US mourns Reagan as bad news diversion

THE death of actor- turned-president Ronald Reagan has offered distraction to a country exhausted by months of grim news from Iraq and ripe for an outpouring of nostalgia, experts said yesterday.

The continuing fighting in Iraq, now in a second year, and brutal images of US abuse of prisoners and the beheading of a young American left many ready to relive memories of better times, said Robert Thompson, popular culture professor at Syracuse University.

"There is something that seems so quaint and nostalgically pleasant about the Reagan days," Prof Thompson said.

The continuing casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan and grisly photos of US soldiers torturing Iraqi prisoners have dominated the news as petrol prices in the US soared and fears remain high of another September 11, 2001-like attack.

Americans embraced the switch on television news to blanket, patriotic coverage of the state funeral of a man credited with ending the Cold War. And Reagan's funeral has drawn thousands of Americans to the streets in California and Washington to pay respects to the man who battled Alzheimer's for a decade.

"A lot of people, when they remember the Reagan administration through the coloured glasses of today's political situation, look back on it quite fondly," Mr Thompson added.

But while Mr Reagan is now popular, many of his policies divided the nation in his eight years in office the trickle-down economics of Reaganomics, rising deficits, union busting, scaling back welfare and the Iran-Contra scandal that flared over US arms sales to Iran illegally diverted to Nicaraguan rebels.

Scott Henry, 43, a writer from New York is among those tired of the weeklong Reagan coverage on cable television.

"All of us are having public Alzheimer's about the types of things he did in office," Mr Henry said.

Experts said the biggest problems Mr Reagan faced a 'soft' economy in his first two years and administration officials in court for Iran-Contra at the end of his tenure faded over time.

Now people remember him for helping end the Cold War, restoring America as a superpower after its military might was questioned in Vietnam, bringing home US hostages from Iran and being a charming president.

Mr Reagan is now regarded as a highly popular president a 2002 Gallup poll found 73% of Americans approved of how he handled his presidency.