Ronald Reagan’s Benghazi Went A Lot Different
On October 23rd, 1983, the Marine Barracks in Beirut, Lebanon were bombed under Ronald Reagan’s watch. 241 US military personnel were killed, and over 300 were wounded.
It was most certainly orchestrated in large part by Iran. So what did President Reagan do? He secretly stole missiles from the Pentagon, and sold them to Iran, using the money to fund the Contras. Who were the Contras?
The Contras
The contras is a label given to the various U.S.-backed and funded terrorist rebel groups that were active from 1979 through to the early 1990s in opposition to the left-wing, socialist Sandinista Junta of National Reconstruction government in Nicaragua. Among the separate contra groups, the Nicaraguan Democratic Force (FDN) emerged as the largest by far. In 1987, virtually all contra organizations were united, at least nominally, into the Nicaraguan Resistance.
From an early stage, the rebels received financial and military support from the United States government, and their military significance decisively depended on it. After US support was banned by Congress, the Reagan administration covertly continued it. These covert activities culminated in the Iran–Contra affair which was also an attempt to placate “moderates” within the Iranian government in order to secure the release of American hostages held by pro-Iranian groups in Lebanon and to influence Iranian foreign policy in a pro-Western direction.
During their war against the Nicaraguan government, the Contras committed a large number of human rights violations and used questionable tactics in carrying out many of what could be described as terrorist attacks. These actions were frequently carried out systematically as a part of the strategy of the contras. Supporters of the Contras tried to minimize these violations, particularly the Reagan administration in the US, which engaged in a campaign of white propaganda to alter public opinion in favor of the contras.
Hypocrisy
The Contras and Iran were official enemies of the state. Reagan broke the law providing military weaponry to a state that had just killed 241 Marines, but we have heard ad nauseum about Hillary Clinton and the horrific, careless, heartless, monstrous attacks in Benghazi that killed 1/60th as many Americans as died in Beirut under Reagan. Maybe if she turned around and sold Al-Qaida missiles, then used the money to fund ISIS, it’d be forgotten about.