Europe Recalls Reagan Fondly; Arabs Don't

[Lou_C]

Europe Recalls Reagan Fondly; Arabs Don't

By JASON KEYSER
Associated Press Writer

LONDON (AP) -- Former President Ronald Reagan was remembered across Europe for his role in breaking down Cold War divisions and opening the path to independence for Soviet bloc nations. Arab nations recalled the Reagan days as a dark period.

Russians recalled Reagan's tough rhetoric and how he launched a withering arms race with his "Star Wars" program that precipitated the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union, which Reagan had famously dubbed an "evil empire."
Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, who won the Nobel Peace Prize for launching liberal reforms in his country, remembered Reagan as an honest rival and friend.

"Reagan was a statesman who, despite all disagreements that existed between our countries at the time, displayed foresight and determination to meet our proposals halfway and change our relations for the better, stop the nuclear race, start scrapping nuclear weapons, and arrange normal relations between our countries," Gorbachev said, according to the Interfax news agency.
"Reagan bolstered the U.S. military might to ruin the Soviet economy, and he achieved his goal," said Gennady Gerasimov, who was the top spokesman for the Soviet Foreign Ministry during the 1980s.

Former Soviet republics and other ex-East Bloc nations remembered Reagan as the American president who stared down Moscow and won, clearing the way for their independence and the 1991 Soviet collapse.
"President Ronald Reagan will be remembered in the hearts of all Latvians as a fighter for freedom, liberty and justice worldwide," Latvian Pesident Vaira Vike-Freiberga said.

EDITED BY ADMIN: COPYRIGHT

http://customwire.ap.org/dynamic/stories/R/REAGAN_WORLD?SITE=FLTAM&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

He was not loved by everyone including myself but the right wing press will never mention that some people couldn't stand Reagan.

[Sandpiper]

1. Add Nicaragua to the list

Of places that hate Reagan's guts.

Grenada too.

[Lou_C]

2. Add some of the US to the list as well

People seem to forget how many jobs were lost during the Reagan years.

[Say_What]

20. Also Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, etc., etc.

<clips>

U.S. Policy in Central America: 1980-1991:

When the Reagan Administration came into office in 1981, one of its top priorities was ending the guerrilla war in El Salvador. A second priority was to aid the contra guerrilla war against the Sandanistas in Nicaragua. Honduras, a small country located between El Salvador and Nicaragua, became the U.S. base for American efforts in Central America, and will be the focus for this section of the Report.

In 1980, Colonel Gustavo Alvarez became the head of the police in Honduras. According to a top U.S. official who was in Honduras at the time, who declined to be named, the pattern of human rights abuses was in full swing by February of 1981. In a meeting with Col. Alvarez in 1981, this official was told that U.S. insistence on legality and human rights would not succeed, and that the Argentine model of eliminating subversives should be followed.

In 1982, Alvarez was promoted to general and named commander of the army. That same year Battalion 316, a secret army intelligence unit in Honduras trained and supported by the CIA, came into existence. Battalion 316 became notorious for committing human rights abuses.

Atrocities committed by Honduran death squads were reported by James LeMoyne, former El Salvador bureau chief for The New York Times, on June 5, 1988. In his article, LeMoyne told the story of Florencio Caballero, a self-confessed interrogator in a Honduran army death squad. Caballero says he was trained in Texas by the Central Intelligence Agency.

http://www.totse.com/en/politics/central_intelligence_agency/soakennd.html

[HuckleB]

3. Huh? For those who spent time in Europe when R was pres...

he wasn't well liked, and that's being kind.

This is pure hogwash.

[Lou_C]

4. I don't remember anyone liking Reagan at all

I don't know where they are getting these people at that say that they love him.

[notbush]

5. Except for the people living in

the 49 states, that voted for him.
Hey you and I might think he sucked .....but he did something Clinton, and Bush 2 didn't.
He got more than 50% of the popular vote(2nd time at least)

[Lou_C]

6. He rigged the election the first time around

The second time the media brain washed everyone into thinking that he was a good President.

I lived in that era and he is the second worse president in history.

He was a liar and a nut case that was senile. He had a crystal ball that he relied on to make all of his decisions.

The right wing press will go down in history as traitors also.

Also, just because someone wins a state doesn't mean the whole state was in love with him. He could have won by a small margin and that would make it half of the people hated him while the other people were in love with him.

Right wingers needed a hero because most of their politicians are full of shit. They would have worshiped Lincoln if he wouldn't have abolished slavery.

[Art_from_Ark]

7. Second-worst president in history

He held the top spot until January 20, 2001

[ze_dscherman]

8. Get me off the Europeans-who-fondly-recall-Reagan list

When Reagan was elected my first impression was that something had horribly gone wrong with the democratic process. But I never despised him as much as bush*

[Spentastic]

11. Yeah

I don't want to on that list either. Reagan was not admired, he was looked upon as a joke by most people I knew. The British have always had a certain affection for fools. Most people couldn't believe that such an imbecile could get elected.


Now look what's happened!

[bogey18]

13. Something has gone horribly wrong with the democratic process

in the U.S. I give you Arnold.

[ze_dscherman]

17. If I were Italian

I would swap him with Berlusconi }(

Looking at our own German politics, we got our own fair share of imbeciles. Plus some raving monster in the past that was also elected into office.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

9. Europe Recalls Reagan Fondly! =

Thatcher and Rau(if saying the "Wall Speech" was unforgettable is fondness).

Yep, Europe loved the man! No doubt about it after reading this illuminating article!

[Laughing Mirror]

10. Cautious readers must have been complaining

Headline has been changed to the more neutral: "Reagan Remembered for Role in Cold War"

[keithyboy]

12. They must also remember Reagan building up Saddam.

Reagan, not Clinton, is responsible for 9/11 because Saddam was behind 9/11 and we gave Saddam the weapons. You know, they can't have it all ways. If Saddam was responsible for 9/11 like 60% of the public has been led to believe by Rush/Hannity/O'Reilly etc., then thay have to hold Reagan, their idol, responsible for 9/11 because we all know who gave Saddam the weapons and the support to kill all those 'nasty Iranians' and thousands of those simple Iraqis who opposed Saddam when he was "our man in Iraq." I mean, I am trying make sense of Freeper logic.

[htuttle]

14. If you're looking for a causal connection to 9/11, it's not hard to do

Just look at WHO got Osama bin Laden involved in the Afghanistan war. Answer: Reagan.

He wasn't satisfied with the fairly moderate support Carter and Brzezinski were giving the Afghani rebels, upped their support from $10 million to $500 million, and pressured the Saudis into supporting them, too. Along with that Saudi support came Osama bin Laden, middle son of one of Saudi Arabia's construction magnates, sent to oversee the use of Saudi funds.

Reagan strong-armed Pakistan into supporting the equipping of the Mujihadeen with more sophisticated weapons as well. The Pakistani were worried that the Afghani rebels would ultimately become uncontrollable and a threat beyond Afghanistan. Reagan insisted, and the Pakistanis gave in.

Looks like the Pakistanis were right after all.

[Frances]

15. Even Americans who liked Reagan will be ready to

move on by the end of the week.

But Americans will be very clear about one thing. George Bush is no Ronald Reagan.

(In my opinon we went from a likable president with some very bad policies to an arrogant little man with very terrible policies.)

[CWebster]

16. Can't see that anyone other than Thatcher

would have fond memories.

Gorbachev was much more popular but everyone seems to forgotten it was he who broke the cold war ice.

[Sandpiper]

18. Thatcher had this to say of Reagan

"Poor dear. He had nothing between his ears."

And she liked him.

[Say_What]

19. School of the Americas Grads as “Contras”

"We are only putting into practice what we learned at the School of the Americas and now they call that human rights violations!"

<clips>

The Contra Training Manual

A CIA document instructing Nicaraguan rebels in the techniques of political assassination and guerrilla warfare was leaked to the House Intelligence Committee in October, 1984. The manual, "Psychological Operations in Guerilla Warfare," instructs how to organize a guerrilla movement and lead it to power by winning popular support and using violence.

The manual was compiled in late 1983 by John Kirkpatrick, a CIA adviser to the Contra rebels. The 90-page document recommends the hiring of professional criminals to carry out "selective jobs," creating a "martyr" by arranging a violent demonstration that leads to the death of a rebel supporter, and coercing Nicaraguans into carrying out assignments against their will.

The document also states that unpopular government officials can be "neutralized" with the "selective use of violence." These terms are not defined in the text. And according to President Reagan, being "neutralized" simply means being fired from one's position. According to almost everyone else, however, it means something entirely different.

When the Contra Manual was publicly released in October 1984, there was a general outcry over the contents of the document. The House Intelligence Committee held hearings on its disclosure, and high level officials spoke out strongly against the document, and called for the resignation of William Casey, then-Director of the CIA. The ultimate outcome, however, was nothing dramatic or decisive. A few American officials got a slap on the wrist.

In 1988, the CIA clearly stated U.S. policy for training intelligence and counterintelligence to foreign militaries. According to the CIA:

http://www.soaw.org/new/print_article.php?id=325

[progressivebydesign]

21. Bush actually said yesterday that they disliked Reagan..

.. he used that comment in conext with HIMSELF, of course.. he said that they felt the same way about Reagan as they did about him. Reagan wasn't the most popular guy over there.. but Bush is absolutely the most hated.. ever.

[Moderator]

22. Lou_C

Per DU copyright rules
please post only four
paragraphs from the
news source.

Thank you.


DU Moderator

[LoneStarLiberal]

23. He Wasn't Their President

Maybe they remember him so fondly because he wasn't President of their country(ies) for 8 years.

[CBHagman]

24. All the Europeans I ever met despised Reagan.

Either they saw him as a joke or a dangerous man. Not one expressed admiration.

So I get back to the States and meet this elderly lady in a laundromat. She informs me that the Europeans respect Reagan. I replied that no European I met ever expressed that sentiment.

"Oh," she said, "you must have met the wrong people."

:puke: