declare that Cuba is a threat to our security, forty million Mexicans will die laughing"

The second commentary is this long discussion with Chomsky that has too many critical bits of information to summarize.  Worth a read.