When Bin Laden was an ally of the US Reagan-Rumsfeld administration

This video from the USA says about itself:

Ronald Reagan dedicates the Space Shuttle Columbia to the Taliban

“These gentlemen [Taliban] are the moral equivalents of America’s Founding Fathers” ~President Ronald Reagan 1985

‘In 1982, Ronald Reagan dedicated the Space Shuttle Columbia to the resistance fighters [Taliban] in Afghanistan.’

2 September 2008.

From The Telegraph in India:

Osama took part in ‘arms deal’

KAREN DEYOUNG

Washington, April 1: Osama bin Laden flew to London in 1986 to help negotiate the purchase of Russian-made surface-to-air missiles to be used by Arab fighters then battling the Soviet military in Afghanistan, according to a new book on the bin Laden family.

Bin Laden and his half brother, Salem, met several times with the contacts at the luxury Dorchester hotel in London, according to The Bin Ladens, by journalist Steve Coll. “Don’t do any jokes with my brother,” Salem is said to have told the others. “He’s very religious.”

The deal for Russian SA-7 missiles was arranged via “contacts” with the German arms manufacturer Heckler & Koch, through an associate of Salem bin Laden, the book says. It suggests that payment for the weapons was made by the government of Saudi Arabia and that the weapons eventually were purchased in South America.

At the time of the weapons shipments, both the US and Saudi governments were supporting Afghan and Arab forces resisting the Soviet Union’s occupation of Afghanistan. But while the Reagan administration supplied Stinger missiles to the Afghans, the book says that the Afghans did not want the Americans providing such weaponry directly to Arab groups that had joined the fight, including forces organised by Osama bin Laden.

“We have made no bones about our support for the mujahiddin” fighters, Saudi embassy spokesman Nail al-Jubeir said yesterday. “We matched the Americans dollar for dollar.” But “in terms of what was bought, I really don’t know”, he said, adding that the Arabs eventually did receive the SA-7s.

Calls to Heckler & Koch’s offices in Virginia and in Alabama were not returned.

Among other revelations, the book says that Jalaluddin Haqqani, an Afghan fighter against the Soviets and now a Taliban leader in Pakistan, received tens of thousands of dollars from the CIA as a “unilateral” asset of the intelligence agency in 1988 and 1989.

Was Osama Bin Laden Really Buried At Sea? WikiLeaks Emails Suggest Al Qaeda Chief’s Body Was Flown To US Military Mortuary: here.

A book on the rise of Ronald Reagan from B-movie actor to US president reveals the grim reality behind his homespun image, says JOHN GREEN: here.

Related articles

• Osama Bin Laden was Hailed a ‘Warrior Paving Peace’ by the West in 1993
• 10 Secret Armies of the Central Intelligence Agency
• Viral Facebook post perfectly responds to those who mistake Sikh men for Islamic terrorists
• On 9/11, Osama bin Laden Set a Trap To Lure America Into Perpetual War. Is He Winning?
• NBC corroborates central claim in alternative bin Laden raid story
• Seymour Hersh Details Explosive Story on Bin Laden Killing & Responds to White House, Media Backlash
• Bin Laden’s death, in Hollywood pro-torture film and reality