YES Network.com

The friend of every murdering, thieving
right-wing military dictator around the
world.

Ladies and Gentleman.....Mr. Freedom Hater
himself:

Reagan hard at work. Broke the vacation record before

lazy W was selected by the Supreme Court to be prez.

Charlie Wilson, (D) Texas

As Reagan sought Congressional approval for U.S. aid to the contras, for instance, then Speaker of the House of Representatives, Jim Wright, the Texas Democrat, didn't just lead fellow Democrats in attempts to defeat the measure legislatively. He also led fellow Democrats on a mission to Nicaragua, where they posed, smiling, for pictures with Nicaragua's then Soviet- and Cuban-supported dictator Daniel Ortega. On foreign soil, they denounced Reagan's efforts to aid the contras as reckless, and later represented that Reagan's policy represented an oversimplification of the Soviet Union's global intentions. Not a few American liberals went even further to argue that the Reagan Doctrine was an open invitation to nuclear war.

The decision to resist Soviet aggression in these regions was hugely contentious, with the vast majority of Democrats (aside from Charlie Wilson and a handful of others) on the other side of this debate. Had these votes gone the other way, with these resistance movements being denied the assistance they needed to resist Soviet aggression, there is no doubt that their plight would have been vastly different. Like the Hungarian revolt of 1956 and the Prague Spring of 1968, they would have been crushed by the same totalitarian Soviet aggression that successfully suppressed such resistance at home and abroad hundreds of times throughout the 20th century.

The Soviets certainly tried their best in Afghanistan. Soviet forces indiscriminately bombed civilians. They blew the hands off children with explosives designed to look like toys. They torched entire caves of scared civilians. What was the human cost of the Soviet invasion and occupation of Afghanistan? Some two million civilians were killed, and five million more fled the Soviet occupation. If there exists any modern example of "scorched earth" military tactics and institutionalized evil in practice, it can be found in what Soviet troops did in Afghanistan from 1979 until 1989.

Had the U.S. committed to help Afghanistan and its people rebuild following its 1989 liberation, what might be the state of this world today? But U.S. neglect of post-occupation Afghanistan, especially under the Clinton administration, invited the worst possible outcome, which ultimately arrived on September 11, 2001.

Reagan's Bloody Legacy

www.tompaine.com/articles/reagans_bloody...

Reagan may have pushed for democracy and human rights in the Soviet bloc, but he cared little for these values elsewhere.

Throughout his presidency, Reagan made nice with dictators—no matter how nefarious—as long as they parroted his opposition to communism. As soon as he entered the White House, his administration tried to normalize relations with Augusto Pinochet, the dictator of Chile, who was responsible for a bloody coup that overthrew a democratically elected (but socialist) government. The Reaganites also cozied up to the fascistic and anti-Semitic junta of Argentina, which tortured, slaughtered and disappeared its political opponents. And don’t forget Reagan’s attempt to woo Saddam Hussein, even after it was known that Hussein had used chemical weapons. (Reagan assigned this task to Donald Rumsfeld.)

May 5, 2012 -- 6:36AM, craner7 wrote:

Thanks Mick for some clarification. I so well rememeber Reagan trying so hard to fight the Communist take over of Central America and the Democrats blocking him all the way. Interesting take on Afganhistan ...makes sense.

You can always remember what you want and you usually do. You have a selective memory.