I just watched the program, “The Final Report: Bombing Over Lockerbie” on the National Geographic Channel, all about Pan American flight 103 exploding and crashing into Lockerbie, Scotland in December 1988. It killed 270 people, including 189 Americans. Watching the show, i realized something disturbing regarding Ronald Reagan, and how it relates to today.
In 1986, a bomb exploded in a West Berlin dance club killing 3 people, including 2 American soldiers. The club was known to be frequented by American soldiers. It was determined that it was a terrorist attack by a group from Libya. I do not know why the attack happened.
In response to this attack, (out of revenge,) Ronald Reagan ordered the bombing of the city of Tripoli, Libya, and the residence of Muammar al-Gaddafi. (Qaddafi) This attack killed the 2 year old daughter of the Libyan leader, as well as about 100 other Libyan citizens. In response to this, (out of revenge,) it is believed that Qaddafi ordered the bombing of the American flight.
So, looking at this through unbiased eyes, it appears that Ronald Reagan is just as much to blame as anybody for this tragic disaster. Forgetting the all important truth and motherly phrase “2 wrongs do not make a right,” he made a bad decision. For the lives of 2 Americans, 101 Libyans were killed. For their lives, 189 Americans (and 81 others) were killed. This means that 371 human lives would have been spared had Reagan not decided to get revenge for the bomb in the dance club. Yes, that attack started it all, and should also not have happened, obviously. However, that attack cannot be blamed on a president. The aftermath can be. They both are acts of murder, and they led to a 3rd act of murder.
Similarly, we have a president today making similar decisions for similar reasons, (as well as other, equally unwise reasons.) And, as we payed a high price for a presidential mistake in the past, we will pay again in the future for the ones being made today.
It is time for America to become a country of wisdom, not just of power. We must be very, very careful in the future who we elect President. We cannot afford another Dubya, and apparently, we also cannot afford another Reagan. Either that, or we need to require all future Presidents to promise not to make such dumb mistakes. There are much smarter ways to deal with terrorism. Revenge is very dangerous, and we need to be careful that we’re not sinking to the level of extremists. I’m not saying that the only reason for the “war” is revenge, but it obviously played a part, even if it was only a cover for other motives.

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