[George W. Bush]

So Ronald Reagan was against any US troops in Saudi Arabia especially including any jews, so as not to rile them up and create terrorists?? News to me. So if Ronald Reagan could speak to us today he would endorse Ron Paul, eh?? Including the part about let’s not be over there in their countries and/or do anything that offends them or riles them up to terrorize us. I don’t think Ronald Reagan would.

"Perhaps we didn't appreciate fully enough the depth of the hatred and the complexity of the problems that made the Middle East such a jungle. Perhaps the idea of a suicide car bomber committing mass murder to gain instant entry to Paradise was so foreign to our own values and consciousness that it did not create in us the concern for the marines' safety that it should have."

"In the weeks immediately after the bombing, I believe the last thing that we should do was turn tail and leave. Yet the irrationality of Middle Eastern politics forced us to rethink our policy there. If there would be some rethinking of policy before our men die, we would be a lot better off. If that policy had changed towards more of a neutral position and neutrality, those 241 marines would be alive today." -- Ronald Reagan, 1983

No one can predict what Reagan would have said or done in the present situation. But his public remarks and recently published diaries don't give much support to the idea that he had much confidence in invasions, occupations, nationbuilding, etc. Especially in the Mideast.

[BlackElk]

GWB: Is that the same Ronald Reagan who ordered the military to bomb Qaddafi and his family personally in the Libyan desert with death from the sky, killing two of Qaddafi’s kids, severely injuring Qaddafi himself and taming him until he turned his nukes prototypes and plans over to Dubya???? Remember that the paleos are the eccentrics who did not realize until 1986 that their personal weirdness and strange excuse for ideology had disqualified them from EVER being significant players under Reagan or ever recognized as conservatives by conservaives?

[ejonesie22]

That was before 9/11. I think even Reagan would have seen things differently watching the towers burn. It was no longer just a Middle Eastern problem.

[SoldierDad]

No one can predict what Reagan would have said or done in the present situation. But his public remarks and recently published diaries don't give much support to the idea that he had much confidence in invasions, occupations, nationbuilding, etc. Especially in the Mideast.

You might be right. However, given what President Reagan's response to Libya was following the Pan Am bombing, I'd guess that President Reagan would have engaged this current enemy in much the same way as what we've done after 9/11/01.

[Dr.Deth]

Courtesy Mark Steyn:

Ronald Reagan was three years into the decade-long twilight of his illness, and unable to recognize most of his colleagues from the Washington days. But Mr Ravin wanted to express his appreciation. “Mr President,” he said, “thank you for everything you did for the Jewish people, for Soviet people, to destroy the Communist empire.”

And somewhere deep within there was a flicker of recognition. “Yes,” said the old man, “that is my job.”

Yes, that was his job.