October 23rd 1983

[5711-Marine]

Tomorrow marks the 25th anniversary of the bombing of the Marine Barracks in Beirut. Please take a moment to remember the 220 Marines, 18 sailors and 3 soldiers killed by terrorists.

I ask that you also take time to remember all of the men of the 24th MAU that were there that day.

While I was recovering in an Army Medical hospital from an injury suffered in the line of duty, the Marine Liaison at the hospital was a 'Root Marine. He was confined to a wheelchair and the time he spent with me, raised my spirits and made my recovery much easier even after having a piece of me amputated.

25 years later: A look at lessons from Beirut
By Jeff Schogol, Stars and Stripes
European edition, Saturday, October 23, 2008

ARLINGTON, Va. — Twenty-five years ago Thursday, a suicide bomber drove a truck full of 12,000 pounds of explosives into a U.S. military barracks at the Beirut airport, killing 241 U.S. servicemembers.

Most of those killed were Marines who were part of an international peacekeeping force in Lebanon. U.S. forces were withdrawn months afterwards.

Some have said the ultimate lesson of the episode is that backing down to terrorists only encourages more aggression, but others have taken away different lessons from Beirut.

"You should never again commit forces to a peacekeeping role unless there is a peace — a truce. We didn’t have that," said retired Gen. Al Gray, who was commander of the 2nd Marine Division at the time of the bombing, and later became Marine Corps commandant.

In 1982, the United States took part in a multinational peacekeeping force to Lebanon at the request of the Lebanese government.

The move came after Israel invaded southern Lebanon to wipe out the Palestinian Liberation Organization, and while Lebanon was in the midst of a civil war.

In December 1982, U.S. troops began training the Lebanese armed forces, which undermined the United States’ neutrality, Gray said at a Saturday panel discussion at the National Museum of the Marine Corps in Quantico, Va.

Then the U.S. forces earned "a pack-full of enemies" when the U.S. Navy shelled Druze positions in support of the Lebanese forces, Gray said.

"You don’t ever make any more enemies than you’ve already got," Gray said. "And you never do anything that’s not good for the people you’re trying to help. We violated that as a nation."

Retired Marine Maj. Robert Jordan views the withdrawal following the Beirut barracks bombing not a military defeat, but rather symptomatic of a "lack of political will."

When officials start worrying more about the troops than the mission, they defeat the purpose of the mission, said Jordan, a public affairs officer who was in Beirut at the time of the attack.

"When you are going to commit troops, you need to understand that when they go into harm’s way, they are probably going to be sacrificed: Some of them are going to die and some are going to be wounded and so forth, and force protection can only be relied on to a point," he said.

The U.S. government entered into the Lebanon mission without objectively and honestly assessing the risks, or how long U.S. troops would be there, said Anthony Cordesman, of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a bipartisan think-tank in Washington.

Another error, Cordesman said, was that the military intervention was not accompanied by economic aid and efforts to unite Lebanon’s warring factions — a mistake the U.S. government would later repeat.

"We went into Afghanistan without any clear plan for stability operations or nation-building," Cordesman said. "It took us years to recognize how serious the situation was."

The Lebanon experience also shows what happens when a U.S. mission becomes politicized, said retired Gen. P.X. Kelley, who was Corps commandant during the Beirut attack.

In late September and early October 1983, lawmakers held hearings on when U.S. troops should leave Lebanon, said Kelley, who was on the Oct. 18 panel with Gray.

"This is a little déjà-vu because this is happening in many cases today, where the Congress is saying: ‘When are you going to leave? When are you going to have your exit strategy? When are you going to do this? When are you going to do that?’ " he said. "In many cases, there are no reasonable answers that we military officers do know."

Eleven days before the bombing, Congress passed a law saying that the multinational peacekeeping force would remain in Lebanon for 18 months, Kelley said.

"Now Hezbollah, which was armed in the early 1980s for the expressed purpose of driving the Israelis out, had already — because the Israelis left — had shifted their focus towards us," Kelley said. "And to tell your enemy that not you’re not going to leave his territory for 18 months, I’m sure is one of the things that accelerated the bombing that took place on the 23rd [of October]."

[5711-Marine]

An excerpt from President Reagan's speech following the bombing

May I share something with you I think you'd like to know? It's something that happened to the Commandant of our Marine Corps, General Paul Kelley, while he was visiting our critically injured Marines in an Air Force hospital. It says more than any of us could ever hope to say about the gallantry and heroism of these young men, young men who serve so willingly so that others might have a chance at peace and freedom in their own lives and in the life of their country.

I'll let General Kelley's words describe the incident. He spoke of a "young Marine with more tubes going in and out of his body than I have ever seen in one body."

"He couldn't see very well. He reached up and grabbed my four stars, just to make sure I was who I said I was. He held my hand with a firm grip. He was making signals, and we realized he wanted to tell me something. We put a pad of paper in his hand - and he wrote 'Semper Fi.' "

Well, if you've been a Marine or if, like myself, you're an admirer of the Marines, you know those words are a battle cry, a greeting, and a legend in the Marine Corps. They're Marine shorthand for the motto of the Corps - "Semper Fidelis" - "always faithful."

General Kelley has a reputation for being a very sophisticated general and a very tough Marine. But he cried when he saw those words, and who can blame him? That Marine and all those others like him living and dead, have been faithful to their ideals. They've given willingly of them selves so that a nearly defenseless people in a region of great strategic importance to the free world will have a chance someday to live lives free of murder and mayhem and terrorism. I think that young Marine and all of his comrades have given every one of us something to live up to.

They were not afraid to stand up for their country or, no matter how difficult and slow the journey might be, to give to others that last, best hope of a better future. We cannot and will not dishonor them now and the sacrifices they've made by failing to remain as faithful to the cause of freedom and the pursuit of peace as they have been.

I will not ask you to pray for the dead, because they're safe in God's loving arms and beyond need of our prayers. I would like to ask you all - wherever you may be in this blessed land - to pray for these wounded young men and to pray for the bereaved families of those who gave their lives for our freedom.

[Steve in PA]

I tried finding a picture of the barracks from when I was in Beirut, but I don't have one. I was serving in Beirut in the early to mid part of 1983. The Marines that were killed were the ones who relieved us.

Semper Fi Marines.

[ScaredOnce]

An excerpt from President Reagan's speech following the bombing

Reading that again, as every time, actually choked me up a bit. All remember and God bless.

Thank you for being Marines.

[shooter357]

I was almost ten when that happened and remember it. My Father(WWll vet) was very pissed and I remember that very well.

[RocketFoot]

Hero's killed by a cowardly foe. I can only hope our revenge was swift and painful enough!

God Bless America and all her fallen Hero's!

[toysrubi]

Semper Fi Marines


Thank You

[LastManOut]

Thanks for the reminder Marine. Semper Fi

[Brown-Bear]

The Marines and the Coasties have a special relationship. Lots of each are alive today due to the actions of the others.

God bless.

Dave

[ironcowboy]

Thanks for the reminder! And thank you to all who have served.
I joined the Marines last month, things like this being one of the main reasons. I ship out for basic in June!

Semper Fi,