Fact is we showed weakness. And weakness before that in Iran. And weakness after that at Khobar, in Africa, after the Cole and in Mogadishu. And we paid the price.
What weakness? The Beirut situation was handled properly. I posted the historic facts as they exist. What did you expect Reagan to do? Get us further involved in the Lebanon conflict. That would have been stupid. Did you expect Reagan to start a war over the Marine barracks bombing? Without knowing who committed the act, striking out for vengence sake would have been a very dangerous decision. Perhaps drawing the Soviets into it. This was a situation that went wrong. Reagan thought he did the right thing. Ike had sent in 10K Marines into Beirut in 1957. On the surface, this seemed to be a similiar situation. Actually, it turned out to be a different deal altogether. The Feds had no idea who committed the bombing. And what weakness in Iran are you talking about?