were acoustic mines designed, allegedly, to frighten merchant sailors, rather than to harm them. The mines had the effect of disrupting Nicaraguan shipping and economic activities by damaging at least seven vessels, including blowing up numerous Nicaraguan fishing boats and damaging several foreign merchant ships, including a Soviet freighter and a Dutch dredger. The mining operation resulted in a political outcry in the United States with Senator Barry Goldwater (R-AZ), the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee declaring, "I am pissed off!". Several Democrats called for a special prosecutor to determine if Reagan had broken federal law in ordering the mining and The New York Times called it "illegal, deceptive, and dumb" and compared it to German U-boats attacking neutral merchant shipping in World War I. Nicaragua v. United States of America In 1984, Nicaragua presented a case to the International Court of Justice against the United States of America for violation of international law. The court ruled in favor of Nicaragua, determining in its verdict that the United States was "in breach of its obligations under customary international law not to use force against another State", "not to intervene in its affairs", by violating the sovereignty of Nicaragua, by interrupting "peaceful maritime commerce", and was "in breach of its obligations under Article XIX of the Treaty of Friendship, Commerce and Navigation between the Parties signed at Managua on 21 January 1956." The court ordered the United States to pay reparations to Nicaragua for violating international law by training and funding the Contra rebellion movement and for the mining and destruction of several Nicaraguan harbors. The United States declared that the International Court of Justice had no jurisdiction over affairs of the United States, but the court found that it did have jurisdiction. However, the U.S. has vetoed UN Security Council resolutions ordering it to pay reparations to the Republic of Nicaragua. On November 3, 1986, the United Nations General Assembly passed, by a vote of 94-3 (El Salvador, Israel and the US voted against), a non-binding resolution urging the US to comply. 1985 A declassified CIA document dated for March 13, 1985, and addressed to Pat Buchanan, reveals details concerning the 'White Propaganda' operation in Nicaragua. Consultants, such as Professor Guilmartin, were hired to produce CIA propaganda op-ed pieces for The New York Times and The Washington Post newspapers to advance the agency's agenda in Nicaragua. The "White Propaganda"