[Binkie]

I didn't pull the remark about the Roman Catholic church out of my ass though, Loy. The FSLN and the Roman Catholic Church had very bitter relations, and this was publicly stated several times. Even-so to the extent that the FSLN accused the church of supporting the Contras by their lack of condemnation. I won't quote cardinals to support this, I'll quote President Daniel Ortega, himself ('85-'90):

"The conflict with the church was strong, and it cost us, but I don't think it was our fault ... There were so many people being wounded every day, so many people dying, and it was hard for us to understand the position of the church hierarchy [who refused to condemn the Contras]."

FSLN militants went so far on one occassion as to disrupt Pope John Paul the II durring the course of Mass while was visiting Nicaragua. They shouted rather obscene slurs at him as well as pro-FSLN slogans. Take ten guesses who was also on stage with the Pope, egging the mob on with pro-FSLN slogans? Daniel Ortega. Which wasn't a surprise, as they carried on in the same practices back in 1983 as well, interrupting Mass and vanadilizing Catholic churches. Archbishops were banned from televised Mass in 1981. Priests were arrested under questionable circumstances. When the Roman Catholic Church hired international laywers, they too were quickly arrested. Many Catholic priests were essentially deported for criticising the government (which often ammounted to just protesting an unlawful arrest of a church official). These events were the reason the State Department poured and funneled money into the Roman Catholic Church so vigorously durring the 1980s. All this stuff agitated the hell out of the Roman Catholic Church. But getting back to it, painting the picture that they were open arms to each other and buddy buddy... that doesn't ring true to historical events.

As for the propaganda, who knows. Perhaps it was just the atmosphere in Nicaragua. Fighting fire with fire. What do I mean by that? In addition to what the church supposedly constructed, the state, itself, issued textbooks to schools that involved counting grenades in math problems. Kids were seen across the country pledging their "loyalty and sacrifice" to the FSLN. That comes dangerously close to the rhetoric used in Palestine and Iran that condones suicide bombings. The "heroric leftist government" also played a large role in doing the exact same thing. They were open as hell about it too.

But atop of that, you give the US government way too much credibility in knowing what they're doing. Back in the 80s, one CIA analyst quoted Milton Bearden as having said something in a meeting akin to, "We're just throwing money in there and letting god decide." That was in reference to Afghan fighters. Later he'd admittingly state he had no idea what he was doing with all the funds, and this is the guy that directly oversaw our support of "freedom fighters" in Afghanistan. When asked how much he needed, he threw out a bogus figure that wasn't supported by any pre-planned research into what it could buy. This is why many Afghan fighters were armed with guns sometimes pre-dating WWI. So no, it's not too far off the mark to suggest that people with all the money haven't a clue. And that's just in the CIA. You think the State Department, without any experience in this, is any better?

If you can tie in that the government had direct knowledge of these cartoon books before they funded them, by all means, do share what you have. Otherwise it's pure speculation. If that's the case, you know how this arguement is going to end. Just like all our other's; a stalemate.