Posted on 10/23/2023 1:19:01 PM PDT by DFG
A suicide bomber drives a truck packed with explosives into the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut, killing 241 U.S. military personnel. That same morning, 58 French soldiers were killed in their barracks two miles away in a separate suicide terrorist attack. The U.S. Marines were part of a multinational force sent to Lebanon in August 1982 to oversee the Palestinian withdrawal from Lebanon. From its inception, the mission was plagued with problems–and a mounting body count.
In 1975, a bloody civil war erupted in Lebanon, with Palestinian and leftist Muslim guerrillas battling militias of the Christian Phalange Party, the Maronite Christian community, and other groups. During the next few years, Syrian, Israeli, and United Nations interventions failed to resolve the factional fighting, and on August 20, 1982, a multinational force including 800 U.S. Marines was ordered to Beirut to help coordinate the Palestinian withdrawal.
The Marines left Lebanese territory on September 10 but returned in strengthened numbers on September 29, following the massacre of Palestinian refugees by a Christian militia. The next day, the first U.S. Marine to die during the mission was killed while defusing a bomb. Other Marines fell prey to snipers. On April 18, 1983, a suicide bomber driving a van devastated the U.S. embassy in Beirut, killing 63 people, including 17 Americans. Then, on October 23, a Lebanese terrorist plowed his bomb-laden truck through three guard posts, a barbed-wire fence, and into the lobby of the Marines Corps headquarters in Beirut, where he detonated a massive bomb, killing 241 marine, navy, and army personnel. The bomb, which was made of a sophisticated explosive enhanced by gas, had an explosive power equivalent to 18,000 pounds of dynamite. The identities of the embassy and barracks bombers were not determined, but they were suspected to be Shiite terrorists associated with Iran.
After the barracks bombing, many questioned whether President Ronald Reagan had a solid policy aim in Lebanon. Serious questions also arose over the quality of security in the American sector of war-torn Beirut. The U.S. peacekeeping force occupied an exposed area near the airport, but for political reasons the marine commander had not been allowed to maintain a completely secure perimeter before the attack. In a national address on October 23, President Reagan vowed to keep the marines in Lebanon, but just four months later he announced the end of the American role in the peacekeeping force. On February 26, 1984, the main force of marines left Lebanon, leaving just a small contingent to guard the U.S. embassy in Beirut.
Rest In Peace...
USMC SSGT Benjamin Maxwell
All you ever wanted was to be a United States Marine.
Forty years gone but not forgotten.
Your sister still puts flowers on your grave and your picture hangs in many homes.
Definitely
Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger was adamantly opposed to the U.S. military presence in Lebanon. Reagan had some key advisors telling him the whole thing was a bad idea.
What does that have to do with Reagan having any idea how the Marine Corps handles ground security at its buildings?
No, Grenada was a short time later
No, my post is accurate.
My post wasn’t a guess it is research, the green light had already started the invasion when the bomb went off, and 47 hours after the bombing, troops were already engaged in combat and conquering Grenada.
I had to Google that, I remember it being a week later at most, not 2 days.
You’re right. 👍🇺🇲
Semper Fi, Lance Corporal Rick Crudale. RIP
Sorry, I lost my cousin, Navy Corpsman Bill Elliot.
Iran-backed militias in Iraq celebrated by attacking a U.S. base in Syria today.
It is an odd factoid, isn’t it? I think it should be more widely known.
Giant of a man— this Marine. Thank you for his memory.
“If I charge, follow me. If I retreat, kill me. If I die, revenge me.” SMMC, United States Marine Corps.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/5980986/frederick-bailey-douglass/photo
On Mount Suribachi, Iwo Jima on the summit is a board staked in the ground where the US Flag was raised, and it is covered with rank insignia and devices in honor of those Marines. Many SGM insignia and much higher. Semper Fidelis
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Marine_Corps_rank_insignia#/media/File:IwoJima_Homage_Insignia_Devices.jpg
Iran has taken credit How many acts of war can they commit without reprecussions?
2. The article mentioned that they deliberately didn’t implement the necessary perimeter security measures for POLITICAL reasons.
I don’t know if everything the Marines were doing and were there to do outside of their basic building security was a “fiasco” but you still haven’t explained your post about Reagan and blaming him for the Marine building security.
I’m blaming Reagan for the Marines even being there at all. The security situation was just one symptom of ineptitude that started all the way at the top.
Your post 12 didn’t read that way at all.
You should have just said what you meant.
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