Video: 'USA president Ronald Reagan praising taliban, they are moral equal to our founding fathers.'

(Friday, March 1, 1985, 9:35 p.m. EST) — U.S. President Ronald Reagan said tonight that the rebels seeking to overthrow the Nicaraguan Government were the “moral equal of our Founding Fathers.”

In a speech to the annual conference of the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, he renewed his call for Congressional approval of $14 million in aid for the rebels.

Video: 'President Reagan's remarks at the Annual Conservative Political Action Conference, March 1,...' ("moral equal of our Founding Fathers" remarks edited out of video by Reagan Library at 18:29)

Here’s the part of the speech the Reagan Library cut out in the above video: “Abdul Haq, we are with you.

They are our brothers, these freedom fighters, and we owe them our help. I’ve spoken recently of the freedom fighters of Nicaragua. You know the truth about them. You know who they’re fighting and why. They are the moral equal of our Founding Fathers and the brave men and women of the French Resistance. We cannot turn away from them, for the struggle here is not right versus left; it is right versus wrong.

Now, I am against sending troops to Central America. They are simply not needed. Given a chance and the resources, the people of the area can fight their own fight. They have the men and women. They’re capable of doing it. They have the people of their country behind them. All they need is our support. All they need is proof that we care as much about the fight for freedom 700 miles from our shores as the Soviets care about the fight against freedom 5,000 miles from theirs. And they need to know that the U.S. supports them with more than just pretty words and good wishes. We need your help on this, and I mean each of you — involved, active, strong, and vocal. And we need more.

All of you know that we’re researching nonnuclear..”