As for military protection the way you describe it, I remember hundreds of servicemen killed in a disco in Syria or Lebanon. As it has been for the last 60 years, that part of the world has been an especially dangerous place.
Reagan also supported Saddam Hussein and it was during his time in office Saddam allegedly gassed the Kurds. By the way, he was our boy and the CIA gave him logistical info. Fighting those commies weren't the only foreign policy interest Reagan had. As can be seen with Saddam and despots in Central America for example, it mattered little how humanitarian these people were that Reagan got in bed with.
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