Since Chomsky has academic respectability and piercing analysis, his work is often selectively quoted by Leftist publications to support a variety of viewpoints/issues, and to proselytise with the general public who have rapidly become aware of his work.

"In terms of world affairs and international law this isn't a difficult situation to solve," he explained. "This isn't Rwanda or Bosnia - we don't have to bomb Jakarta. What we need to do is withdraw from the Timor Gap Treaty, which seems to me to be offensive to decent human beings. The same government which signed the treaty in 1991 also revoked recognition of the Soviet control of the Baltic States. Australia led the way in formulating international laws protecting human rights, yet the ratified treaty with Indonesia is the only one to my knowledge that exists in the world that violates the principles you signed. According to a secret cable of August 1975, the Ambassador to Jakarta, Richard Woolcott, felt that 'we should take a pragmatic rather than a principled interest' in the impending invasion. He felt that a favourable treaty could be 'more easily negotiated with Indonesia . . . than with Portugal or an independent East Timor.' So we have East Timorese being slaughtered just so that an oil company can make a few more profits.

"If you read the mining stocks you may notice that they sometimes change . . . it's because somebody has discovered oil . . . In fact the business press tells more truth than the local supermarket magazines that feature a kid with six heads. They do so because they are read by people who have to make decisions that matter: The Financial Review or Wall Street Journal isn't read by the man on the street for instance. If I wanted to know what was really happening, I'd read the business press."

Throughout his engagements Chomsky spoke highly of journalists Alex Carey, Alexander Cockburn and John Pilger, amongst others. He strongly criticised people who asked him for guidance in selecting reliable source material, saying on several occasions that, "You have to use your own critical judgement and common sense. I can't tell you and why should you listen to me anyway? I could be lying about all this! That's the wrong question to ask me. Look at my footnotes - I mention a diverse range of publications."

ITEM: Selling Arms to the Neighbours,
Editorial Comment, Herald-Sun newspaper, January 16th. 1995.

"Opposition to the proposed attempt to sell about $100 million worth of Australian rifles to Indonesia is more emotional than practical . . . Geopolitical reality dictates that Australia must live cheek by jowel with Indonesia on the best terms . . . DFAT Minister Sen. Gareth Evans has approved the proposed sale in principle. He is right . . . The sale would help our arms industry. . .Does anybody seriously believe that if we don't sell Jakarta the rifles, they will not buy them from somewhere else?"

"Of course I don't think that! When the U.S. stopped arms sales, Britain leapt to the lead, along with Canada as being major accessories to the crime."
The aggressive journalist recoiled from the sting in Chomsky's voice as he glared seethingly at her.

"In 1975 the U.S. supplied 90% of Indonesia's weapons. The US role had been much worse in the past. I'd say the US role was in fact decisive in the 1970s. Australia was a bit player in those days. President Nixon and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger even requested the delay of the invasion until they had finished their Jakarta tour. Under mounting public pressure recently the US Congress has stopped all arms sales to Indonesia. The Wall Street Journal had an editorial advising Indonesia to 'kick the gravel out of your shoe,' saying that it wasn't worth the international opprobrium. If a country the size of the US can, then I can't see why Australia shouldn't follow . . . It's not as if Indonesia is going to conquer Australia.

"Theres a standard line that East Timor couldn't be economically independent, and that view is being put forth by the very people who are robbing its resources. Heres an oil rich country which couldn't be economically independent, according to Australia. And the East Timorese people are getting nothing from the oil revenues that are the result of the Timor Gap Treaty.

"You have to ask yourself which Indonesia you want to support. The interests of business leaders and General Suharto and his cronies aren't the same as those of the general population, like women workers trying to organise under miserable conditions so that they can survive. They are uncovering the reality about East Timor which has long been suppressed, so that the government reacts by putting union leaders in jail before Asia-Pacific Economic Community (APEC) conferences and intimidating the population. The more they find out about it, the less they like it."

ITEM: Timor Invasion to World Court
The Age newspaper, January 23rd, 1995.

"Indonesia's invasion and occupation of East Timor will go on trial in the International Court of Justice in The Hague next week . . . Portugal challenges the agreement between Australia and Indonesia on petroleum exploration in the Timor Sea . . . Lisbon remains legally responsible for East Timor. . .It has maintained the 1975 invasion by Jakarta was illegal."

On the Chomsky campaign trail, I soon discovered Objective Journalism was a myth. Firstly the Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle of Quantum physics states that you can't leave the observer out of the observation. A story is filtered through an individual consciousness, which frames the piece, evaluates information, tries to gain interviews with those subjects unwilling to give information and attempts to finish the work by deadline under difficult conditions. The Chomsky/Herman propoganda model adds other factors, such as pack conformity and 'ideological filters' like a paper's dependence on advertising for revenue, or the use of anticommunism and other 'social scarecrows' to influence the cultural elites.