30th anniversary of the attack on Beirut Marine barracks
Republished from last year;
Twenty-nine years ago today, 220 Marines, 18 sailors and three soldiers, were killed and sixty Americans were injured when a truck bomb disguised as a water truck penetrated superficial security at the Marine barracks in Beirut with about 12,000 pounds of explosives. Two minutes later, French barracks were struck resulting in in the deaths of 58 paratroopers from the 1st Parachute Chasseur Regiment and 15 others were injured. They were Multinational peacekeeping forces that had been in Beirut since the year before when Israeli forces drove Palestinians from it’s frontier with Lebanon.
On February 7, 1984, President Reagan ordered the withdrawal of US forces from Lebanon after some light shelling of suspected Shia positions and some brief French air attacks in the Bekkaa Valley. A raid on a camp where Iranian Revolutionary Guards were believed to be training Shia jhadists was called off by President Reagan because little evidence existed at the time that Iran was involved in the bombing.
The weak responses to the bombing by the US are believed to have emboldened jihadists around the world and contributed to the rise of Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed extremists in Lebanon. Iran has since admitted it’s participation to the attack.
Michelle Malkin lists the casualties.
At Together We Served, they’ve posted an online memorial to the casualties that day. Stars & Stripes publishes some of the witnesses’ accoutns of that day.
Category: Terror War
I went to boot camp and radio repair school with Cpl Moses Arnold. He was a great guy with a terrific sense of humor. I am sure that he would be a contributor to this blog if he was with us today.
I remember that day. I was in high school and part of a Marine JROTC program. Our Col. came in and told us what had happened. Still sticks out in my mind.
I was a newly-commissioned second louie trying to figure out the intricacies of officer life and best practices when the bombing occurred. Those days of late 1983 are still fairly vivid in my mind: The Beirut bombing, Grenada intervention, KAL 007 shootdown, etc. The world was a dangerous place back then, just as it is now, except with different actors on the stage…
I had just complete my third year in the Navy, as a lean mean BT3 I was standing the 0000 to 0600 watch on Pier #2 at Naval Station Newport, RI (I was awaiting orders to SWOSCOLCOM Plastic Palace. I heard the news on News Radio 880 (a NYC station that we picked up from the eastern tip of Long Island). I woke up the OOD at COMNAVSURFGRU 4 as I I knew we a ship there (I believe Connole, Capadonno or Miller). One hour later we were locked down in DELTA. I remember this event like it was yesterday.
One year earlier, as a crew member of USS Valdez (FF-1096) we participated in the evacuation. We ferried US PERS and allies from the beach to the ship and transported to Cyprus.
It was a bad day.
May the souls of the lost Mairines, Sailors, Soldiers and French Paratroopers rest well knowing we finally took the fight to the enemy.
I put up pictures and a video of Memorial park in Jacksonville NC on my blog at http://wordsforvets.blogspot.com/2012/10/the-memorial.html
THEY CAME IN PEACE
I remember this well also. I was just finishing up PCS leave enroute to Korea – if I recall correctly, I flew to Saint Louis for port call the next day. I was in Saint Louis awaiting transportation to Korea when Grenada kicked off.
Yeah, Sep-Oct 1983 was indeed eventful – as Combat Historian noted, KAL 007 occurred not long prior, and the Rangoon Bombing also occurred earlier that month. Interesting times to say the least.
Rest in peace, men. Rest in peace.
The downward spiral of politicians speaking one thing about the military and actually doing something about it. Not one single Marine avenged in this attack. Piss Poor, their dedication and sacrifice deserve much more.
Semper Fi
Senior in HS. I knew I was going to serve in some capacity, and events like this only strengthened my resolve.
Rest in peace, brothers.
In High School I get pounded in a wrestling match at states by a dude named Chuck Hasenfus from Dedham MA. I noticed on the list that there is a Michael Hasenfus from Dedham. Has to be a relative, but I can’t find anything.
Mike Hasenfus was Chuck’s older brother, he was also a pretty good wrestler.
May they rest in peace, and never be forgotten.
I was a young pup in Infantry OSUT at the time. This was a huge wakeup call to all of us, and just days later we got another in the middle of the night when we were dragged out of our bunks by our Drill Sergeants informing us “we were at War” having invaded Grenada.
One of the things that always bothered me was why didn’t Reagan do something about it?
The only thing I can think of is that Vietnam was still looming large in American memory. Still, to this day, that nothing was done leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
Though they are two different situations, there are enough similarities between Beirut and Benghazi, to be unsettling. Arguably, the most effective President in recent times, versus the worst in our history, both letting the violent death of Americans go unanswered. Anybody else see the irony?
I was young enough during Viet Nam that I didn’t really understand it or what was going on. I was a sophomore in high school when this happened and then Grenada right after. Certainly made me far more aware of what was going on in the world then the fallout drills we did in elementary school during the cold war. RIP men.
Well, Reagan didn’t do nothing – he invaded Grenada a few days later. In the world of politics, that’s doing something.
@11: If memory serves, we did retaliate against some folks who were connected to the attack. If I remember correctly, about a month or so after the barracks bombing, one of our battleships offshore (either WISCONSIN or MISSOURI) laid a full 16-inch broadside against the Syrian Army Ops Center that we had linked through ELINT to the ordering and/or supporting of the barracks/embassy bombings. We killed a bunch of Syrians with that broadside, including a Syrian 2-Star who was connected to the ordering/planning of the bombings. Reagan did not play up that retaliatory action, and neither did the media, so it has been more or less forgotten since then.
I was awakened at 0 dark 30 for an “alert” when this happened. Then, a few days later, I was, again, awakened at 0 dark 30 for another “alert”, except this one was a bit different than most of the others we always went through. There was an immediacy and sense of mission, along with the Operations Officer getting up in front of everyone and reading the regs on deployment, etc. Then the 141’s started arriving.
In an interesting twist, (personally), the Beirut Bombing led to my first encounter with a SV case of sorts. A family friend showed up at the house, with a piece of paper (about an inch tall) that said he was being ordered to Beirut. It would be years before I realized orders are more than just an inch of typing saying you’re going somewhere. It was also the first time I knew he was in the National Guard.
On the historical side of things, the ‘non-response’ of the US has had a long-term negative effect. The group that conducted the attack had used an unprecedented tactic (suicide truck bomb) and was a previously unknown group (Hezbollah) working then and now (but unknown at the time) as a direct agent of Iran. Even the mission statement of the new group was a new concept (Islamism as opposed to the nationalist socialism of previous terrorists in the region). In hindsight, it is very clear that we would have been best served by a re-doubling of efforts in Lebanon, by ending the “Peace-keeping” mission under international auspices and opening a multi-national war to rid the small ally of Islamist and Ba’athist forces. At that time though, Lebanon was not a popular endeavor to begin with, and the enemy itself was unknown. It was this attack which gave Hezbollah its “street creds” because it sent the US packing, or at least that is what was perceived by a diverse set of the populace of Southern Lebanon. Aside from a lack of sufficient information on a new enemy, we also had a formidable and threatening enemy just over the border of the Free World: the Soviet Red Army hordes. In today’s world, it is easy to forget that threat, and that as of 1983, its surrogates were knocking on our back door, with Cuba and Nicaragua having already fallen and El Salvador and Peru looking more and more like a lost cause. Yes, the loss of Viet Nam and the scars inflicted on Our Military and Our Troops by a successful enemy propaganda plan still fresh. The US Military had yet to recover from the cuts and abuses of the Carter years. While hindsight finds that we should not have backed down, the jury must judge based on the facts that were on hand. And that decision had to made in light of a bee sting inflicted by an irrational and unknown enemy, versus the constant threat of an elephant stampede of a very real and known enemy, suspected of supporting the terrorists.… Read more »
Like Old Tanker, I was a squashmore in HS at the time. I remember being livid. I’m certain that it was just one thing amongst many that guided my feet to the recruiter in 1985.
I remember this. I was ten years old, and had just moved to Idaho. I also remember being pissed that we never struck back, that we didn’t turn the entire region into glass.
Then as I grew older I realized there was a lot of complexity to this that my ten year old self didn’t know about or understand.
Now that I’m older still, I realize that my ten year old self was smarter than I later gave him credit for.
Lebanon hence becomes a good case study for many aspects of World and Mideast affairs:
It is the first foreign victory for Iran’s Islamist Revolution. To this day, South Lebanon is ruled by Hezbollah, as an extra-governmental government, and still ran by Iran, to include financing and arming of terrorists and a standing army, as well as welfare programs.
It is a case demonstrating the ineffectiveness of “peace-keeping” forces. Neither the Lebanese Military, or UN Forces go into South Lebanon without explicit permission of Hezbollah forces.
Lebanon still has a UN Peacekeeping Force, 30 years later, and it still isn’t preventing violence, nor does it have freedom of movement. On a fairly regular basis, violence breaks out, renewing the destruction of a once successful economy and a model of peace and human rights in the Middle East.
Lebanese expatriates continue to be some of the most successful businessmen, and demonstrate a remarkable tolerance of others, while others (of the Hezbollah variety) continue to demonstrate a ruthless, racist savagery.
From accounts I’ve read, Grenada had absolutely nothing to do with Beirut. The invasion of Grenada had already been decided on, and the plans set in motion, when Beirut happened.
Although we did have some intel indicating that some type of action might be in the offing, the specifics weren’t known or susptected. Beirut bombing itself was unexpected and caught the Reagan administration by surprise.
Probably the single greatest failure – both in prevention annd lack of effective retaliation – of the Reagan administration – and we’ve gone steadily downhill ever since.
David, while it can be argued that it was “the biggest failure” of the Reagan Administration, we have certainly not gone downhill ever since.
We had a steady climb out of abyss from 82 to 92, which including economic, National morale, and National prestige. We were on the right track.
We entered the 80’s in double digit inflation, double digit interest rates, and double digit unemployment, and a feeling of defeatism, inspired by Viet Nam and the crumbling of many nations around to communist terrorism and then tyranny. It was perceived that America itself would fall economically and militarily to the Empire of the Soviet Union, that it was only a question of time.
As we entered the 90’s, we witnessed the most successful economy on Earth, the Fall of the Soviet Empire under the economic weight of an arms race they could not afford, and the perception that peace on earth was at hand.
That that peace and prosperity was squandered in the 90’s and the ideals of socialism are re-branded and implemented in the aftermath of the failed communist experience, is as much the fault of the politicians in DC, as it is the willfully ignorant that elect them.
TN – generally I think we more or less agree – I was thinking in poltical terms (Presidents) than economic terms.
Ah, I must have read it differently than you intended then.
I was disappointed in Bush Sr, mad at Perot, found Clinton less bad than I expected, somewhat pleasantly surprised by Bush Jr, and find Obama to be far worse than I imagined.
So I guess we do pretty much agree, though I have to give credit to the Gringich Congress for preventing the worse aspects of what Bill wanted and admit I had rather low expectations of Bush Jr.
“The worst part for me is that nobody remembers.”- L/CPL Mark Nevells, 24th Marine Amphibious Unit
http://www.stripes.com/news/middle-east/beirut-bombing-survivor-the-worst-part-for-me-is-that-nobody-remembers-1.248481
Many do remember and pay solemn tribute to those Marines and others from different services who lost their lives.
I’m ashamed to admit that, although I was aware of macro events and read the paper every day (how old school does that sound?), I didn’t known and understand about everything the way I do now. I was too wrapped up in my life – school, engaged to be married, etc.
My turn around happened in 2004 with the tsunami in Indonesia. I was online looking for more information and discovered blogs. That led me to a number of political blogs by columnists I read in the paper, which led to other blogs, including milblogs. I’ve been a much more educated citizen since. I think the Internet and social media technology has really helped make people aware of the world and what’s going on. Before that, all news was filtered by the TV networks and newspapers. Now if something happens, it’s on Twitter within seconds, from people at the scene. There’s no hiding it.
I’ve read many account of the Beirut bombing in the past couple of years, just heartbreaking and maddening that we were so unprepared. Hindsight being 20/20, we’ve been at war with Islam since the founding of our country and should have never let down our guard.
@14
I remember the shelling from the Missouri (I believe it was), but didn’t know the rest. That’s like a drop of therapeutic grade peppermint essential oil on the tongue. Helps a lot with the bad taste. Thanks.