Changes

The first part was a war of action. The Reagan administration used paramilitary ops, covert action, small unit combat, and simply taking the torch to the enemy. The instruments were anti-communist [[Nicaragua]]n freedom fighters, anti-communist [[Afghanistan|Afghan]] freedom fighters and anti-communist [[Poland|Polish]] freedom fighters.

The first part was a war of action. The Reagan administration used paramilitary ops, covert action, small unit combat, and simply taking the torch to the enemy. The instruments were anti-communist [[Nicaragua]]n freedom fighters, anti-communist [[Afghanistan|Afghan]] freedom fighters and anti-communist [[Poland|Polish]] freedom fighters.

The second part was a war of material. Reagan began a massive re-armament based on high-technology that obsoleted a generation of Soviet weaponry. Before Reagan took office, U.S. defense technology had fallen badly behind the Soviets during the Jimmy Carter administration. The defense upgrade would include a 600 ship [[United States Navy|Navy]], new [[United States Army|Army]] divisions, tanks, planes, and missiles. Under the orders of Reagan, Secretary of Defense [[Caspar Weinberger]] cleared out the Carter [[Department of Defense|Defense Department]], instilled an esprit de corps within the ranks, and rebuilt the military as an instrument for the Soviets to fear. The method was unpredictable. Incursions into [[Russia]]n airspace, sending B-52s in attack formation over the North Pole, disrupting naval exercises. The weapons build-up forced the Soviet Union to increase its military spending, freeing the [[CIA]] to inflict massive damage to the Soviets in [[Afghanistan]] and [[Central America]] without obvious U.S. involvement.

The second part was a war of materiel. Reagan began a massive re-armament based on high-technology that obsoleted a generation of Soviet weaponry. Before Reagan took office, U.S. defense technology had fallen badly behind the Soviets during the Jimmy Carter administration. The defense upgrade would include a 600 ship [[United States Navy|Navy]], new [[United States Army|Army]] divisions, tanks, planes, and missiles. Under the orders of Reagan, Secretary of Defense [[Caspar Weinberger]] cleared out the Carter [[Department of Defense|Defense Department]], instilled an esprit de corps within the ranks, and rebuilt the military as an instrument for the Soviets to fear. The method was unpredictable. Incursions into [[Russia]]n airspace, sending B-52s in attack formation over the North Pole, disrupting naval exercises. The weapons build-up forced the Soviet Union to increase its military spending, freeing the [[CIA]] to inflict massive damage to the Soviets in [[Afghanistan]] and [[Central America]] without obvious U.S. involvement.

The third part of the plan was a war of ideas. Reagan recognized that mass communications was the new most important instrument. He used Voice of America, Radio Free Europe, and Radio Marti; bombarding the captive nations with broadcasts, embedding coded messages for the leaders of resistance movements, secretly distributing [[Koran]]s and pamphlets and that detailed the ongoing Soviet abuse of [[Islam|Muslims]]. Reagan knew that the struggle against communism was not simply between two political ideologies, but it was fundamentally about core beliefs and values and faith in a higher power. So when he changed the radio stations and made them voices of advocacy, he also added religious programming. Particular the [[Catholic]] mass was provided to listeners in [[Poland]] and that was a very energizing and mobilizing influence in a country where Catholicism and resistance to communism worked well together. They were also providing information and spiritual food to Muslims in Soviet Central Asia. They were printing brochures and they were having radio programs that talked about the incompatibility between [[Islam]] and the forced militant [[atheism]] of communism.

The third part of the plan was a war of ideas. Reagan recognized that mass communications was the new most important instrument. He used Voice of America, Radio Free Europe, and Radio Marti; bombarding the captive nations with broadcasts, embedding coded messages for the leaders of resistance movements, secretly distributing [[Koran]]s and pamphlets and that detailed the ongoing Soviet abuse of [[Islam|Muslims]]. Reagan knew that the struggle against communism was not simply between two political ideologies, but it was fundamentally about core beliefs and values and faith in a higher power. So when he changed the radio stations and made them voices of advocacy, he also added religious programming. Particular the [[Catholic]] mass was provided to listeners in [[Poland]] and that was a very energizing and mobilizing influence in a country where Catholicism and resistance to communism worked well together. They were also providing information and spiritual food to Muslims in Soviet Central Asia. They were printing brochures and they were having radio programs that talked about the incompatibility between [[Islam]] and the forced militant [[atheism]] of communism.