ROBERT DEAN STETHEM

The passengers’ passports were collected and when Steel Worker Second Class Stethem was identified as a U.S. sailor he was bound with rope and beaten in an attempt to force him to scream into a transmitter so that the tower would send fuel. However, Stethem steadfastly refused to cry out as he was beaten and tortured for several hours. Not a cry was heard to come from him as he endured the beating. Instead he chose to remain silent and endure the beatings because he knew that the only way a rescue attempt could be conducted was if the aircraft remained on the ground. Ultimately, because of his silence, he was shot in the head by an enraged terrorist who dumped Stethem’s body out a door onto the tarmac.

Hamas - Hezbollah. Kill all of the SOBs. Allah FUBAR! Kick these pansy college protesters in the @ss. Veterans Day respects next weekend to Robert Dean Stethem and happy birthday on the 17th.

A true story I wrote about such a thing a few years ago, about my time in the Air Force:

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14 June 1985… I was a young Staff Sergeant working at the Defense Intelligence Agency. Friday afternoon I was told to report to the Pentagon Intelligence command post at 22:00 hours.

Earlier that day, TWA Flight 847 was hijacked by Palestinian terrorists. They killed a Navy Seal and dumped his body (PO2 Robert Stethem, lest he be forgotten!) on the tarmac in Athens and then flew to Beirut, Lebanon with all the crew and passengers.

My job was to be the staff NCO for the Intel Command Post set up for this event. I had to make coffee, empty ash trays, but most importantly, collect wire traffic reports off the teletypes and post them to clipboards on a wall (sorted by categories of various aspects of the event) and give them to the Commander, a full Colonel, if they were important. It gave me the opportunity to be a real part of the team, as the Commander knew me, picked me for the job and let me go to town by making decisions for him, sort to speak.

Anyway, we had some brilliant officers and civilians from CIA and DIA on the team… about ten people. There was an Army major who had spent a lot of his intel career in Israel and Lebanon who was absolutely brilliant. He used his knowledge well. When CNN showed live pictures of the plane pilots talking to the press from the cockpit window, he was able to name each terrorist (who were there) by sight!

After a day or two they took the hostages out of the plane. The major identified the vans they used from a rental company in Beirut. Later that night, about 6 AM, satellite photos came in that showed several similar vans now parked around the Coca-Cola bottling plant not far from the airport. Zing! We got them!

I was told to photocopy the images to large size and post them to big charts, and the Colonel and I, along with the major took them downstairs to the Secretary of Defense conference room immediately. I was hyped! I was involved in an operation that would soon see American troops rescuing hostages! My part was pretty simple though. Shut up and carry the posters!

So we go in and all the big wigs are there, including Casper Weinberger himself. I set up the easel (this was before PowerPoint and slides) and the posters on them. The colonel than showed them the satellite photos and said it was apparent that the hostages were in the bottling plant, and the plant itself was isolated so a strike could be easily planned and executed.

Then Weinberger asked how certain these were the same vans and could we guarantee it them? The colonel admitted he could not.

So Weinberger got mad and said unless we could he would not approve a mission at that time because “it would make the Administration look stupid and clumsy if we went in and “only liberated some cokes!”

A lot of decisions are made at the top that are based on politics and how the media would report them. Even the greatest men care about their reputations.

The next day the hostages were let go and the plane flew back to… I don’t remember but it was free. I was relieved after working 12-hour shifts for 7 days and got to get some sleep!
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If I’m not mistaken Palestinian terrorists are part of the reason we can’t carry guns on airplanes any more. Palestinians and Cubans.

Admiral Ace Lyons went public with his story of how the Iranian govt directly thru their Ambassador to Lebanon, directed militia to bomb the US Marine Barracks in Beirut.

Painstaking work was done by a special US intel group to identify the perps and their location in Lebanon. A military camp.

An attack plan was setup ( Navy A-6 group) …ready to launch. only then was the plan briefed. Much of the intel and security community had not been involved in planning, over fears of leaks and compromise.
Weinberger refused to go along.

Reagan even ordered the go-ahead and Weinberger refused to execute the order. Later the French ( who also lost personnel in the attack) conducted a smaller ineffective strike, since the Americans refused.

So those 241 dead Marines were never avenged, and the enemy became even bolder knowing he was immune from US retaliation for his acts.

Something was VERY WRONG with Weinberger.
Will history ever tell the truth.

Interesting story, thanks for sharing.

I have an acquaintance that was very good Friends with Admiral Ace Lyons, of whom he spoke highly of. He was tore up when he passed back in December of 2018, because he had lost a very near & dear friend.

He told me this very same story that you are now relaying as well. That was years ago now, and it was before Admiral Lyons had released the story himself.

When I went through the security briefings for going back to that corner of the world in October of 1986, there was a tidbit of info not present in the material shown here. According to the guy doing my briefing, Robert was wearing a t-shirt that said “I Stepped in Shite.” Not that I disagree with what you said about Hamas and Hezbollah. And we should stuff their mouths with bacon...

Also, same place and time. The very first night (the Intel CP had 12 hour shifts; one daytime 1000 -2200 and night 2200-1000—i was on the night shift). The first night the colonel in charge (Army colonel), let’s call him Col Jerry, told me the analysts in the cubicle farm kept taking the clipboards down from the wall and bringing them back to their desks. He told me to watch for this and prevent it.

So about 0400 I noticed this old guy pulling down the clipboards and stacking them on the table. I was about to go encounter him and Col Jerry harshly whispers, “Sgt, no, that’s the Chairman.” My first thought was, “Sinatra?” then I realized it was General Vessey, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, in civilian clothes!

Yeah, that probably wouldn’t have been a productive career move. Good thing the Col. recognized what you were thinking, and was able to intercept you. 🙂