Given recent news, I had to chuckle when I read the following passage from The Crusader (Regan, 2006), Grove City College poli. sci. professor Paul Kengor’s account of Ronald Reagan’s nearly lifelong fight against communism:
… NSDD-32 [dated May 20, 1982] authorized clandestine support for Solidarity, allowing for secret financial, intelligence, and logistical support to ensure the survival of the trade union as an explosive force in the Soviet empire. The straightforward wording in NSDD-32 belies the large internal debate over this issue. While NSC members such as Richard Pipes thought the support of Solidarity was essential, they were strongly opposed by Secretary of State Al Haig, who deemed the plan “crazy,” and Vice President George Bush, who worried about inflaming Moscow and counseled against clandestine operations. Pipes said that Commerce Secretary Malcolm Baldridge and Chief of Staff James Baker also disagreed, thinking that the policy “wasn’t realistic.”
I wonder if Baker recommended a dialogue with Iran and Syria.
