Is this the final nail in the coffin of the myth that Reagan brought down the Berlin Wall?

';Riccardo Ehrman, a veteran Italian foreign correspondent, and Peter Brinkmann, a combative German tabloid reporter, both claim they asked the crucial questions at a news conference on Nov. 9, 1989, that led East German Politburo member G眉nter Schabowski to make one of the biggest fumbles in modern history.





Mr. Schabowski was supposed to announce a temporary bureaucratic procedure that would make it easier for East Germans to travel abroad, a tactic aimed at shoring up the Communist regime in the face of mass demonstrations. Instead, he inadvertently opened the Berlin Wall.





When his fellow Communist leaders decided on new travel regulations, Mr. Schabowski was out of the room. Later that evening he skim-read the executive order, stuffed it in his briefcase, and headed off to meet the world's media.





Pressed on the meaning of the new travel policy -- When did it come into force? Did it apply to West Berlin? Did people need a passport? -- the flustered apparatchik rustled his papers and gave confusing answers that led the news media to believe the border was open, with immediate effect.





The result, once East Berliners had seen that night's news on West German television, was chaos at border crossings across the city.





At Bornholmer Strasse, one of the main checkpoints in central Berlin, confused border guards couldn't get clear orders on how to deal with the crush, and debated whether to open fire. Instead, they opened the barrier, and the Berlin Wall was history. The events have been chronicled by Hans-Hermann Hertle, a historian who specializes in the fall of East Germany.





';Among those who are aware of the incident, Mr. Ehrman generally gets credit. In 2008, Germany's president awarded Mr. Ehrman the country's highest honor, the Federal Cross of Merit. 'His persistence at the press conference finally elicited the crucial statement'; that brought down the Wall, the citation said: ';His name stands for...German unity.'';


http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB12鈥?/a>Is this the final nail in the coffin of the myth that Reagan brought down the Berlin Wall?
The final nail was pounded a decade ago.





However, you'll never get the Reaganites to admit otherwise.





They obsess over Reagan, like gays do over Barbara Streisand.Is this the final nail in the coffin of the myth that Reagan brought down the Berlin Wall?
i think this more clearly illustrates that the ';skimming'; of government documents can cause officials to make mistakes in regards to their own policy...
Now, if only the ';Berlin Wall'; reference with Reagan actually mean the physical wall in Berlin instead of the divide between Eastern and Western Europe...
';bringing down the berlin wall'; has to do with the overall collapse of the former regime, not a little bitty change in travel policy over the border.
I didnt realize there was any myth coffin created
I think it funny that anyone thinks just ONE person brought down the Berlin Wall. It was a series of events that slowly but surely weakened it. Do you honestly think a strong Soviet Union would not have closed the borders in the above incident... if it wasn't for the fact they had been so grievously weakened that their leaders knew they couldn't stop the break once it occurred? And the REASON they were so weakened was in a large part due to the policies of Ronald Reagan who goaded the Soviets in to trying to keep up with Star Wars program... knowing full well their economy was VERY shaky. The Soviets poured money in to their own program... money they couldn't afford to waste... and it quickly collapsed their economy. And was revealed later... that is exactly what Reagan was trying to accomplish.
Damn, don't you guys on the left ever do anything but look for the final nail to drive into a coffin somewhere about something? Geez, who gives a rat's patoot who gets the credit. The wall came down and that's all that matters. It caused the Soviet Union to collapse. Now get busy and find one more nail will ya?