Reagan v Grant: Terrorism

[Willinois]

http://www.democratsforprogress.com/2011/02/06/reagan-v-grant-terrorism/

Ronald Reagan would have turned 100 today. A Republican Congressman’s proposal to replace U. S. Grant with Ronald Reagan on the $50 bill gives good reason to compare the nation’s most underrated President with its most oevrrated.

Ulysses Grant’s reputation has been attacked over the years, but no President other than Lincoln did more during the first 185 years of our history to fight domestic terrorism and defend the basic civil rights of all Americans. Grant used powers given to him by Congress to successfully destroy the largest domestic terrorist organization in American history, the KKK. He stepped in when local authorities refused to prevent or prosecute attacks on freed slaves.

Grant used the military and Attorney General’s office to protect the right to vote and hold office for African-Americans. After he left office, it would be nearly a century before the federal government once again intervened to guarantee the civil rights and safety of all Americans in the South.

How does Grant compare to Reagan? It would be hard to argue that any President has done more to support acts of terrorism than Ronald Reagan. Let’s be honest about his record amidst the whitewashed hero worship.

I’ll start with his well known support of Saddam Hussein. The Reagan Administration authorized military aid to Iraq, including chemical and biological weapons of mass destruction. He sold helicopters that were used to gas the Kurds and Iraqi Shiites.

He gave Iran intelligence and sold them weapons in violation of the law. He lied about negotiating with terrorists who took American hostages.

He supported the Nicaraguan Contras, who carried out horrifying acts of torture and terrorist attacks against civilians, in addition to lending direct and indirect support to roaming death squads in other Latin American nations.

“I’m a Contra too!” – Ronald Reagan

His administration trained multiple dictators and terrorists at the School of the Americas.

Reagan supported, along with the South African apartheid government, a terrorist campaign in Angola and other African nations.

More at Democrats for Progress http://www.democratsforprogress.com/2011/02/06/reagan-v-grant-terrorism/