Agreed. Though Rummy and CO. did have direct dealings with Saddam Hussein and indirect dealings w/ O.B.L. That same idea you speak of has now bit us in the butt big time.
We armed the jihadist in Afghanistan to kill as many Soviets as they could. We weren't initially worried about how well they did, if they attacked tanks on horseback with a sword. Remember the old saying, "Rather be dead than red!" ? Well, we would rather they be dead than red and as long as they resisted and continued to be a thorn in the USSR's side, we were better off. Charlie Wilson caught wind of that, he fell in love with the idea of these modern day cowboy like people fighting for their home on horseback, and started to arm them and train them with help from US SF and CIA (Though Rambo's Soviet butt kicking in Afghanistan didn't really take place, it was cool and duely noted
). Not to totally pick on the Reaganites, Charlie Murphy was a democrat from Texas. Also, Israel and the US pumped money/aide to the Osama Bin Laden and his fellow jihadists through Saudi Arabia so it was more palatable for them to accept. This is just brushing over what all took place, but a good idea of it all.
Same goes for Hussein, we funded and armed him to take out as many Iranians as they could and by whatever means. Many of the sinister and evil things Hussein did, Reagan's admin. backed in one way or another.
I know hind sight is 20/20. But common sense should have played a part in what we did. If it truly was just how things worked out, we should learn from our mistakes. Because if we keep creating and empowering these types of groups, we're slicing our own throats.
