Posted on 10/23/2013 5:02:42 AM PDT by Old Teufel Hunden
I don’t know why you got pinged either? I’ll tell you one thing Devil Dog, I’m not putting up with the bullshit around here. Jim can smite my arse if I cross that magic line.
Some of my teammates (snake eaters) did a little work in Beirut. I went to Grenada, 16 months post invasion, to do some Hollywood jumps. Some of my teamies went in on the initial invasion of Grenada, only finding out where they were going as they boarded aircraft. Grenada? They had never even heard of it. Those Marines deserved justice, and now we know how badly some in the Middle East needed killing. Semper Fi
At the time it annoyed me that Reagan took the blame that rightfully belonged to the Marine Corp.
Really, you think the invasion of Grenada started when the troops were actually engaged in combat?
The troops were fighting in Grenada about 47 hours after the bomb went off.
Reagan was right to put his focus where he did and bring down the Soviet Union.
It bothers me when people refer to the successful bombing of the BLT 1/8 headquarters as a "terrorist" attack. We became a legitimate military target after siding with the Lebanese Army in its fierce battle for Suq-al-Garb. Ordered by civilian leadership over Colonel Geraghty's vehement objection, we fired over 400 rounds of naval gunfire against the Syrian Army while the French provided close air support to keep the LAF from being overrun. From that moment on, we were no longer neutral "peacekeepers;" we were combatants who weren't allowed to fight as we were trained. Geraghty angrily told Bartholomew "You're going to get my Marines killed!" It was only a matter of time, which came on October 23 with simultaneous bombing attacks on both the US and French headquarters buildings.
By the way, I fondly recall 31st MAU's visit to metro Beirut. One of my TBS/IOC classmates visited my line unit for a few days and enjoyed almost getting his head blown off while Sixth Fleet pondered combining our two MAUs into a Marine Amphibious Brigade. But we had all the newest and best stuff from the East Coast - brand new M198 howitzers, CH-53E heavy helos, KY-57 crypto gear and Q-36 radar - while y'all still had the old gear from Hawaii. We couldn't have communicated with each other if you'd come ashore, but it would have been fun trying. Watching your ships sail away was a sad sight.
Semper Fidelis...
You hit that one right on the head. It has been proven foolish, time and time again not to put troops into a political pocket where they will not be able to fight back.
When common sense and prudence are overruled by policy and political considerations about how this is going to make the president look, good men die.
You can fault many officials for the 1983 fiasco but under the current administration, betrayal has been honed into an art form.
Israel had the PLO on the ropes in 1982-83 and the stalemate was allowed to fester by letting his den of rats escape to Tunis, to fight another day. Even in 1985 the Israeli Air Force blasted PLO HQ all the friggin’ way in Tunisia!
This led to the Oslo War Accords in 1993. Overnight, the bloody PLO became the PA, Palestinian Authority. Voila’ magic and Arafart got the Nobel Peace Prize for sodomizing young Tunisian boys...but don't ya know he was a “statesman” who robbed his people blind and led them to slaughter. The sodomite had to arrange a quick marriage before being awarded the prize, hence he married Suha who was Hilliary and Bill Clinton's darling.
Now Abu Mazen does the same but I forgot, he's a “moderate” terrorist...
I agree with you that Regan did not get the job done in 1983.
Bush Sr. did not get the job done in 1991.
Clintoon did not get the job done in Somalia or Serbia.
Bush Jr. did not get the jobs done in 2003-2008.
Obama is not even trying to do anything, just play it safe which we come back to haunt us in years to come.
In short, politics usually cut short military missions long before they should cease but what can you do? Nothing new here. Look at Europe vs. CCCP in Jan. 1945, inept, shortsightedness.
Churchill said of the US, “You can always expect the Americans to do the right thing, after they've exalted every other possibility”/
Look at John Kerry now, it's a repeat in “Failure Theory 101”. Look at Benghazi, negotiations with Iran, failing to follow through on Syria. We are in bad shape but Freepers, stick together, not much else left out there...
Semper Fi brother....
Semper Fi brother..
Netz,
I think what people are trying to say is that we do admire and respect Reagan. However, in 1982 - 1983 he really screwed the pooch in Beirut. Read what Caspar Weinberger said about it.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/2006/01/30/aide-reagan-left-marines-vulnerable-in-beirut/
His commissions investigating this after the fact put all the blame on the Marines. Don’t you think we have a right to be pissed at him about this? He wasn’t perfect, but I will say he’s the best president of my lifetime.
Keep in mind, the Israeli Defense Forces had nothing to do with why we got bombed. Only why we were there in the first place. The IDF had pulled out of Beirut by the time the bombing happened. One of the main reasons the bombing happened is because it looked like we were starting to take sides.
After the embassy bombing in April and the IDF pulling out, the Marines should have retrograded back to ships IMO. Some might say that’s Monday morning quarterbacking, but I believe that’s what Col Gerghatty wanted to do at the time from things I’ve read.
Thank you, thank you.
I get so very tired of people referring to any attack on Americans as being a "terrorist attack."
As you say, we made ourselves legitimate military targets, but refused to accept the consequences of doing so. As usual, these were political decisions, but the price was paid by the military.
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