[samtheman]

I know this guy has his own agenda and anything he says is suspect, but consider this thought experiment:

You go back to Jan 31, 1981, in a time machine, kidnap Reagan from his bedroom in the middle of the night, bring him back to now, bring him up to date on recent history and the current situation (leaving out the details of his own life, death and actions), and then take him back to his same bedroom, the same night.

What would he do? I'm not writing a science fiction story here, just a thought experiment.

What would Reagan do if he knew then what we know now?

I don't know the answer to the question but I'm sure one possibility would be: let the fight in Afghanistan drag on, without any US participation.

Another possibility: help the Russians.

[leadpenny]

In the best John Candy voice I can muster:

Thank you!

[MissAmericanPie]

I think he would do exactly the same thing. Because if you were aware of anything during his administration it would the the frenzy of the cold war with Russia.

The communist push was as world wide as radical Islam is today. President Reagan was determined to halt it's advance on this continent. El Salvador, all of those little countries below Mexico were in upheaval fighting off communist rebels. He was determined to break the back of the Soviet bear.

Today it's our turn to deal with our enemies, we can only hope we are as successful as Reagan was in dealing with our enemies of his day.

[redgolum]

Often thought that myself.

The book "The Hidden War" is a Russian journalists view of their Afghan war. The first thing I thought reading it was "My God, they are more like us than not". The second was the Afghan war was much more personal for them. Russian civilians were killed in border raids.

I agree, if Regan knew what we know now, I doubt he would have financed the war. The only question is what would have happened to the USSR?

[CharlesWayneCT]

How much more did Reagan do? I thought Carter already had invited in the Arabs and armed them to fight the Russians, and Reagan just continued that support. But my memory of that time is clouded, I just remember Reagan being shot in March after only 2 months of his presidency.