A number of people have asked me how I could have written an article about Reagan and jihad without mentioning the Afghan mujahedin or the Beirut barracks. If time permits I will address that in another piece later this week. Meanwhile, however, the reaction of several Muslim leaders to Reagan’s death doesn’t give the impression that they theought of him as a friend. From AP, with thanks to EPG:
The former U.S. president was not remembered so fondly in many Arab nations. The Reagan years marked the beginning of what Lebanon’s culture minister, Ghazi Aridi, called a “bad era” of American Mideast policy that he said continues to this day.
Political analyst and former Syrian ambassador to the United Nations Haitham al-Kilani agreed.
“Reagan’s role was bad for the Arab-Israeli conflict and was specifically against Syria. He was the victim of the Israeli right wing that was, and still is, dominating the White House,” al-Kilani said.
Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi said he was sorry that Reagan died without standing trial for 1986 air strikes he ordered that killed Gadhafi’s adopted daughter and 36 other people.
Reagan ordered the April 15, 1986, air raid in response to a disco bombing in Berlin allegedly ordered by Gadhafi that killed two U.S. soldiers and a Turkish woman and injured 229 people.
“I express my deep regret because Reagan died before facing justice for his ugly crime that he committed in 1986 against the Libyan children,” Libya’s official JANA news agency quoted Gadhafi as saying Sunday.