Israel Charged With Systematic Harassment of U.S. Marines

[snipowsky]

By Donald Neff <br />
<br />
It was 12 years ago, on March 14, 1983, that the commandant of the Marine Corps sent a highly unusual letter to the secretary of defense expressing frustration and anger at Israel....

[snipowsky]

Accelerating the Conflict
Israel accelerated the building conflict on Sept. 3, 1993 by unilaterally withdrawing its troops southward, leaving the Marines exposed behind their thin lines at the airport. The United States had asked the Israeli government to delay its withdrawal until the Marines could be replaced by units of the Lebanese army, but Israel refused.22 The result was as feared. Heavy fighting immediately broke out between the Christian Lebanese Forces and the pro-Syrian Druze units, both seeking to occupy positions evacuated by Israel, while the Marines were left in the crossfire. 23On Sept. 5, two Marines were killed and three wounded as fighting escalated between Christian and Muslim militias.24

In an ill-considered effort to subdue the combat, the Sixth Fleet frigate Bowen fired several five-inch naval guns, hitting Druze artillery positions in the Chouf Mountains that were firing into the Marine compound at Beirut airport.25 It was the first time U.S. ships had fired into Lebanon, dramatically raising the level of combat. But the Marines' exposed location on the flat terrain of the airport left them in an impossible position. On Sept. 12, three more Marines were wounded. 26

On Sept. 13, President Reagan authorized what was called aggressive self-defense for the Marines, including air and naval strikes.27 Five days later the United States essentially joined the war against the Muslims when four U.S. warships unleashed the heaviest naval bombardment since Vietnam into Syrian and Druze positions in eastern Lebanon in support of the Lebanese Christians.28 The bombardment lasted for three days and was personally ordered by National Security Council director Robert McFarlane, a Marine Corps officer detailed to the White House who was in Lebanon at the time and was also a strong supporter of Israel and its Lebanese Maronite Christian allies. McFarlane issued the order despite the fact that the Marine commander at the airport, Colonel Timothy Geraghty, strenuously argued against it because, in the words of correspondent Thomas L. Friedman, "he knew that it would make his soldiers party to what was now clearly an intra-Lebanese fight, and that the Lebanese Muslims would not retaliate against the Navy's ships at sea but against the Marines on shore." 29

By now, the Marines were under daily attack and Muslims were charging they were no longer neutral.30 At the same time the battleship USS New Jersey, with 16-inch guns, arrived off Lebanon, increasing the number of U.S. warships offshore to 14. Similarly, the Marine contingent at Beirut airport was increased from 1,200 to 1,600.31


A Tragic Climax
The fight now was truly joined between the Shi'i Muslims and the Marines, who were essentially pinned down in their airport bunkers and under orders not to take offensive actions. The tragic climax of their predicament came on Oct. 23, when a Muslim guerrilla drove a truck past guards at the Marine airport compound and detonated an explosive with the force of 12,000 pounds of dynamite under a building housing Marines and other U.S. personnel. Almost simultaneously, a car-bomb exploded at the French compound in Beirut. Casualties were 241 Americans and 58 French troops killed. The bombings were the work of Hezbollah, made up of Shi'i Muslim guerrillas supported by Iran.32

America's agony increased on Dec. 3, when two carrier planes were downed by Syrian missiles during heavy U.S. air raids on eastern Lebanon.33On the same day, eight Marines were killed in fighting with Muslim militiamen around the Beirut airport.34

By the start of 1984, an all-out Shi'i Muslim campaign to rid Lebanon of all Americans was underway. The highly respected president of the American University of Beirut, Dr. Malcolm Kerr, a distinguished scholar of the Arab world, was gunned down on Jan. 18 outside his office by Islamic militants aligned with Iran.35 On Feb. 5, Reagan made one of his stand-tall speeches by saying that "the situation in Lebanon is difficult, frustrating and dangerous. But this is no reason to turn our backs on friends and to cut and run."36

The next day Professor Frank Regier, a U.S. citizen teaching at AUB, was kidnapped by Muslim radicals.37 Regier's kidnapping was the beginning of a series of kidnappings of Americans in Beirut that would hound the Reagan and later the Bush administrations for years and lead to the eventual expulsion of nearly all Americans from Lebanon where they had prospered for more than a century. Even today Americans still are prohibited from traveling to Lebanon.

The day after Regier's kidnapping, on Feb. 7, 1984, Reagan suddenly reversed himself and announced that all U.S. Marines would shortly be "redeployed." The next day the battleship USS New Jersey fired 290 rounds of one-ton shells from its 16-inch guns into Lebanon as a final act of U.S. frustration.38 Reagan's "redeployment" was completed by Feb. 26, when the last of the Marines retreated from Lebanon.

The mission of the Marines had been a humiliating failure—not because they failed in their duty but because the political backbone in Washington was lacking. The Marines had arrived in 1982 with all sides welcoming them. They left in 1984 despised by many and the object of attacks by Muslims. Even relations with Israel were strained, if not in Washington where a sympathetic Congress granted increased aid to the Jewish state to compensate it for the costs of its bungled invasion, then between the Marines and Israeli troops who had confronted each other in a realpolitik battlefield that was beyond their competence or understanding. The Marine experience in Lebanon did not contribute toward a favorable impression of Israel among many Americans, especially since the Marines would not have been in Lebanon except for Israel's unprovoked invasion.

This negative result is perhaps one reason a number of Israelis and their supporters today oppose sending U.S. peacekeepers to the Golan Heights as part of a possible Israeli-Syrian peace treaty. A repeat of the 1982-84 experience would certainly not be in Israel's interests at a time when its supporters are seeking to have a budget-conscious Congress continue unprecedented amounts of aid to Israel.

Donald Neff is author of the Warriors trilogy on U.S.-Middle East relations and of the unpublished Middle East Handbook, a chronological data bank of significant events affecting U.S policy and the Middle East upon which this article is based. His books are available through the AET Book Club.

Source: http://www.washington-report.org/backissues/0395/9503079.htm

[eddief]

The Israelis aint our friends. On 911 five Mossad agents were cheering and recording the attacks on the World Trade Center towers. The only reason they care about us is because we're their sugar daddy to the tune of $3 billion a year.

[yellowwing]

Bah!-3 billion is nothing as far as foriegn aid. Those motivated Hebrews blew up Saddams nuclear reasearch facility, when he really did have a WMD program. Such accusations must be considered and judged carefully.

In my opinion, Israel is a burden on our foriegn policy. But it is burden that has been taken on by the past several Administrations.

The sad part is that when the Israeli version of the teamsters wanted to strike over low wages and working conditions, they were denied because of the National Emergency.

This current National Emergeny did not exist until Ariel Sharon, then a prailiamewnt member, visited a holy Islamic Holy shrine.

Some would argue he instisgated a crisis to get elected. Others would say if you do not support such actions, you are branded as a neo-Hitlerite.

[eddief]

I think this retired Army general is right on the money concerning Israel


'It's Time To Get Tough
With Israel' - US
Army Brig General
By James J. David Brigadier General, US Army (Ret)
12-24-2


Is there any criminal act that Israel can do without being protected from criticism from the United States? If there is I haven't seen it. And I haven't seen it from the Bush Administration or from the Clinton Administration or from any administration before them. But when you consider the influence of Israel's lobby and its political action committees and the more than $41 million they've given to Congress and the White House, is it any wonder Israel is shielded from any shame?

For more than 54 years the Israelis have committed acts that no other nation would dare get away with. But even here in America, where it is not yet illegal to publicly ask the wrong questions, any public figure that does so is subjected to smears, intimidation, and the attempted destruction of his career and reputation by Jewish organizations and by the very cooperative news media.

A few examples of these criminal acts committed by Israel include the treacherous attack on the USS Liberty on June 8, 1967, killing 34 American sailors and wounding another 171. There can now be no disputing that Israel knew its identity, and that the ship was in international waters and clearly marked as a US Naval vessel. What was most treacherous though was not the perfidy of Israel but that of President Johnson ordering the recall of the sixth fleet when he found out that the attackers were not the Arabs but the Israelis. The treasonous compliance continues today as corrupt politicians refuse to take any action against Israel and continue their efforts in hushing-up the whole affair although there seems to be a strong campaign by the Liberty survivors and other brave patriotic Americans in exposing the Israelis of their criminal attack.

Another example of Israel's callous disregard for its supposed "ally" America was the bombing of the U.S. Marine barracks in Lebanon in 1983, which killed over 200 US servicemen. According to former Israeli Mossad agent, Victor Ostrovsky, Israeli intelligence knew of the plan by Arab terrorists to bomb the building in plenty of time to warn the innocent men, but cynically refused to say anything.

In April 1996 the Israelis attacked an U.N. refugee camp in Qana, Lebanon and killed 103 innocent men, women, and especially children. A U.N. investigation determined the attack was intentional and stated that " while the possibility cannot be ruled out completely, the pattern of impacts in the Qana area makes it unlikely that the shelling of the United Nations compound was the result of technical and/or procedural errors." Shortly after this report the U.N. Security Council voted to condemn Israel for the attack and all nations with the exception of the U.S. voted in favor of the resolution. In other words, intentionally slaughtering 103 civilians was not sufficient for the United States to condemn Israel. Yet, when Hezbollah attacks Israel's illegal occupation of southern Lebanon and results in the deaths of two Israeli soldiers the U.S. is first to condemn this legal resistance.

During the past 27 months the Palestinian resistance from the brutal and illegal Israeli occupation has resulted in more than 2000 Palestinians and 670 Israelis killed. When Israelis are killed or injured by Palestinian suicide bombers the White House wastes not a second to harshly condemn these brutal acts, and it does so in an understandable manner. But when Israelis drop a one-ton bomb in the center of a Gaza City apartment complex and kills 15 innocent Palestinians including 9 small children the U.S. issues a diplomatic statement criticizing the attack only as using "excessive force." Other times when Palestinian children are slaughtered for throwing stones at tanks the United States remains silent.

These are just a few of the criminal acts committed by the Israeli government and shielded from criticism by U.S. politicians or even reported by the controlled media.

Although September 11th brought the fight on terrorism to the front burner, it seems that the United States protects Israel from any criticism here too. An Israeli instant-messaging firm Odigo confirmed that two employees received text messages warning of an attack on the World Trade Center two hours before terrorists crashed planes into the New York landmarks. (Ha'aretz, December 20, 2002.) Is it possible that Israel had foreknowledge of the attack? Could this be the answer why many Israeli employees at the World Trade Center never showed up for work that tragic September morning? If this is the case then the fact that Israel's government had prior knowledge of the pending attack and not warned the Americans makes them as guilty as our enemy. Whatever the case, our government must make a complete and thorough investigation without any threats from Jewish and Israeli interest groups.

Shielding Israel from criticism and supporting the Jewish state no matter what crimes she commits has caused the United States the loss of respect around the world. In addition, Israel has cost American taxpayers more than $120 billion in the past 40 years. Our one-sided unbalanced Middle East policy has created the hatred of millions and the primary cause of terrorism that has landed on our own soil.

Criticizing our government's dangerous policies and its submissions to the Jewish lobby doesn't make anyone less patriotic or any less of an American. George Washington said it best when he stated that "passionate attachment to another nation produces a variety of evils...the illusion of common interests where no real common interests exist; adopting the enmities of the other; and participation in the quarrels and wars of the other without any justification. Still another evil is that such a passionate attachment gives to ambitious, corrupted or deluded citizens the facility to betray or sacrifice the interests of their own country."

James J. David is a retired Brigadier General and a graduate of the U.S. Army's Command and General Staff College, and the National Security Course, National Defense University, Washington DC. He served as a Company Commander with the 101st Airborne Division in the Republic of Vietnam in 1969 and 1970 and also served nearly 3 years of Army active duty in and around the Middle East from 1967-1969.

[cjwright90]

I do not get what we are holding on to them for. Can someone enlighten me?

[Sparrowhawk]

Originally posted by eddief
The Israelis aint our friends. On 911 five Mossad agents were cheering and recording the attacks on the World Trade Center towers. The only reason they care about us is because we're their sugar daddy to the tune of $3 billion a year.

WHere did you get this info?


<hr>

My two cents worth, but I think its more then a dollars worth...

Cook

<hr>

This James J. David Brigadier General, US Army (Ret) blames Israel as The source of terrorism. Including 911. This General's half truths are not supported by hard evidence. All of his statements are not fully disclosed as to what happened.

General Blames Israel for terrorism (http://www.mediamonitors.net/jamesjdavid1.html)


That's like the Arabs saying that we are to be blamed for the Crusades against the Arabs. The general has forgotten history that it was the Arabs that first attacked the Christians.
, that brought on the Crusades.

The general is very selective in whom he blames and in all his writings does not blame terrorist for their acts of violence against civilians.

While Israel targets military leaders and organizers of terrorism, and innocent Arab civilians are killed in the process this general fails to mention that the so-called "Palestinian resistance" targets mostly civilians.

Israel fight against terrorist acts subsided greatly when they burned down and destroyed the homes and removed the relatives and family members of the terrorist responsible for targeting and bombing innocent civilians.

<b>The general mentions for example;</b>
"In April 1996 the Israelis attacked an U.N. refugee camp in Qana, Lebanon and killed 103 innocent men, women, and especially children."


But that's not what happened.

Israel's was responding to attacks into Israel from Hizbullah guerilla camps in Lebanon, 155mm howitzer shells crashed into a U.N. post and more than 100 Lebanese refugees were killed.

What is not mentioned is that Hizbullah terrorist had killed thousands of Lebanese innocent civilians and that was the reason those citizens were at that refugee camp, trying to get awayf rom the terrorist that occupied their land to strike at Israel.

What the general also fails to mention is that Israel was also being attacked with rockets and mortars from that so called "refugee camp." This is a tactic that the NVA used in Viet Nam, that the liberal media in the US printed, that we attacked a friendly village, while failing to mention that the NVA had killed the civilians in the villiage in order to use it to rocket and mortar our positions.



Lebanon has not been an independent country for decades its military has been and is under Syrian rule and its policies dictated by Iran.

Don't blame Israel for terrorist acts by Muslims against Marines or US Citizens in America.

The general is only echoing what an arab by the name of Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed; who is head of

"The Islamic Human Rights Commission was set up in 1997. We are an independent, not-for-profit, campaign, research and advocacy organization based in London, UK. We foster links and work in partnership with different organizations from Muslim and non-Muslim backgrounds, to campaign for justice for all peoples regardless of their racial, confessional or political background."


But, its not what it is, that organization is just another front for the promotion of Islam as a world religion, and for placing Muslims in power.

Everything the general said, can be found in the two books written by the Arab "scholar." in these two books.

And of course the books blame AMERICANS for everything, "its our fault that Arabs commit terrorist acts, because we refuse to be slaves to their religion and ways of life.

All we have to do is submit to the Arabs and everybody will be so happy!!!!


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