Ronald Reagan

Although many credit President Reagan with ending the Cold War and helping to defeat Communism, his actions in the Middle East and Latin America have been harshly criticized by significant portions of the US population as well as by NGOs such as Amnesty International. Although truthful, this very article was deleted from Conservapedia because it was considered "trolling". Apparently it is a capital offence on Conservapedia to insult their great prophet, Ronald Reagan.

Policy in Latin America
During his term in office, Reagan funded an anti-communist but still brutal regime in El Salvador. His justification for this was that it would be even worse if a communist regime were to take power. During this time he also funded an insurgence in Nicaragua. Although the Sandinistas, who were the ruling party in Nicaragua, were corrupt and did engage in some human rights violations, the counter-revolutionaries that Reagan funded were even more brutal. The Contras have been accused by reliable sources such as Amnesty International of gross violations of human rights. The violations were so bad that even the normally conservative Catholic Church was somewhat supportive of the socialist Sandinistas. The Contras regularly destroyed social projects intiated by the Sandinistas including schools, hospitals, and agricultural collectives.

Support for bin Laden
Both the Reagan and Carter administrations supported Osama bin Laden and the mujahideen (which would later become al Qaeda and the Taliban). The reason for this was because bin Laden was fighting the Soviets who were our enemies at the time. The fact that bin Laden was a radical Islamic extremist did not deter neither Reagan nor Carter from supporting him.

Support for Saddam Hussein
In addition to supporting bin Laden, Reagan also supported Saddam Hussein. The reason for this was because America was bitter enemies with Iran since a theocratic regime took over in 1979. Despite being a brutal tyrant, Saddam was secular and this made him an attractive ally to the United States. In addition, America would also have access to Iraq's large oil reserves. This support continued even after it became known that Hussein was using chemical weapons against both Iranian forces and segments of the Iraqi population.