Wrong - The Iranians knew Reagan would bring the full military might of the U.S. to bear to secure the release of the hostages, that's why they completed the deal with the Carter Admin.
from wiki: However, special ops personnel involved in the preparations for the second rescue attempt believed that incoming President Ronald Reagan was involved in the planning and timing of the second rescue attempt, and that these intentions were either implied or made known to the de facto Iranian government, leading to the hostages' release just minutes after Reagan's inauguration, and it is widely believed that Reagan capitalized on the "trigger happy" reputation he had been lambasted with during the 1980 campaign and used it to lead the Iranian leadership to believe that if they didn't release the hostages immediately upon his inauguration, Reagan's first act as President would be to bomb Iran's oil facilities, the main source of their nation's revenue, out of existence.
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Wrong again - I did state that Reagan provided funding for Bin Laden and other rebels/terrorist organizations and the reasons for that funding. We just disagree on whether it was a mistake or not.
You may want to read this, particularly the Presidency - Second Term section. You don't change a leopard's spots.
Vladimir Putin - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The actual DOD Budget is below: $653B, much of it for paying our soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines and Operations / Maintenance. I know where you're coming up with the additional 300+B, but securing our nuclear arsenal and providing medical care to our veterans sure isn't on the same lines as "more bombs" and F-22s (which I agree is a waste with the F-35 on the horizon).
http://www.gpoaccess.gov/usbudget/fy...et/defense.pdf
And I'm sure the Swedes sleeep pretty damn good knowing we are spending $ 653B and will come to save their hind-quarters if the Soviets or some other world power decides to get stupid.