Reagarding some of your discussion about human rights- I think the issue with the Iran Contra problem was because Reagan listened to Kirkpatrick’s theory about totalitarian regimes being unchangeable. She felt it was better to support a “soft” authoritarinan regime than an unchangeable communist regime. Of course this was disproved when the Soviet Union collapsed. If it comes back to life, perhaps whe will be vindicated (as the Cold War rekindles). I think Reagan trusted his advisors too much to his detriment.
