@coldjoint,
FLASHBACK: That Time Ronald Reagan Dedicated the Space Shuttle to the Taliban (Video)
http://atlasleft.org/flashback-that-time-ronald-reagan-dedicated-the-space-shuttle-to-the-taliban-video/
Posted by: Bob Cull in Idiot Republicans, Noteworthy News, Videos June 6, 2014
As the GOP races to see which one of them can demonize President Obama the most over the prisoner exchange which freed Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl last week, they might want to take a look back to the 1980′s and their patron Saint Ronald of San Clemente.
For those who may have forgotten, Ronald Reagan was a big fan of the Taliban or, as they were then known, the Mujaheddin (freedom fighters). At the time, they were fighting the Russians (then part of the Soviet Union), who had occupied their country, much as they now are fighting another occupying army — ours. America and the USSR were still locked in the grip of the Cold War, and any enemies of theirs were friends of ours. Reagan was so enamored of the Taliban that he dedicated the space shuttle Columbia to them in 1982.
“Just as the Columbia, we think, represents man’s finest aspirations in the field of science and technology,” the then President said, “so too does the struggle of the Afghan people represent man’s highest aspirations for freedom. I am dedicating on behalf of the American people the March 22 launch of the Columbia to the people of Afghanistan.”
Reagan met with the leaders of the group which would eventually become the Taliban and al Quaeda in the Oval Office and even compared them favorably to the Founding Fathers of the United States.
Throughout the 80s, during Reagan’s administration (and with his unconditional blessings) the CIA funneled billions of dollars to the Mujaheddin in arms, training, and other assistance to aid them in their fight against the Russians. The policies of the Reagan administration, in dealing with those who they called freedom fighters at the time, created the Taliban as well as al Quaeda, and led directly to the 9/11 attacks. Those attacks in turn led to the current war in Afghanistan and the war in Iraq although that nation was in no way connected to 9/11 or al Qaeda.
Watch Reagan’s dedication.