Earlier quoted context omitted.
I mean, what was a good alternative? Let the USSR overthrow the governments instead? Install a far left authoritarian state? Would those people really have been better off? Would the US be better off? Would the world be more stable? What I see a lot with the left is “well if it can’t be perfect we shouldn’t do it”, ignoring the fact that doing nothing is actually a worse outcome than intervening.
False dichotomy
These countries were not thriving democracies. So saying "if it wasn't for the US, these people would be living in a democracy" is false.
The options are basically US-aligned dictator, or USSR-aligned dictator. I see no issues with the US supporting the first.