the Iran contra affair is part of the reason that we have no military solution for Iran. In addition to providing those missiles, we provided all pertinent technolgical details. The current Iranian tank killer, which is considered a single hit solution for the abrams tank, is based on the TOW missiles that Reagan provided to Iran.
IMO our policy of jumping in bed with potential (or very real) enemies in order to meet our immediate political goals will go daown in history as the primary factor in the destruction of the united states, and Reagan is the worst offender.
If Reagan had not reversed Carters mandate that the CIA NOT deal with the islamic fundamentalists in Afghanistan (sticking soley with the indigenous, non religous fighters) there would be no AQ today. Ironically enough, carter cited our support of totalitarian regimes in the ME as a primary motivator not to support the islamic fundamentalists. He foresaw a future where those same fighters turned theri ire in the united states for supporting those totalitarian regimes.
In the end, Reagans greatest foreign policy achievement seems to have been blowign the soviet threat completely out of proportion and wasting trillions of dollars in the process. I can understand, with all the propoganda being spewed at the time, how it might have been believed that the soviets were actually the threat that many believed them to be. Now, years later, with the soviet union in ruins and their recorRAB and peopel open to the public, it is completely clear that what we essentailly did was spent trillions defending ourselves from a stuffed tiger. The only threat existed in the miRAB of Reagan and his pals. Why are we still paying the man homage?