Reagan at fault

Submitted by Dr. L. McClain (United States), Jun 15, 2004 at 12:48

There is no question that Reagan's decision to cut and run and do NOTHING about the bombing of the US embassy in Lebanon or the killing of 241 Marines contributed greatly to the perception of terrorists that they could indeed get away with murder. I thought at the time that it made no sense to put troops in there in indefensible positions, and, despite proclaiming loudly that the perpetrators would be brought to justice, then just leave without doing anything. And needless to say, paying off Iranian terrorists, excluding the illegality of transferring funds to the Contras, was a very BAD decision on Reagan's part that contributed to future problems. Some students of terrorism history indeed place Reagan's decisions at the starting point of the current day's war.

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