Posted on 02/05/2011 6:28:16 AM PST by Kaslin
We’re about to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Ronald Reagan’s birth. As much as I would like to praise that great and good man, I have to wonder what he would do about Egypt?
Would he shepherd Egypt along the path to democracy—as he did successfully with South Korea and the Philippines? Or would he maintain a “constructive engagement”policy with Mubarak as he attempted with the apartheid regime in South Africa? That policy frankly failed, and we had to await F.W. de Klerk moves to release Nelson Mandela and allow the African National Congress to compete in democratic elections.
Reagan’s greatest success—of course—was in pressing for reforms behind the Iron Curtain, and for publicly demanding that Soviet ruler Mikhail Gorbachev “tear down this wall.” A key part of Reagan’s success was his recognition that religious liberty was central to ending Communist totalitarianism.
As a candidate for president, Reagan had watched, as indeed the world watched, in awe as the Polish Pope John Paul II celebrated an outdoor Mass in Warsaw. One million Poles cried out “We Want God!” Reagan, unashamed, teared up. “I want to work with him,” he said. And how he did.
As president, Ronald Reagan ordered his CIA Director William Casey to make sure that Poland’s Solidarity union got fax machines and copiers—surreptitiously via the Vatican’s Washington embassy. Reagan would not allow Solidarity to be crushed by Poland’s Communist puppet regime.
Reagan publicly confronted the Soviet dictators, and loudly demanded they keep the agreements they made on human rights in the Helsinki Accords. Deep in the Gulag, Natan Scharansky heard of Reagan’s calling the USSR an “evil empire.” He tapped out the words to fellow prisoners—zeks—on the plumbing pipes. It gave them all such great heart.
Reagan understood the importance of religion behind the Iron Curtain. He kept a list of Jewish refuseniks in his suit coat pocket and would press Mikhail Gorbachev to release them from the Gulag at every meeting. He worked behind the scenes, as well, to gain the free emigration of the Siberian Seven, a family of Russian Pentecostals who had taken refuge in the U.S. Embassy in Moscow.
When he went to West Berlin in 1987, President Reagan rejected the advice of virtually all of his counselors to take that ringing phrase—Tear Down This Wall!—out of his speech. Romesh Ratnesar, an editor for TIME Magazine recognized these four words as the short, sharp hammer strokes they were.
Reagan also spoke of the radio tower built by the East German Communist regime on their side of the Wall. It was intended to overshadow all the old church steeples in that captive city. Reagan noted a “defect” in the sphere atop the tower. The Communists sought to paint it out, to blot it with acid, even to sandblast it, but the defect remained. When the sun struck that sphere, Reagan said, it made the sign of the cross.
No other American president in 200 years had publicly invoked the Sign of the Cross. And when, shortly thereafter, the Wall came down, the Iron Curtain was cast away, TIME Magazine editors, of course, named Mikhail Gorbachev their Man of the Decade.
What we learned from Ronald Reagan can guide us as we deal with Egypt. Obviously, Mubarak must go. But can we find a partner with whom we can do business in Cairo?
Early indications are not favorable. The Muslim Brotherhood murdered Mubarak’s predecessor, Anwar Sadat. Any government that includes the Muslim Brotherhood will be hostile to human rights, repudiate Egypt’s treaty with Israel, and threaten us.
There is even a deeper concern. Although high percentages of Egypt’s people say they want democracy, 84% of them also say you should be killed if you leave Islam. Believing that, they will never be a democracy. The first human right is the right to life. Next must come the right to worship God as your conscience dictates. This right was eloquently championed for Americans by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. These great Founders knew that human rights are endowed by our Creator.
State Department careerists—the folks who tried to get President Reagan to scrap Tear Down This Wall—often fail to defend religious freedom. They forget that Jefferson and Madison were not only great advocates for religious liberty, they were also skilled diplomats. Madison knew that defending religious liberty could only add to “the lustre of our country.” Ronald Reagan knew that, too.
Judging by Beruit, I’d say he would pull out all US personnel and troops and then just ignore it.
Reagan was responsible for essentially ‘giving’ Lebanon to Syria and leaving Israel to deal with the mess.
You can’t ask what Reagan would do regarding Egypt without also asking about Iran.
Obama supports the oppressors in Iran and the demonstrators in Egypt.
One thing that’s sure if we had Reagan today: he would not be Obama-esque.
Plan A.
The bombing starts in five minutes.
That’s a fair cop.
That’s a fair cop.
That’s a fair cop.
I know there is a mythos concerning Reagan and I agree with most of it. But he did nothing at all in the ME.
He allowed Iran to fester and turned his back on Lebanon.
He was just more concerned with other issues. There are enough real, solid, accomplishments in Reagan’s file. There is no need to make up ME accomplishments which do not exist.
ME is a lose lose. We should get the hell out of there and never go back. Send the Muzzies back and close the chapter.
Yep.
Increase domestic oil and leave the ME to choke on sand.
I’m all for that but it will never happen as long as we have a Saudi worshipping Muzzi president. Its a shame. We have enough oil to drown ME and we are forbidden to drill it.
An oversimplification, but good enough for debate nonetheless. Do not forget that Reagan was of a (l)ibertarian mindset. To assign or suggest the outcome of foreign lands' governance is a success or failure of an American president assumes a neo-conservative world view.
I'm not so sure he "left" them to Israel either. Had he really "done" that...you might not be able to travel several of those places without a geiger counter.
He would have said: “Tear down that sphincter…I mean Sphinx.”
(It’s a slow Saturday, folks, but I love it. Please don’t take offence.)
“Reagan was responsible for essentially ‘giving’ Lebanon to Syria and leaving Israel to deal with the mess.”
You cannot protect yourself without a loaded weapon. Beirut was totally preventable. A Marine with a loaded weapon would have taken the bombers out before they reached the embassy.
While it doesn’t absolve Reagan from pulling out, it does absolve him from continuing to keep unarmed marines in harms way.
Nothing, maybe less than nothing, cannot shell the place, battle ship is retired.
Nothing, maybe less than nothing, cannot shell the place, battle ship is retired.
Nothing, maybe less than nothing, cannot shell the place, battle ship is retired.
I know. And you are correct.
That was a very weird time in the American military. The entire military was suffering PTSD from Viet Nam.
I myself was ordered on patrol with an unloaded weapon. We had loaded mags but kept them on our belts.
This was a time when wacko Leftists controlled the military. They wanted to project strength but were scared to death that we might actually shoot somebody.
So, yeah. It was a strange era and Ronnie did what he thought was right under the circumstances.
Egypt would never have gotten to this state under Reagan.
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