Quote:
Originally Posted by Dondilion
The revisionists have erased the Lebanese fiasco - 241 marines dead - and the memory of Gorbachev.
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This really belongs in that God damned "Benghazi" thread but there were actually three Lebanese "fiascos". There's the
Marine barracks bombing that you mentioned. It occurred in October of 1983 and was the worst day for the Marines since Iwo Jima.
We remember that one but we tend to forget that
just 6 months earlier the
US Embassy in Beirut was bombed. In that disaster 63 people were killed.
Reagan said, "This criminal act on a diplomatic establishment will not deter us from our goals of peace in the region." The Congressional response was not to hold hearings so as to assign blame but to authorize an additional $251 million in aid to Lebanon.
There was no other response except to move the embassy to another "more secure" annex. That location was bombed in September of 1983 with the loss of 22 people.
Six months after the first bombing, and only one month after the second, two suicide bombers driving trucks simultaneously struck the US Marine barracks and the barracks housing the 1st French Parachute Chasseur Regiment. We lost 241 people and the French lost 58.
Reagan called the act "despicable" and swore to maintain a military presence in Lebanon. In February 1984 the Marines were withdrawn from Lebanon.
John