Al Quote by Noam Chomsky
“When Rumsfeld gets up on television and says we have definitive intelligence that al Qaeda is working with Iraq, how is an ordinary citizen supposed to react? They won't tell you the evidence, and when anyone asks, they say, 'Well, you know: It's secret.'”
About This Quote
Source Speech: Public lecture, 2003
Criticizes lack of transparency in government claims about Iraq
In simple terms: Government hides evidence from citizens
Key Takeaway
Demand evidence and accountability from officials
Themes
politics
media
transparency
Mood
skeptical
concerned
Type
political
analytical
When to use this quote
- voting decisions
- journalistic inquiry
- civic activism
- policy debate
Key Concepts
propaganda
secrecy
public trust
Questions to Reflect On
- What evidence would you require?
- How can citizens verify secret claims?
A Different Perspective
Security concerns may justify secrecy in some cases
![“I wrote an article about the marine landing [in Haiti] right away, but barely mentioned the oil, because my article would come out two months later and I assumed by then, "of course, everybody knows." Nobody knew. There was a news report in the Wall Street Journal, in the petroleum journals, and…” quote by Noam Chomsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/dc5/noam-chomsky-42_articles_i-wrote-an-article-about-the-marine-land_13341.jpg)
