Jon Ponder | Jun 1, 2015 Left: The U.S. peacekeepers' command center and barracks before the explosion; right: Service members pick through the rubble following the Beirut bombing Oct. 23, 1983. This year marks the 30th anniversary of the bombing that resulted in 220 Marine deaths. (U.S. Marine Corps photo courtesy of the United States Marine Corps History Division) Left: The U.S. peacekeepers’ command center and barracks before the explosion; right: Service members pick through the rubble following the Beirut bombing Oct. 23, 1983. (Photo from the United States Marine Corps History Division) In 1982, seven years into the Lebanese Civil War, Pres. Ronald Reagan ordered 2,400 Marines into Beirut as part of an international peacekeeping mission. As peacekeepers, the Marines operated under rules of engagement that prohibited them from firing their weapons unless they’d been fired upon first — and even then they could only respond with the same type of weapon that had been fired at them.
There were other restrictions. Violence in the city was so bad that they were confined to their base at the Beirut airport. Eventually, the entire American force, which also included Army and Navy personnel, moved into a large, modern office building that had been repurposed to house their command center as well as living quarters. (The building is referred to in many accounts as the “Marine barracks.”) And yet the gates to the facility were ordered to remain open at all times, and the sentries who manned the gates were to be unarmed.
In Washington, Reagan ignored warnings from his senior advisers that he’d put American troops in harm’s way.
“They had no mission but to sit at the airport,” Reagan Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger recalled years later, according to a Fox News report, “which is just like sitting in a bull’s-eye. I begged the president at least to pull them back and put them back on their transports as a more defensible position.”
On Oct. 23, 1983, at 6:20 a.m., the inevitable happened. A suicide bomber drove a truck into the compound through the open gate, plowed through a scrim of concertina wire, pulled up into the building and detonated his bomb. The blast was the equivalent of 12,000 pounds of dynamite. It ignited the largest non-nuclear explosion since World War II, flattening the building and killing 220 Marines, 18 Navy personnel and three Army soldiers.
220 Marines, 18 Navy personnel, and three Army soldiers. Compared to four dead in the Benghazi attack.
And as for ignoring warnings, well the Obama administration had been asked for more security which Congress had voted against, while Reagan's own Defense Secretary was begging him to protect the troops and he did nothing.
I am posting this as a public service for all of you to use the next time that some conservative asshole suggests that President Obama, or Hillary Clinton, are culpable in the deaths of four Americans in Benghazi.
You can certainly argue with them on the facts, or instead simply say "Maybe, but at least they did not stand by and watch 241 servicemen die in giant fireball."
Thank you for posting that. Also, I do believe there were no congressional committees called together to investigate this malfeasance of Reagan, who was probably nodded out most of the time in those days. How many "investigations" were called? None, IIRC.
ReplyDeleteGood friend of mine that I've known for 38 years was at that compound when this bombing occurred. He said it was the scariest thing he's ever experienced. He's always found it strange that it was never really reported as St. Ronnies fault. The Republicans do a much better job of using negative PR for their benefit. Look at what they've done to Obama and are stating once again on Hillary. The past 2 mornings I've awoken to the news of a new CNN poll about how Democrats are losing faith in Hillary and Obama. I don't believe either poll. I think Carl Rove types are trying to poison the well with these "surveys". I don't ever get CNN news alerts about any Republican candidate, but I do for Hillary. It's bull shit.
ReplyDeleteWell, the majority of the media are puppets of the right wing. There is no "liberal" media. They are all run by conservatives.
DeleteJust wanted to throw in a little more background:
ReplyDeleteImad Mughniyeh was the mastermind behind a quarter-century of high-profile attacks. In addition to the bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, which killed 63 people, and the truck bombing of the U.S. Marine barracks, which killed 241 people, he was indicted in the United States in the 1985 hijacking of TWA Flight 847, which ended with the execution of a U.S. Navy diver.
Western governments also blamed him for orchestrating the 1983 bombing of a French barracks in Beirut as well as the long string of kidnappings in Beirut in the 1980s, including those of CIA officer William Buckley, who died in captivity, and then-Associated Press correspondent Terry Anderson.
Then this POS lived freely and openly for another quarter of a century before getting killed by a car bomb in February 2008.
25 years, the majority of which was under Republican administrations.
Ronald Reagan should be awarded a posthumous Academy Award for "Greatest Performance in a nontraditional part" for his ability to convince Americans that he was a great leader. As someone who was affected by the Reagan presidency, my head spins when I hear or read the praises of St.Ronnie. I feel like I am trapped in a bad episode of the "Twilight Zone".
ReplyDeleteITA with that
DeleteEvery single time we see "Benghazi" or "Killary", this should be re-posted. Reagan's deadly neglectful malfeasance.
DeleteI hear you. We're still paying dearly for that fool's policies. My biggest satisfaction comes from watching how his becoming butt-buddies with Jerry Falwell has catalyzed the destruction of the political party that supported him in his quest to wipe out progress wherever he found it and set a new course forward to the 19th century.
DeleteWhat's left out here is that while we were there as a peacekeeping mission,neutral to both sides,we started attacking Muslim villages with bombardments from our battleship.WE TOOK SIDES!! We invited retaliation.
ReplyDeleteThank you much. Pensito Review is now a 5-star bookmark together with The Immoral Minority.
ReplyDeleteBut Saint Reagan can be forgiven.
ReplyDeleteBecause he said "Morning in America" or something.
But dontcha know whenever you start to criticize St. Ronnie or in any way disparage or compare his mistakes, er, errors, er, lapses in judgement, er, well, whatever, to any Democrat let alone Hillary you are going to get a glazed expression from the panty sniffer, they will put their fingers in their ears and start chanting their la la la la la mantra. You just can't point out that Reagan wasn't perfect, made plenty of mistakes, many of which we are still paying for and his administration was not even close to as great as they make it out to be.
ReplyDeleteBTW I live in California and we had his as governor. That is why I voted against him. I knew what he'd do and by God he did to the nation what he did to us.
President Bonzo R. Doofus. As an actor he played a great President but as a President he was only qualified to head the Screen Actor's Guild. Hardly a good recommendation for Commander in Chief.
"Honey, I forgot to duck."
ReplyDeleteI would ask where was the public out cry? But, that was before the Internet. Once again,those in charge relied on people not knowing this information, or simply didn't pay attention back then. Those were the days of the blissfully ignorant. The president did what was best for the country..(snark). if you questioned it,you were a turncoat,or worse. Thank goodness more people question and are involved with the politics and who's running our country today.Thanks to the Internet we have the info. We no longer rely on crooked reporting and snail mail.
ReplyDeleteBut, the ugly underbelly of the internet is that people now selectively choose their sources and no longer have a balance of sources and leanings. Previous generations relied on multiple sources, network and local TV, newspapers and magazines. Now, we find the source that we agree with and stick with it.
DeleteBengazi film and look for WHO funded that! Then see who praises who? Coincidence?
ReplyDeleteAmazing how soon people forget. Someone in our old neighborhood lost a son in the Beirut Barracks, I didn't know the guy, but before that happened, there was always a GOP lawn sign at election time, and they were HUGE Ronnie supporters. Seeing that black car drive down the street with two men in uniform with a letter in his hand changed that family forever. I vividly recall the yellow ribbons being changed to black on all the tree trunks, utility poles, and doors in the whole neighborhood. They didn't even have remains to bury, just a melted dogtag, a flag and an auto signed letter from the white house.
ReplyDeleteThanks for this reminder.