Reagan remembered
James Morrison
The Washington Times
06/08/2004
Diplomats from countries once threatened or occupied
by communism lost a friend when former President Ronald Reagan
died Saturday. They called him a hero who ended the Cold War
and liberated their nations from tyranny.
"President Reagan was a very good friend of Afghanistan,"
Afghan Ambassador Said Tayeb Jawad said yesterday, recalling
the military aid Mr. Reagan authorized to help Afghan fighters
in their resistance to the Soviet occupation in the 1980s.
All along Embassy Row yesterday, diplomats praised Mr. Reagan,
and many rearranged schedules to attend Friday's state funeral.
Prince Bandar bin Sultan, the Saudi ambassador here since 1983,
is the only diplomat still serving in Washington who presented
his credentials to Mr. Reagan.
"President Ronald Reagan will be remembered
by people around the world as a great leader. It is my personal
privilege to remember him also as a great friend," Prince
Bandar said, as he offered condolences to Mr. Reagan's family
"on behalf of myself and the people of Saudi Arabia."
He added that he has witnessed "firsthand
the full extent and impact of his legacy."
"The strength of his vision and character changed the world
for the better, and the memory of his life will inspire other
great leaders of the future," he said.
Russian Ambassador Yury Ushakov canceled a Friday
reception "in observance of the national mourning"
for Mr. Reagan, the Russian Embassy said.
Afghan Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah canceled
an appearance at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International
Studies to join Afghan President Hamid Karzai at the Group of
Eight summit today in Sea Island, Ga.
The two Afghans plan to return to Washington for the funeral,
fly to California later Friday for a scheduled meeting with
Afghan Americans and then rush back to Washington on Monday
for Mr. Karzai's scheduled visit.
An event Thursday night at the Romanian Embassy
suddenly became more timely. Ambassador Sorin Ducaru is sponsoring
a reception for the authors of "The Curtain Rises: Oral
Histories of the Fall of Communism in Eastern Europe."
"It's taken on a new significance,"
said Ron Shapiro, who along with his wife, Susan, wrote the
book based on interviews with grass-roots leaders who described
their everyday struggles against communism.
"Reagan was instrumental in his stubborn"
opposition to communism, and the result was freedom for half
of Europe, Mr. Shapiro said.
Ambassadors Martin Palous of the Czech Republic,
Andras Simonyi of Hungary, Vygaudas Usackas of Lithuania and
Nikola Dimitrov of Macedonia are hosts of the reception.
Joseph Edsel Edmunds, the former ambassador from
Saint Lucia, said Mr. Reagan's liberation of Grenada "saved
the eastern Caribbean from a takeover" by Soviet-backed
agents.
He remembers Mr. Reagan as a "very warm person"
who greeted him, his wife, Lucy Mohammed-Edmunds and their two
children, Anton and Sebastian, when he presented his diplomatic
credentials at the White House in 1984.
"He made us feel very, very much at home,"
he said, recalling how Mr. Reagan embraced his two sons. Mr.
Edmunds cherishes the photo of them with Mr. Reagan's arms around
their shoulders.
Mr. Edmunds, who retired in 1998 as the deputy
dean of the diplomatic corps and is now an international consultant
living in suburban Maryland, credited Mr. Reagan's intervention
in Grenada with thwarting Soviet-backed plans for an island-hopping
takeover of the Caribbean.
His own country foiled a coup when authorities
discovered a secret arms cache that had been stored for use
by an invasion force.
"This intervention saved the democracies
in the Caribbean," Mr. Edmunds said.
