Posted on 10/23/2013 5:02:42 AM PDT by Old Teufel Hunden
The Marine Corps' top general and survivors are gathering to mark 30 years since the deadly Beirut barracks bombing that many consider the opening blast in America's war against terrorists.
Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James Amos will speak Wednesday at a memorial bordering Camp Lejeune that honors the deadliest terrorist attack on Americans prior to Sept. 11, 2001.
Many of the 241 Americans killed on Oct. 23, 1983, were members of Camp Lejeune's 24th Marine Amphibious Unit.
A suicide truck-bomber attacked the military barracks in Lebanon's capital that was home to a U.S. peacekeeping force. A U.S. investigation blamed lax security for allowing the terrorist to get into the Marines' compound.
The bombing was blamed on the Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
And those ROEs, like the ones that are creating U.S. widows and orphans today, do not appear by magic, but are written and passed on by someone in the White House or Pentagon.
I was about 5000 yard from the barracks when the blast happened. Looked like a small nuclear bomb, the mushroom cloud was classic. You are exactly right about the ROE's. The Marines guarding the barracks were not allowed to put magazines in their weapons to prevent sniping or some such BS.
I was horrified to see hundreds of these Marines coming ashore WITH NO CLIPS in their rifles! They were not issued clips!!
A red light went off in my mind during that August 1982 event.
I thought, they're UNARMED, walking into a hornet's nest for they do not have a clue who they are facing.
The attitude seemed to be that by having an American patch on their uniforms that they were somehow protected.
At that time, NOBODY EXCEPT THE ISRAELIS understood the PLO, nascent Hizbollah and Druze mentalities.
Even the Israelis underestimated the Arab ability to inflict merciless damage upon any force.
Israeli, French and US HQs were bombed at least twice during the period but not on the scale that the Marines suffered.
What have we learned in those 30 years since those horrible attacks?
Arafart’s PLO-FATAH went into exile in Tunis only to be resuscitated by the phony Oslo Peace Process. So Afarat went from sewer rat, hold up in West Beirut, under an Israeli bombardment to a Nobel Prize winning terrorist.
That's when the Nobel Peace prize lost all meaning and today Hizbollah is an Army slaughtering Syrians and hoping to do the same to the Israelis one day.
What indeed, have we learned?
Absolutely nothing, thus why we keep repeating stupid mistakes.
Thanks for this. Even in 1989, when I went to Boot Camp, there was little mention of this incident, and the only ‘terrorist’ training was a cursory check of a minivan for out of place wires and such.
I hated Reagan for a long time after that. It was personal. The big talk and build up in the 80's seemed like a farce. All BS and show.
Over the years I see Reagan as a great President but I didn't always feel that way.
I think the main culprit is an unwillingness or inability to truly understand the mind of the enemy. First you have to be honest with yourself in analyzing the problem and threats and actually define and understand that you indeed, face is an implacable enemy.
Even after 9/11 America, under Obama has receded back into the “religion of peace” mentality where the war on terror has concluded.
We have to be honest in our assessments no matter how unpleasant or not Politically Correct they may turn out to be.
We have to be willing to hurt the feelings of those poor little diddum terrorists in order to decapitate them.
We have to admit the truth, that Islam teaches the concept of perpetual war (called “Dar Al-Hareb”) or Jihad until we ALL submit.
To ignore facts and say, politely that Islam has been hijacked by “radical” elements is to miss the point entirely. Islam teaches radicalism towards infidels and it won't help by constantly dividing Muslims into radical and moderate camps.
I am not advocating hating or discriminating all Muslims but I am advocating out and out PROFILING. It works!
Let's be honest and honor the memory of the Marines in Beirut, 1983 and so many countless others who have fallen by admitting the truth and go after (total commitment) those that would do us harm.
KT McFarland in a rare show of candor spilled the beans on WMAL radio one day. She was there in the situation room as an adviser to Reagan during the Beirut Barracks fiasco. In a nutshell Reagan was advised to not do anything and pull out. He actually wanted to pull the trigger but he went with the cowardly consensus. She is actually proud of that decision. Quislings all.
There was very little militia activity after the bombing. They were hunkered down as even they knew what was coming. It never came....
We may have been in the same unit. I was in 29 stumps in ‘86 and ‘87 for CAX with 8th Marine Regiment.
If they do you damage (worldwide, not just in the Middle East) they expect you to hit back. They yearn for it, they live for it, they love it - it's what they understand, expect and RESPECT.
Countless times after suicide bombings, even the Israelis held back! The PLO/HIZBOLLAH/HAMAS folks stocked up on cooking oil, rice, supplies, water just waiting for an Israeli or Western response and when it never appears, they are extremely disappointed and disrespectful of their foe.
I am not kidding, you lose respect, face and stature if you do nothing. This is how they think. This is how they behave - anything less is a cowardly inaction.
That is why Obama, after his threat to use force against Syria has now, finally relegated him to the trash bin of history in the minds of the Russian, Iranian and Arab world. He is viewed as an eunich, which he really is.
I was in a WW II barracks at Ft Bragg, NC., situated near the end of Pope AFB, when C5 Galaxy cargo planes began to land and take off, throughout the night and into the next day. “Cattle cars” with their distinctive jake brakes added to the cacophony. My teammates and I fist pumped, high fived each other and whooped and hollered as we surmised that Uncle Sam was opening up a can of whoop ass on the ragheads in Beirut. To a man, when word reached us that Grenada was the objective, we were left stunned and speechless.
What a colossal missed opportunity to bring justice to Tehran. Remember a little old episode where our embassy was overrun and the staff and security personnel were taken hostage? When some posters around here get on their soap boxes and go into a worship Reagan mode, I am reminded of the black eye that Hezbollah gave Uncle Sam. Needless to say, I don't get the same goose bumps as many of them do.
The Soviet Union is gone, we don't live under the threat of instant Nuclear annihilation, and you call that victory "epic fail" because we did not expend more time an effort on the Middle East?
The Grenada invasion was already taking place when that bomb went off, Reagan already had a major strategic operation taking place as part of a global war against an Empire, while most average people thought the big event was the barracks bombing.
I’m not sure why I was included in your response. I did not say “Epic Reagan fail”. I said in an earlier post he screwed up in Beirut and he did. We should have never been there in the first place IMO. And after the bombing in April of the Embassy things should have been re-evaluated and at the least, the ROE should have been changed to prevent an attack like happened on October 23rd.
Instead, we get an investigation that placed the blame on the Marines (lax security i.e. the Jarheads weren’t paying attention). Instead of placing the blame squarely on the idiotic ROE. If those guards that day would have been walking guard duty with loaded weapons and not had it beaten into them to not fire at anyone or anything until you were absolutely, positively sure, things might have been very different.
Take it from someone who was there.
Really?
Are you THAT thin skinned Pumpkin?
Did you read ALL of the posts here?
Sheesh. Face palm.
Did I say that Ronald Magnus's entire presidency was an epic fail?
Do you know what the words hyperbole and condescending mean?
>>>The Soviet Union is gone,<<<
What does that have to do with the 30th anniversary of the US Marine barracks bombing in Beirut?
>>>we don't live under the threat of instant Nuclear annihilation,<<<
Uh, yes, yes we do live under the threat of instant Nuclear annihilation, and we will continue to live under the threat of instant Nuclear annihilation until ALL Nuclear weapons are made inert.
Isn't that the point of Nuclear weapons instant annihilation?
Do you follow the news?
Have you ever heard of Pakistan, Iran, Lybia, or North Korea, and their Nuclear weapons programs?
Have you ever heard of Dr. Kahn, a Pakistani hero, suspected of selling plans for the "bomb" to a number of rogue nations that are also guilty of state sponsored terrorist acts, many of which are or have been directed against the United States?
>>>and you call that victory "epic fail"<<<
Did I use the word victory?
Was I talking about the Soviet Union's breakup?
Was I talking about instant Nuclear annihilation?
Don't put words in my mouth EVER!!!
>>>because we did not expend more time an effort on the Middle East?<<<
Do you need me to remind you of all of the attacks, hijackings, bombings, kidnappings, murders, etc., that Muslims have committed against the United States, in the name of Islam, since the Beirut bombing?
Do you need me to remind you of all of the attacks, hijackings, bombings, kidnappings, murders, etc., that Muslims have committed against our Allies, in the name of Islam, since the Beirut bombing?
Do you need me to remind you of all of the attacks, hijackings, bombings, kidnappings, murders, etc., that Muslims have committed against Non-Allies, throughout the world, in the name of Islam, since the Beirut bombing?
>>>The Grenada invasion was already taking place when that bomb went off, Reagan already had a major strategic operation taking place as part of a global war against an Empire, while most average people thought the big event was the barracks bombing.<<<
>>>The Grenada invasion was already taking place when that bomb went off,<<<
No, no it wasn't. The bomb went off on OCT. 23rd, and the invasion took place on OCT. 25th.
Definition of invasion (n)
Bing Dictionary
in·va·sion
[ in váy'n ]
1.attempt to conquer: a hostile entry by an armed force into a country's territory, especially with the intention of conquering it
2.arrival in large numbers: the arrival of large numbers of people or things at one time
3.spoiling: a spoiling of something by interfering with it or taking some of it away
Synonyms: attack · assault · incursion · raid · foray · offensive · annexation · conquest
>>>Reagan already had a major strategic operation taking place as part of a global war against an Empire,<<<
FOCUS!!! The topic is the US Marine barracks bombing, and I called Reagan out on the US response and the unintended consequences of it, which was and still remains, an emboldened enemy, and even worse, a proliferation of enemies towards the United States.
>>>while most average people<<<
Do you categorize the majority of people as average if they disagree with you?
>>>thought<<<
Are you able to read people's minds?
>>>the big event was the barracks bombing.<<<
The killing of hundreds of military personnel WAS a "big event" especially to the families that lost their loved ones that day, and so was it to MILLIONS of Americans!!!
Have you been following the news in the Middle East, Africa and Asia, with regards to Egypt, Yemen, Syria, Algeria, Mali, Somalia, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Kenya, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Iran?
IT'S ONE GIGANTIC SHIT SANDWICH!!!
Please feel free to retort. I can tell you right now, that I will not be responding to you EVER AGAIN, so don't waste too much of your time. I rarely post in a tit for tat, but your inability to bear the thought that the decision not to bring Iran (Hezbollah) to justice, and the subsequent ramifications which we are STILL dealing with today, are owed in large measure to Reagan's decision to stand down regarding Beirut. Every Commander in Chief has failed to bring the guilty parties to justice to the degree they deserve, and more importantly, to the degree that get's their undivided attention. WE ARE STILL PAYING THE PRICE AND YES IT WAS AN EPIC FAIL ON REAGAN'S PART NOT TOO CRUSH IRAN.
Nice try.
Not really.
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