Phantom Blooper
10-20-03, 02:05 PM
BEIRUT
BY SCOTT DODD & PETER SMOLOWITZ | STAFF WRITERS
BEIRUT U.S. embassies, military installations bombed. U.S. citizens hijacked, kidnapped, murdered. Thousands of Americans killed in terrorist attacks at home and abroad. This bold new breed of terrorism was sparked by far-reaching events 20 years ago in President Bush's administration includes many leaders who served under President Reagan during the Beirut barracks bombing, including the top officials in the Defense and State Departments.
A TRUCK BOMB RIPPED THROUGH THE U.S. MARINE BARRACKS IN BEIRUT 20 years ago this week, marking the first major assault in a two-decade terrorist war of embassy bombings and plane hijackings that culminated on Sept. 11, 2001.
The shocking attack killed 241 U.S. servicemen in a single strike -- more than died on the deadliest day of fighting in Vietnam, this year's six-week invasion of Iraq or the entire 1991 Persian Gulf War.
And it gave terrorists a major victory. The bombing drove the military from its peacekeeping mission in Lebanon and provided a blueprint for attacking Americans. The retreat of U.S. forces inspired Osama bin Laden and sent an unintended message to the Arab world that enough body bags would prompt Western withdrawal, not retaliation.
"There's no question it was a major cause of 9-11," said John Lehman, then-secretary of the Navy, who today is a member of the independent commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks.
"We told the world that terrorism succeeds."
About 2,000 Beirut veterans and family members will gather Thursday at Camp Lejeune in Eastern North Carolina, where most were stationed in 1983. They will mourn fallen comrades and remember a doomed mission.
At best, they believe, the world has forgotten their sacrifices. At worst, they fear they'll always be considered a failure -- and the painful lessons of their tragedy will be ignored.
"It was such a useless, fruitless thing," says Brian Kirkpatrick, who crawled from the rubble. "We gained nothing. We lost everybody."
But in the halls of the Pentagon and the State Department, Beirut has not been forgotten, Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage told The Observer. Many of the leaders from 20 years ago -- who now serve President Bush -- work to avoid a repeat of the disaster as they plan the military missions of today.
Bush reminded Americans of the tragedy in a prime-time speech last month. He urged the country to prepare for a long and costly effort to rebuild Iraq and not to repeat the mistake of leaving before the job was done.
"What would happen if we left this business unfinished," Armitage said, "is an Iraq that would become more of a threat -- sort of an Iraq unchained."
The Beirut bombing taught the United States more about protecting troops and picking battles. Using the military for peacekeeping, leaders learned, can be just as hazardous as fighting a well-defined enemy.
But as the U.S. death toll in Iraq rises, critics of the Bush administration question whether those lessons are being heeded, or if the United States has been set up for another failure at the cost of more American lives.
A political crisis
In 1983, Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger didn't want the Marines in Beirut.They'd gone in the year before to calm fears that Lebanon's civil war could spark a battle engulfing the entire Middle East. The Marines' role was to evacuate Palestinian fighters and prevent an invasion from neighboring Israel.
U.S. diplomats promised the safety of Palestinian families who remained. But after the Marines finished their job and withdrew in 1982, thousands of Palestinians -- largely women, children and the elderly -- were massacred by Israeli-backed Lebanese militia.
"It was three days of absolute butchery," said Robert Dillon, then-U.S. ambassador to Lebanon. The slaughter jeopardized a high-profile initiative by President Reagan to end the Arab-Israeli conflict.
An embarrassed State Department persuaded Reagan to send the Marines back, hoping their mere presence in Lebanon would prevent further bloodshed and salvage the peace plan. Weinberger fought the decision.
"We didn't have any objective," he told The Observer. "The argument was that to simply have Americans on the ground would maintain the peace."
The Marines were handicapped, former National Security Adviser Robert "Bud" McFarlane said, by infighting in the Reagan Cabinet. McFarlane and Secretary of State George Shultz wanted a more aggressive mission in Lebanon to root out foreign support of the warring factions. Weinberger and the Joint Chiefs of Staff were opposed.
"Behind the scenes was a very, very pitched battle," McFarlane said. "Reagan didn't want to take sides between his Cabinet officers, and the Marines were hostage to this paralysis."
To signal they were neutral in the civil war, the Marines were stationed between warring factions. They made their base at Beirut International Airport -- the tactically unwise low ground.
They carried weapons, but the rules of engagement mostly forbade them from keeping a round in the chamber. They had orders not to shoot unless they were direct targets and knew for sure who had fired first. The on-base drinking hole became known as the "Can't Shoot Back Saloon."
But by trying to keep order in Beirut, the Marines and U.S. diplomats were seen as allies of Lebanon's unpopular government and became targets of snipers, shellings and car bombings.
In April 1983, terrorists smashed a stolen GMC pickup loaded with explosives into the U.S. Embassy, killing 63 people, including 17 Americans.
Six months later, the truck bomb at the Marine barracks killed 241 U.S. troops.
(cont.)
BY SCOTT DODD & PETER SMOLOWITZ | STAFF WRITERS
BEIRUT U.S. embassies, military installations bombed. U.S. citizens hijacked, kidnapped, murdered. Thousands of Americans killed in terrorist attacks at home and abroad. This bold new breed of terrorism was sparked by far-reaching events 20 years ago in President Bush's administration includes many leaders who served under President Reagan during the Beirut barracks bombing, including the top officials in the Defense and State Departments.
A TRUCK BOMB RIPPED THROUGH THE U.S. MARINE BARRACKS IN BEIRUT 20 years ago this week, marking the first major assault in a two-decade terrorist war of embassy bombings and plane hijackings that culminated on Sept. 11, 2001.
The shocking attack killed 241 U.S. servicemen in a single strike -- more than died on the deadliest day of fighting in Vietnam, this year's six-week invasion of Iraq or the entire 1991 Persian Gulf War.
And it gave terrorists a major victory. The bombing drove the military from its peacekeeping mission in Lebanon and provided a blueprint for attacking Americans. The retreat of U.S. forces inspired Osama bin Laden and sent an unintended message to the Arab world that enough body bags would prompt Western withdrawal, not retaliation.
"There's no question it was a major cause of 9-11," said John Lehman, then-secretary of the Navy, who today is a member of the independent commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks.
"We told the world that terrorism succeeds."
About 2,000 Beirut veterans and family members will gather Thursday at Camp Lejeune in Eastern North Carolina, where most were stationed in 1983. They will mourn fallen comrades and remember a doomed mission.
At best, they believe, the world has forgotten their sacrifices. At worst, they fear they'll always be considered a failure -- and the painful lessons of their tragedy will be ignored.
"It was such a useless, fruitless thing," says Brian Kirkpatrick, who crawled from the rubble. "We gained nothing. We lost everybody."
But in the halls of the Pentagon and the State Department, Beirut has not been forgotten, Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage told The Observer. Many of the leaders from 20 years ago -- who now serve President Bush -- work to avoid a repeat of the disaster as they plan the military missions of today.
Bush reminded Americans of the tragedy in a prime-time speech last month. He urged the country to prepare for a long and costly effort to rebuild Iraq and not to repeat the mistake of leaving before the job was done.
"What would happen if we left this business unfinished," Armitage said, "is an Iraq that would become more of a threat -- sort of an Iraq unchained."
The Beirut bombing taught the United States more about protecting troops and picking battles. Using the military for peacekeeping, leaders learned, can be just as hazardous as fighting a well-defined enemy.
But as the U.S. death toll in Iraq rises, critics of the Bush administration question whether those lessons are being heeded, or if the United States has been set up for another failure at the cost of more American lives.
A political crisis
In 1983, Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger didn't want the Marines in Beirut.They'd gone in the year before to calm fears that Lebanon's civil war could spark a battle engulfing the entire Middle East. The Marines' role was to evacuate Palestinian fighters and prevent an invasion from neighboring Israel.
U.S. diplomats promised the safety of Palestinian families who remained. But after the Marines finished their job and withdrew in 1982, thousands of Palestinians -- largely women, children and the elderly -- were massacred by Israeli-backed Lebanese militia.
"It was three days of absolute butchery," said Robert Dillon, then-U.S. ambassador to Lebanon. The slaughter jeopardized a high-profile initiative by President Reagan to end the Arab-Israeli conflict.
An embarrassed State Department persuaded Reagan to send the Marines back, hoping their mere presence in Lebanon would prevent further bloodshed and salvage the peace plan. Weinberger fought the decision.
"We didn't have any objective," he told The Observer. "The argument was that to simply have Americans on the ground would maintain the peace."
The Marines were handicapped, former National Security Adviser Robert "Bud" McFarlane said, by infighting in the Reagan Cabinet. McFarlane and Secretary of State George Shultz wanted a more aggressive mission in Lebanon to root out foreign support of the warring factions. Weinberger and the Joint Chiefs of Staff were opposed.
"Behind the scenes was a very, very pitched battle," McFarlane said. "Reagan didn't want to take sides between his Cabinet officers, and the Marines were hostage to this paralysis."
To signal they were neutral in the civil war, the Marines were stationed between warring factions. They made their base at Beirut International Airport -- the tactically unwise low ground.
They carried weapons, but the rules of engagement mostly forbade them from keeping a round in the chamber. They had orders not to shoot unless they were direct targets and knew for sure who had fired first. The on-base drinking hole became known as the "Can't Shoot Back Saloon."
But by trying to keep order in Beirut, the Marines and U.S. diplomats were seen as allies of Lebanon's unpopular government and became targets of snipers, shellings and car bombings.
In April 1983, terrorists smashed a stolen GMC pickup loaded with explosives into the U.S. Embassy, killing 63 people, including 17 Americans.
Six months later, the truck bomb at the Marine barracks killed 241 U.S. troops.
(cont.)