Aide: Reagan Warned Before Beirut Blast

AP ^ | January 30 2006 | CALVIN WOODWARD

[jmc1969]

WASHINGTON - A former defense secretary for Ronald Reagan says he implored the president to put Marines serving in Beirut in a safer position before terrorists attacked them in 1983, killing 241 servicemen.

"I was not persuasive enough to persuade the president that the Marines were there on an impossible mission," Caspar Weinberger says in an oral history project capturing the views of former Reagan administration officials.

He said one of his greatest regrets was in failing to overcome the arguments that "'Marines don't cut and run,' and 'We can't leave because we're there'" before the devastating suicide attack on the lightly armed force.

"They had no mission but to sit at the airport, which is just like sitting in a bull's-eye," Weinberger said. "I begged the president at least to pull them back and put them back on their transports as a more defensible position."

On another dark corner of Reagan's presidency, the Iran-Contra affair, former Secretary of State George Shultz said Reagan was so moved by meeting the families of U.S. hostages that officials feared the encounters would cloud his judgment, and began keeping the families at bay.

"The president, it just drove him crazy that there were these hostages in Lebanon," Shultz said in his December 2002 interview. Consequently, the "cockeyed dream" took hold of secretly selling arms to Iranians in return for their leverage in freeing the captives.

Weinberger, who often clashed with Shultz on foreign policy, agreed that Reagan's "idea of trying to get the hostages back overweighed almost everything" and arose from meeting the families. "Those meetings destroyed him, absolutely," he said.

[onedoug]

Though playing a little Ghost-O with his age too?

[EveningStar]

misc ping

[onyx]

I'll try this tomorrow.

[EveningStar]

NP. By tomorrow, we'll have 14 different threads on the same topic. You will be able to take your pick.

[geopyg]

"Because of Reagan, Bush can act without worrying about 25,000 USSR nuclear warheads before he acts. IMHO"

SO TRUE! The days when it seemed EVERY decision was based on risking nuclear war. That should be the main thought in the President's head today to think what a nuclear Iran in 10 to 20 years will do to policy decisions.

[NormsRevenge]

President Reagan meets with Defense Secretary Casper Weinberger, left, and Secretary of State Alexander Haig Monday, August 17, 1981, before the start of a National Security Council meeting at the Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles. Weinberger says in an oral history project capturing the views of former Reagan administration officials released the week of Jan. 30, 2006, he implored the president to put Marines serving in Beirut in a safer position before terrorists attacked them in 1983. (AP Photo)

[Howlin]

I'm sick to death of these people not keeping confidences.

And without fail, it is to make themselves look better.

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

Actually, I prefer Bush in war time. He has shown much more spine than Ronnie when the going go tough

Oh please. Reagan had his hands full with the Soviets and the communist movements in Central and South America.

Plus Islamofascism was just gathering steam but it wasn't the serious threat as it is now.

You can bet that after 9/11 Reagan would have tore the Middle East a new one instead of farting around with the U.N. like GWB did. Please remember that Reagan pulled back from Beirut because of the whining from the overwhelmingly Democratic Congress and stupid RINOs such as Rudman. Also remember that Bush is fighting a PC war and is letting the MSM/Dems dictate the terms instead of speaking to the people like Reagan did.

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

I'll take Reagan over either Bush

I'll take Reagan over the two Bushs, Nixon, Ford, and even Eisenhower.

[balch3]

If he's lying, he should be ashamed. If he's telling the truth, he should keep his mouth shut. Not only does it tarnish the Reagan legacy, but it plays right into the hands of leftists trying to hinder President Bush in the middle east.

[Reagan Man]

>>>>Beirut is Reagan's shame. A total waste of life then we ran with our tails between our legs. Actually, I prefer Bush in war time. He has shown much more spine than Ronnie when the going go t tough. Between trading with Iran for hostages, Beirut, and Achille Loro debacle, Reagan was an abject failure when it came to dealing with Arab

BS! Get you facts straight and stop taking cheap shots at Ronald Reagan. While Reagan was rebuilding the US economy, winning the Cold War, dismantling the USSR, ending Euro-communism and freeing 500 million people from the totalitarian powers of the Eastern Bloc, George W.Bush's biggest decision was deciding whether to have another shot of Beam and a beer.

Now the historical facts.

The US Marines were part of a multinational peackeeping force, that was thrown into the middle of a civil war in Beruit Lebanon. After the Marine barracks was car bombed, US intelligence was not able to positively determine who committed the action. Some experts in the US govt believed the responsibile party was Hezbollah, with help from either Syria or Iran. Islamic Jihad actually took credit for the bombing. But no final conclusion was ever reached by the our government.

The Reagan administration hatched a plan to knock off a military barracks of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. Defense Secretary Cap Weinberger opposed such an action. Weinburger told Reagan, any attack without positive proof of who committed the Beirut action would lead to an expanded civil war, dragging the US further into the conflict and undermining Reagan's efforts in the Cold War. This time Reagan took Weinberger's advice.

Until this day, Weinberger insists the blame for who committed the Marine barracks bombing is unknown. Reagan did order air bombing and shelling from the USS New Jersey. Soon afterwards, the Marines were pulled out for good. All in all, a smart move. Reagan knew that Lebanon was an untenable situation. Besides, Reagan had bigger fish to fry.

The hijacking of the Italian passenger liner, the Achille Lauro in 1985 wasn't a reason for Reagan to take the US to war. Reagan did allow his personal feelings to get in the way of trading arms for hostages in Iran.

It's easy for you and others to be able to look back with 20/20 hindsight and say Reagan was negligent for his lack of action. Fact is, if Reagan was given proof who committded the killing of the Marines, he would have taken stronger military action then he did.

Did the Marine barracks bombing add to rise of Islamic fundamentalism in the ME, sure. It was a contribuing factor, but it was not the cause.

[EveningStar]

Tell me about it. The Dems must really be gloating.

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

MEGA BUMP!

[Berlin_Freeper]

AP- Recollections of an initial 25 Reagan aides were released this week by the Miller Center of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia.


Unless these "scholars" can come up with official documents, I am not buying any of this. Those people are experts at manipulating people, and old people like those interviewed are especially easy to manipulate.

Why do they create an "oral history" with no documentation to back it up? Because they have an agenda to create a stink, any stink, on Reagan.

And notice how AP focuses in on "another dark corner of Reagan's presidency,". How come they don't focus in on some shining leadership example and achievements??? This proves that the exact purpose of the so-called "oral history" with no documentation is nothing more than manipulating old memories from tired old people in order to crap on Reagan.

Anyone buying this stuff at face value is a fool and an idiot.

[Berlin_Freeper]

More proof this is nothing but a political attack:

Miller Center Announces New Director
December 16, 2005, University of Virginia President John T. Casteen III, has named former Virginia Governor Gerald L. Baliles director of the Miller Center of Public Affairs. Baliles will be the Miller Center’s fifth director.

http://millercenter.virginia.edu/

Former Virginia Governor Gerald L. Baliles served 1986-1990, Democrat.

[BJClinton]

Guess what's holding it up?

I give up, what's holding it up?

[RightWingAtheist]

I really detest AP's phrasing of the title. It implies that Reagan knew that the suicide bombing was going to happen, and deliberately allowed the soldiers to die. Now every moonbat blog is going paste this headline in bold, and try to make scurrilous comparisons to Bush ("THEY BOTH KNEW! THEY BOTH KNEW!).

[ozoneliar]

I give up, what's holding it up?

The State Department, and the Department of The Treasury. They would rather hold on to the money, so as to keep it as a bargaining chip/appease Iran, rather than distribute the money to families.

[Revenge of Sith]

Reagan did finally get it right in the end. The US did achieve revenge against Iran in the Tanker War of 1987-88. I also think George H.W. Bush was surprisingly better than Reagan in dealing with Arab thugs. When Hezbollah murdered Colonel Higgins and threatened to kill another hostage, Joseph Ciccipio, Bush deployed the USS Coral Sea off the coast of Lebanon and Hezbollah backed down from its threat and all the hostages would ultimately be released. With the end of the Cold War, the US was now able to devote its resources to fighting Islamic terrorism. If Bush 41 had been re-elected, maybe we wouldn't have to worry about al Qaida and the Axis of Evil.

[H. Paul Pressler IV]

Between trading with Iran for hostages...

That is a lie..