Foreign Interventions of the Reagan Administration
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As part of the policies that became known as the "Reagan Doctrine," the United States also offered financial and logistics support to the anti-communist opposition in central Europe (most notably the Polish Solidarity movement) and took an increasingly hard line against Communist governments in Afghanistan, Angola, Cambodia, and Nicaragua.
Reagan considered the anti-Communist rebel groups such as the Contras and Afghan mujahideen to be freedom fighters and the "moral equivalent of our [America's] founding fathers" fighting against Communism. In contrast he considered socialist forces and enemies of U.S. geopolitical allies such as the Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon, Palestinian guerrillas in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and left-wing guerrillas fighting right-wing military dictatorships in Honduras and El Salvador to be terrorists. The Reagan administration also considered guerrillas of the ANC's armed wing Mkhonto we-Sizwe (MK or Spear of the Nation) and other anti-apartheid militants (e.g. the PAC) fighting the apartheid government in South Africa to be terrorists, despite the fact that many people throughout the world (especially the black majority in South Africa) considered them freedom fighters.
Perhaps his most controversial action in this respect was his administration's support of the Contra rebels in Nicaragua; the attempts of certain members of the White House national security staff to circumvent Congressional proscription of covert military aid to the Contras ultimately resulted in the Iran-Contra Affair.
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[edit] Overview
Support for anti-communist groups including armed insurgencies against communist governments was referred to by his supporters as the Reagan Doctrine. Following this policy, the U.S. funded groups the administration called "freedom fighters", such as the mujahideen in Afghanistan, the Contras in Nicaragua, and, with the white government of South Africa, Jonas Savimbi's rebel forces in Angola —all of which were fighting Soviet or Cuban backed Marxist governments. The U.S. increased military funding for anti-communist action in Central America The U.S. also helped fund central European anti-communist groups such as the Polish Solidarity movement. Reagan took a hard line against the anti-Vietnamese communist regime in Cambodia by paradoxically working with communist-run China which was providing support to Khmer Rouge communist guerillas who were fighting the Vietnamese.
Illegal funding of the Contras in Nicaragua led to the Iran-Contra Affair, while overt support led to a World Court ruling against the United States in Nicaragua v. United States. The United States refused to obey the ruling of the International Court of Justice and refused to pay the fine. President Reagan denied any knowledge of his Administation's illegal arming and funding of the Contras. Funding for the Contras was also obtained through the sale of weaponry to Iran. When this latter practice was discovered, it was referred to as the Iran-Contra affair.
The U.S. took a strong stance against the Lebanese Hezbollah terrorist organization, which was taking American citizens hostage and attacking civilian targets after Israel entered Lebanon in the 1982 Lebanon War. It similarly took a strong stance against Palestinian terrorists in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. More disputed was Reagan's consideration of the Salvadoran FMLN and Honduran guerrilla fighters as terrorists. Reagan also considered the anti-apartheid ANC armed wing known as Umkhonto we Sizwe (Spear of the Nation) as a terrorist organization.
Reagan offered controversial support to the rightist El Salvador government throughout his term; he feared a takeover by the FMLN during the El Salvador Civil War which had begun in the late 1970s. The war left 75,000 people dead, 8,000 missing and one million homeless; some one million El Salvadoreans, fleeing the war and government backed right-wing death squads, immigrated to the United States. He backed attempts at introducing democratic elections with mixed success.
U.S. involvement in Lebanon followed a limited-term United Nations mandate for a multinational force. A force of 800 Marines was sent to Beirut to evacuate PLO forces. The September 16, 1982 massacre of hundreds of Palestinian civilians in Beirut prompted Reagan to form a new multinational force. Intense diplomatic efforts resulted in a peace agreement between Lebanon and Israel. U.S. forces were withdrawn shortly after the October 23, 1983 bombing of a barracks in which 241 Marines were killed. Reagan called this day the saddest day of his presidency and of his life.
In 1983, a communist coup occurred on the small island nation of Grenada. On October 25, 1983, two days after the Beirut bombing, the United States invaded Grenada.
[edit] Nicaragua and Latin America
During the 1980s the Reagan administration sponsored an anti-Sandinista guerilla movement known as the Contras (a proxy paramilitary based in Honduras and Costa Rica, largely consisting of northern highlanders known as the Milpas and led by former Somoza regime soldiers) against the socialist Sandinista government in Nicaragua. The resulting war killed over 50,000 people, mostly civilians.
Under the Carter Administration, the Sandinistas had received tacit U.S. support in their coup against the previously U.S.-backed right-wing military dictatorship of the Somoza dynasty, which had ruled the country for several decades. An interim coalition, Junta, took power in 1979 and in 1984 leader of the FSLN marxist-lenenist party, Daniel Ortega became Nicaragua's first elected President who ruled under the name of the Sandinista revolution. As the years progressed, the Ortega government became more authoritarian, with the more moderate factions of the coalition being expelled from government. Allegations of suppression of political dissent increased, as did accusations of state-sponsored human rights abuses. However, these accusations of human rights abuses were not accurate, according to Human Rights Watch: "Almost invariably, U.S. pronouncements on human rights exaggerated and distorted the real human rights violations of the Sandinista regime, and exculpated those of the U.S.-supported insurgents, known as the contras." [1] As well, Ortega was a supporter of Fidel Castro's Cuba and many members of the Sandinista government sought to model Nicaragua along similar lines. Cuba sent doctors and technicians to Nicaragua and the Soviet Union shipped some military equipment, including some Hind helicopters.
The leftist nature of the Sandinista government and its support for Cuba distressed many in the Reagan administration, who viewed the country as a key Cold War battleground, in danger of becoming a Communist proxy state. As a result, covert support began to flow to the anti-Sandinista Contra rebels, whom Reagan had described as "the moral equal of our founding fathers."
Contras were condemned as terrorists by many and as freedom fighters by others. Under the direction of the CIA, the largest Contra army, the FDN, attacked collective farms and other civilian targets, as well as murdered, tortured and mutilated civilians and committed other war crimes, as documented by human rights organizations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. [2] The Contras were also accused of being involved in illicit drug-trafficking. In 1986 a CIA-written training manual detailing methods of terrorism and assassination was discovered to have been issued to the Contras.
The proxy army followed Washington orders to attack "soft targets" such as farm cooperatives and health clinics instead of "trying to duke it out with the Sandinistas directly," "attack a lot of schools, health centers, and those sort of things" so that "the Nicaraguan government cannot provide social services for the peasants, cannot develop its project." as explained by General John Galvin, commander of the U.S. Southern Command, who added that with these tactics, aimed at civilians lacking means of defense against armed terrorist bands, prospects for the contras should improve.
When asked in the US Congress in April 1985 to define US policy in Nicaragua, former CIA Director Stansfield Turner responded “state-sponsored terrorism”.
The World Court would find that this constituted state sponsorship of terrorism and an attempt to overthrow an elected government. Nicaragua decided to take their case to the World Court in Nicaragua v. United States. In an unprecedented decision in the history of world justice, the World Court sanctioned the U.S. for "unlawful use of force" for "sponsoring paramilitary activity in and against Nicaragua", ordering the U.S. government to pay billions of U.S. dollars in compensation. The World Court ordered Reagan to terminate his campaign, but the Reagan White House dismissed the ruling and then vetoed two Security Council resolutions affirming the Court ruling and calling on all nations to observe international law. The FSLN then took its case to the General Assembly and the General Assembly ruled in its favor, with only the US, Israel, and El Salvador dissenting. Father Miguel D'Escoto, Foreign Minister under the Sandinista government, supposes that the U.S. owes his country between 20 and 30 billion U.S. dollars. [3]
Many, who supported the Reaganite view, claim the Sandinista regime was neither democratic nor harmless, but rather a Communist dictatorship in the making, supported both militarily and economically by Cuba and the Soviet Union. The administration refused to participate in the World Court proceeding.
Due to the pressures of the covert Contra war, the Sandinista President of Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega, eventually held the country's second elections, which he and his party lost, thus ending Nicaragua's brief period of socialist rule. Violeta Barrios de Chamorro, a former Junta member who led a 19-party "anti-Sandinista" alliance was elected in his place.
Through its desire to combat leftist governments and Marxist insurgencies in the region the Reagan administration was accused of sponsoring right-wing military dictatorships throughout Latin America. The CIA and U.S.-based School of the Americas, similarly were accused by some as having trained Honduran and other Latin American military officers and future death squad paramilitary members in torture and assassination techniques to fight insurgencies.
Reagan increased funding to many other Central and South American states throughout his two terms. Financial aid to Colombia's military and right-wing paramilitary groups skyrocketed in the eighties,[citation needed] even as Colombia compiled one of the worst human rights records in the hemisphere. A similar situation existed for El Salvador. Congress attempted to put constraints on aid to the government of El Salvador and make it contingent on human rights progress. Even as tens of thousands of civilians were slaughtered by government and governmentally-allied forces in the early eighties Reagan stated that El Salvador was making "progress." Elliott Abrams, an administration official indicted in the Iran Contra Affair, also denied the existence of human rights violations and massacres in El Salvador like the El Mozote massacre. When congress tried to renew the human-rights stipulation to aid for El Salvador Reagan vetoed the bill.
This pattern of funding right-wing military and paramilitary groups would continue in Guatemala. In 1999 a report on the Guatemalan Civil War from the UN-sponsored Commission for Historical Clarification stated that “the American training of the officer corps in counter-insurgency techniques” was a “key factor” in the “genocide…Entire Mayan villages were attacked and burned and their inhabitants were slaughtered in an effort to deny the guerillas protection.” According to the commission, between 1981 and 1983 the Guatemalan government—financed and trained by the US—destroyed four hundred Mayan villages and butchered 200,000 peasants (1).
In Panama this funding was more covert. Manuel Noriega, the dictator of Panama, was on the payroll of the CIA as of 1967. By 1971 his involvement in the drug trade was well known by the DEA but he was an important asset of the CIA and so was well-protected. CIA Director George Bush arranged to give Noriega a raise in 1976 to a six-figure salary. The Carter administration dropped the future dictator from its payroll but he was reinstated by the Reagan administration and his salary peaked in 1985 at $200,000 (2). Noriega allowed CIA listening stations in his country, provided funding for the Contras, and protected covert U.S. and U.S.-funded air shipments of supplies to the Contras(3).
[edit] Lebanon (1982-1984)
In early June of 1982, Israel invaded Lebanon with massive force, driving all the way to Beirut and putting the Palestinian fighters and residents, as well as the Lebanese civilian population of that city, under siege. On June 6, the United States joined a unanimous U.N. Security Council Resolution demanding that Israel withdraw from Lebanon and that the border cease-fire be observed by all parties. Amidst a great international furor the scene was set for a common American-French-Italian military intervention, Israel justified its breech of the previous cross-border cease-fire by citing the attempted assassination of the Israeli ambassador in London and a build-up of Palestinian armaments in South Lebanon.
In August, an agreement between the Lebanese government and the United States defined the mandate for a Multinational Force (including 800 U.S. Marines) as "to provide appropriate assistance to the Lebanese Armed Forces as they carry out" responsibilities for the safe evacuation of the departing PLO, the safety "of the persons in the area" (generally interpreted to mean the Palestinian non-combatants remaining in Beirut), and to "further the restoration of the sovereignty and authority of the Government of Lebanon over the Beirut area." The deployment was to be for 30 days or less.
On August 25, the Marines went ashore in Beirut, four days after the French troops arrived. The PLO evacuation was completed without significant incident. The Marines redeployed to their ships on September 10. Following September 16, hundreds of Palestinian civilians were massacred in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps in Beirut.
On September 20 a horrified President Reagan announced the formation of a new Multinational Force in consultation with France and Italy. He defined the mission as "enabling the Lebanese Government to resume full sovereignty over its capital." Reagan continued that for the Multinational Force "to succeed it is essential that Israel withdraw from Beirut." The president said that the purpose of this Force was "not to act as a police force, but to make it possible for the lawful authorities of Lebanon to do so themselves."
The deployment of the 1,800 United States Marines began on September 29. A day before, President Reagan told a press conference: "And the Marines are going in there into a situation with a definite understanding as to what we're supposed to do. I believe that we are going to be successful in seeing the other foreign forces leave Lebanon. And then at such time as Lebanon says that they have the situation well in hand, why, we'll depart."
On April 18, 1983, a car bomb exploded at the U.S. embassy in Beirut, killing 17 U.S. foreign service and military personnel and over 40 Lebanese employees and citizens. The technique employed driving a vehicle packed with explosives to the front entrance for detonation there by a suicide bomber.
The result of intense American diplomatic efforts, on May 17, Lebanon and Israel signed an agreement ending the State of War between the two countries and providing for a phased Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon, contingent on the withdrawal of Syrian and Palestinian forces.
On October 23, just after dawn, 241 US military personnel, mostly Marine enlisted men, died when a truck packed with explosives destroyed a Marine barracks at Beirut International Airport. At that same moment a similar explosion occurred in a French military barracks a few kilometers away, killing 56 French troops. The October 23 suicide bombers used the identical technique that had been used six months earlier to blow up the American embassy.
The attack was extremely demoralizing for the United States, and although Reagan initially stated he would "resist those who seek drive us out of that area", the continued Marine presence in Lebanon became very unpopular among the American public, who compared the military mission in the former French colony with the Vietnam War. On February 7, 1984, President Reagan announced that he had asked for a plan for redeployment of the Marines from Beirut to ships offshore. On February 7 and 8, more than 100 U.S. embassy employees and all embassy dependents were evacuated from Beirut. On February 26, redeployment of the last Marines serving with the Multinational Force from their positions in Beirut to ships offshore was completed.
[edit] Grenada and Angola
In 1983, Reagan ordered a formal military invasion, dubbed Operation Urgent Fury, of the small island nation of Grenada after a military coup within the ruling Marxist-Leninist New Jewel Movement, led by Bernard Coard against Prime Minister Maurice Bishop.
In 1986, representing the global promise he felt was inherent in the success of the Reagan Doctrine, Reagan invited anti-Communist Angolan leader Jonas Savimbi to the White House, where he spoke of Savimbi winning "a victory that electrifies the world." Conservatives and influential foreign policy analysts at the Heritage Foundation vigorously supported the Reagan doctrine, leading to the flow of American weapons to anti-Communist paramilitary groups on several continents.
[edit] Iran-Iraq War
When the Iran-Iraq War broke out following the Iranian Islamic revolution of 1979, the United States initially remained neutral in the conflict. However, as the war intensified, the Reagan administration would covertly intervene to maintain a balance of power, supporting both nations at various times.
From the early 1980s until the end of the Reagan administration, the United States tacitly backed Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, even though the latter was a longtime Soviet client, because the administration believed him to be a less dangerous and radical leader than Ayatollah Khomeini in Iran. The U.S. and its allies gave financial and tactical support to Iraq, and some trade was permitted in which chemicals and biological materials were exported to the Iraqis. These materials, primarily agricultural supplies, were ostensibly provided for humanitarian purposes, but were ultimately used to make chemical weapons and biological weapons. The Iraqis in turn used these against Iranian ground troops and Kurdish guerrillas and civilians.
Concurrent with the support of Iraq, the Administration also engaged in covert arms sales to Iran. Certain factions of the Reagan cabinet believed that supporting various non-government militia forces in Iran could perhaps provoke an internal coup by more moderate forces who could depose Khomeini.
[edit] Iran-Contra affair
During his administration, there was a major scandal and investigation of his administration's covert support of the wars in Iran and Nicaragua in what came to be known as the Iran-Contra Affair. Two members of administration, National Security Advisor John Poindexter and Col. Oliver North worked through CIA and military channels to sell arms to the Iranian government and give the profits to the anti-Communist Contras guerillas in Nicaragua, who were engaged in a bloody civil war. Both actions were contrary to acts of Congress. Reagan professed ignorance of the plot, but admitted that he had supported the initial sale of arms to Iran, on the grounds that such sales were supposed to help secure the release of Americans being held hostage by the Iranian-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon. A less significant reason for the deal explicated by Reagan officials was the chance of provoking a coup d'état against Khomeini by moderate military officers.
Reagan quickly called for the appointment of an Independent Counsel to investigate the wider scandal. His cooperation with counsel helped keep Iran-Contra from seriously damaging his presidency; it was found that the President was guilty of the scandal only in that his lax control of his own staff resulted in his ignorance of the arms sale. Although Reagan himself was considered personally honest by most Americans, other scandals occurred involving bribery, corruption, and influence peddling among some of Reagan's aides and subordinates, resulting in a significant number of officials in the Reagan Administration either being convicted or forced to resign their posts to avoid prosecution. The failure of these scandals to damage Reagan's reputation led Representative Patricia Schroeder to dub him the "Teflon President", a term that has been occasionally attached to later Presidents and their scandals.
[edit] Afghanistan
Upon becoming President, Reagan moved quickly to undermine Soviet efforts to subdue the government of Afghanistan, which the Soviet Army had invaded in 1979.
Islamic mujahideen guerrillas were covertly supported and trained, and backed in their jihad against the occupying Soviets by the CIA. The agency sent billions of dollars in military aid to the guerrillas.
Reagan praised the mujahadeen as freedom fighters battling an evil empire, stating, "To watch the courageous Afghan freedom fighters battle modern arsenals with simple hand-held weapons is an inspiration to those who love freedom. Their courage teaches us a great lesson—that there are things in this world worth defending. To the Afghan people, I say on behalf of all Americans that we admire your heroism, your devotion to freedom, and your relentless struggle against your oppressors." (March 21, 1983 [4]).
In the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks, some of these actions have been re-examined and become more controversial. Some say this support of radical Islamists led to the rise of the oppressive Taliban regime and Al-Qaeda. [5] It has also been alleged that Osama bin Laden, the future Al-Qaida leader, received training by the CIA or an allied intelligence agency. This is contested by specialists of jihadi matters though, the charges are “not true” and CIA funds “went exclusively to the Afghan mujahideen groups, not the Arab volunteers” (Jason Burke). Jason Burke, Al-Qaeda: The True Story of Radical Islam (Penguin, 2003), p59.
[edit] Legacy of the Reagan Doctrine
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The neutrality of this section is disputed. Please see the discussion on the talk page. |
NOTE: The following should be noted as opinion and not in any way deemed as factual. It will be edited in time.
Today the Western Hemisphere is the most peaceful, prosperous, and free region of its size in the history of mankind. As of 2007, virtually every nation in the hemisphere is peaceful, prosperous, and free.[6] The only nation that is autocratic is Cuba, which coincidently has one of the lowest standards of living in the region and a government that is the most repressive in the hemisphere[7] . The fruits of the Reagan Doctrine assured US hegemony throughout the region which has led to establishment of democratic governments. Note that in every region that the Reagan Doctrine prevailed by economic, political, and/or military force that these regions are among the most peaceful, prosperous, and free (Europe, the Pacific Rim, and the Western Hemisphere). Note that the areas where the Reagan Doctrine failed or Marxist-Leninist thought still holds sway rampant poverty, perpetual conflict, and/or despotism reside (Cuba, North Korea, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and much of Africa). It is important to make a distinct between the "means" employed by the Reagan Doctrine that initially supported oppressive authoritarian regimes in the short term and the "ends" that utilized US leverage to force lasting democratic changes in the long term when the threat of a far greater evil of communism was removed.[8]
[edit] References
1. Mireya Navarro, “Guatemala Study Accuses the Army and Cites US Role,” New York Times, February 27, 1999; Larry Rohter, “Searing Indictment,” New York Times, February 27, 1999; Michael Shifter “Can Genocide End in Forgiveness?” Los Angeles Times, March 7, 1999; “Coming Clean on Guatemala,” editorial, Los Angeles Times, March 10, 1999; and Michael Stetz, “Clinton’s Words on Guatemala Called ‘Too Little, Too Late,’” San Diego Union-Tribune, March 16, 1999.
2. Frederick Kempe, Divorcing the Dictator (New York, Putnam, 1990), ppg 26-30, 162.
3. Peter Dale Scott and Jonathan Marshall, Cocaine Politics (New York, University of California Press, 1991), ppg 65-70.
[edit] See Also
Administration · Foreign policy · Reagan Doctrine · Foreign interventions · Scandals
