Chris Dodd's Comments on Reagan

[erpowers]

Chris Dodd a representative from California claimed that Reagan placed sanctions on South Africa by executive order. Dodd went on to say that the sanctions helped South Africa become a democracy. He constrated South Africa with Zimbabwe in which the U.N. placed sanction and the country is in shambles. Does anyone know if he is right and where to find the information to prove he is wrong if he is wrong?

[sangh0]

1. Reagan opposed sanctions on South Africa

That's a FACT. I suggest you Google "Reagan" and "South Africa"

[Justice]

2. I don't know Why Dodd Said That - Are You Sure?

http://usinfo.state.gov/usa/infousa/facts/democrac/56.htm

"The administration of Ronald Reagan opposed formal sanctions, preferring to exert quiet pressure to speed up reform. But the demand for sanctions could not be quieted, and in 1986 Congress overrode a presidential veto to ban the importation of South African goods and prohibit American business investments in South Africa."

[NewJeffCT]

6. That doesn't sound like Dodd

I remember him being a pretty strong critic of Reagan.

[PA Democrat]

3. Dodd is a Senator representing CONNECTICUT n/t

[Tuttle]

5. This sounds more like Rep Chris Cox

a congressman from CA

Can you provide a link for more info, please?

Tut-tut

[erpowers]

7. Sorry, It was Rep. Chris Cox not Chris Dodd

Sorry to Chris Dodd and all his supporters. I could not completely remember the guys last name. I thought it was Dodd. It happened on NBC after the funeral while they were transporting Reagan's body to Andrews Air Force Base. It was in the 1 o' clock hour. I think Brokaw questioned Reagan's policies on South Africa. That is when Cox made his comments. Maybe you can watch the NBC Nightly News tonight to see if they replay the comments or you could go to NBC's website and look for transcripts of the coverage from this morning. I do not have a direct link to the comments.

[PurityOfEssence]

4. The buzzphrase of the day was "Constructive Engagement"

This was the oft-trumpeted justification: "gosh, this apartheid stuff's real bad'n all, but if we cut off relations with them, we won't have the ability to influence them."

That was the official policy of Reagan's regime, their terminology and they stuck to it. Make of it what you will; there IS some sense to a policy like that IF IT'S SINCERELY FOLLOWED. I don't think that they gave a damn for a second; I think it was just an attempt to not have to deal with the question, rattle their base at home or really have to get tangled up with the strife over there.

This was a classic example of what was a truly assholish, thuggish administration.

They can squirm in the sunlight of history, 'cuz some of us gots our memory holes workin'...

[Larkspur]

8. Reagan supported the white supremacists of South Africa

and did what he could to thwart freedom for blacks there

My LTTE in today's The Day, Eastern CT newspaper says it all with a quote from Bishop Tutu that blasts Reagan's Admin -- Reagan's Regime One Of The Most Fiendish http://www.theday.com/eng/web/news/re.aspx...4B-E8D31796098F

In his column about Ronald Reagan, Cal Thomas writes that Mr. Reagan “had seen too many people and governments that would limit human freedom to have anything but the highest regard for individual liberty as a God-given right. (“Ronald Reagan's wonderful life,” June 9.)

But history proves that Reagan championed one of the most fiendish regimes in the world, and I'm not talking about his support of Saddam Hussein.

In December 1984, Nobel Peace Prize winner Bishop Desmond Tutu, said, “...the Reagan administration's support and collaboration with (South Africa's pro-apartheid regime) is equally immoral, evil, and totally un-Christian. . . You are either for or against apartheid and not by rhetoric. . . You are either on the side of the oppressed or on the side of the oppressor. You can't be neutral.”

Mr. Reagan stubbornly refused to use the power of the United States presidency to assist the oppressed black South Africans. He preferred to use his power to try to block Congress from passing stringent sanctions on the white South African government or pass lesser sanctions than what was needed to pressure that tyrannical regime to reform.

Nelson Mandela was freed after unjustly spending nearly 30 years in prison and about a year after Mr. Reagan left office, but freedom for South African blacks wasn't won because of Mr. Reagan's “highest regard for individual liberty as a God-given right” but due to leaders like Bishop Tutu, world pressure and a pragmatic white South African leadership under Frederick Willem De Klerk.