I. Reagan's Policy
A. The
Reagan Doctrine--Reagan had long been a proponent of "containment" of
Soviet influence, and rejected Jimmy Carter's policy of making human
rights the linchpin of foreign policy. The Reagan Doctrine was meant to
rollback Soviet influence around the world.
1.
Support for the Contras--Sandinista rebels in Nicaragua had overthrown
longtime dictator Anastocio Somoza, and were attempting to foster a
similar revolution in neighboring Salvador. The Reagan administration
began supplying arms to the Contras in the hope of destabilizing the
Nicaraguan government.
2.
The Enemy of My Enemy is My Friend--despite back channel diplomatic
efforts during the 1980 presidential election to free US hostages in
Iran, the US supported Saddam Hussein in his war against Iran, despite
his use of weapons of mass destruction (biological and chemical weapons)
against the Iranians--and dissident groups within his country.
3.
Beruit--US Marines initially sent to facilitate PLO pullout, but after
the assassination of Israeli -friendly Christian leader Bashir
Gemayel, and Israel allowing Christian forces to retaliate by
slaughtering more than 1,000 Palestinians in a refugee camp, the
initial contingent was reinforced--but rather than act as an impartial
arbitrator, US forces began shelling Muslim militia positions. The
upshot was the suicide bomb attack that killed 241 Marines--and led to
the quiet withdrawal of US forces from Lebanon.
4. Grenada--Reagan had
been planning an invasion of this tiny Caribbean nation, and after the
fiasco in Lebanon this gave him a quick victory to remove the defeat
from the newspapers.
5.
Continued support for the mujahideen--begun under Jimmy Carter after
the Soviet invasion to prop up that country's puppet regime, this policy
maintained pressure on the Soviets--and kept them engaged in an
increasingly unpopular war at home. Support for the mujahideen came from
across the Muslim world, including the son of a prominent Saudi family
by the name of Osama bin Laden.
II. Bush the Elder
A.
Patrician background--Bush's father was an investment banker and
senator from Connecticut. Bush, like his father before him--and his
sons afterward--attended Philips Andover Academy and Yale University.
B. Public Service and Private
Gain--the Bush family, more so than most, was able to make a great deal
of private gain from their public service, mainly through connections
made with business people.
1. Marriage and college--Bush's
education was interrupted by his service, which he entered soon after
graduating from Philips in 1942. Bush survived being shot down in the
Pacific, and on his return to the US at the close of the war Bush
married Barbara Pierce that year; the first child, George, as born in
1946.
2. George Bush, oilman--Bush used
family connections to make a great deal of money in the oil business in
Texas during the 1950s and early 1960s, so that he was able to retire
at the age of 40 from the oil business.
3. Bush the politician--used family
connections to finagle one of the few "safe" Republican seats in Texas
in the mid-1960s. Bush was not driven by any ideology to get into
politics; although he voted against the Civil Rights Act in 1964, he
later moderated his position on this issue. For Bush, policy positions
were merely a means to get elected.
a.
1980 Election--Bush was one of a number of Republican candidate in
1980, even going so far as labeling the economic plans of opponent
Ronald Reagan as "voodoo economics"--but when he has defeated by Reagan,
he accepted the latter's offer to become his vice-presidential
candidate.
b.
Bush's foreign policy experience--Bush was unusual as a candidate for
the executive branch, in that he had served both as an ambassador and as
the head of he CIA. His claim to have been "out of the loop" during the
Iran-Contra affair was, therefore, not very believable--and, indeed,
later evidence has proven that statement to be false.
C. Operation Desert Storm--this
brief and successful military operation left Iraq, already impoverished
by the Iran/Iraq war of the previous decade, in even worse shape, under
stringent UN sanctions (which they regularly violated, to little
effect).
III. The Clinton Years
A.
William J. Clinton--Born in Hope, Arkansas, and raised in Hot Springs,
Clinton was a graduate of Georgetown University, and a Rhodes Scholar.
He served as an elected official in Arkansas in a variety of capacities
after graduating from Yale Law School (where he met and married a fellow
law student named Hilary Rodham), eventually becoming governor of
Arkansas
B. Clinton's Foreign Policy--After
an attack with a truck bomb on the World Trade Center in New York City,
the Clinton Administration began looking for ways to strike back at
Osama bin Laden, who headed up the Al Qaeda.
1. Bosnia--the break-up of
Yugoslavia--into Slovakia, Croatia, Macedonia, and Bosnia--led to
increased ethnic tensions, which then exploded into ethnic cleansing, as
the Slovaks and Croats attempted to eliminate the ethnic Bosnians, who
were Muslim.
2. Somalia--the placement of US
troops in that unstable place in the world, to bring stability, began
under George H.W. Bush; with the murder of US troops in Mogadishu (made
famous in Black Hawk Down), led to the withdrawal of those troops.
3. Attack on the USS Cole--a suicide attack on a US warship anchored at the Yemeni port of Aden resulted in the deaths of 17 sailors.
IV. George W. Bush and 9/11
A. Early life--although born in New
Haven, Connecticut, while his father was attending Yale, Bush grew up in
Texas (although he returned east to attend boarding school and Yale,
just like father). After graduating from Yale in 1968 (at the height of
the Vietnam War), Bush was able to obtain a treasured position in the
Texas Air National Guard, which meant that he would not drafted and sent
to Vietnam. Although he failed to fulfill his obligation, he was still
able to obtain an honorable discharge, and went off to Harvard and
obtained a MBA.
B. Mid-life crisis--Bush moved back
to Texas, ran for office unsuccessfully, and then failed in a series of
business ventures. It was not until friends of his father gave him a
stake in the Texas Rangers baseball team, and made him the public face
of the team--and he was able, with their help, to threaten and cajole
the local government in the city of Arlington to build the team a new
stadium with tax payer dollars, that he became a "success." Bush then
profited from selling his share of the team, which helped him re-launch
his political career, when he beat the popular Ann Richards in the race
for governor of Texas.
C.
2000 Election campaign--Bush promised "compassionate conservatism" and
to return "honor" to the White House--and still lost the popular
election to Albert Gore. The "Brooks Brothers" riot shut down the
recount in Dade County (Miami) Florida, and the Supreme Court, in Bush v. Gore, decided that the recount should end, as well--in a 5-4 decision, along party lines.
D. George W. Bush Administration
Before 9/11--largely ineffectual, in part because Bush himself was
largely absent from the White House, on vacation--including the whole
month of August of 2001--even after he received a briefing from his
intelligence team on August 6 titled "Bin Laden Determined to Strike in
US"
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