25th Anniversary... (Full Version)

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rogueusmc -> 25th Anniversary... (10/25/2008 4:26:35 AM)

This month marks the 25th Anniversary of the bombing of the Marine Barracks in Beirut, Lebanon on 23 Oct 2008.
-They Came in Peace...

On Sunday, October 23,1983 at approximately 6:20 a.m. 241 Marines, sailors and soldiers were killed and hundreds of others were wounded or disabled. This was the result of a suicide truck, laden with explosives carrying the equivilant of 20,000 pounds of TNT that detonated on the ground floor of BLT 1/8 headquarters barracks in Beirut, Lebanon. The largest non-nuclear explosion of its time. Other servicemen from 1982-1984 perished from sniper fire and other atrocities. Others died years later or are permantly disabled as the result of their wounds. This makes a total of 270 Marines, sailors and soldiers that died during a peacekeeping mission.

Semper Fidelis Marines,
Lee



GJK -> RE: 25th Anniversary... (10/25/2008 5:33:41 AM)

I remember when that happened. I was on the 'rock' (Okinawa). Thought for sure that our unit would become activated but were not. It's no surprise that we still fight these same terrorists today, 25 years later.

Semper Fi



06 Maestro -> RE: 25th Anniversary... (10/25/2008 5:35:22 AM)

I remember it well. They were deployed just to calm things down-and actually help the PLO.



BoredStiff -> RE: 25th Anniversary... (10/25/2008 8:08:33 AM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: 06 Maestro

I remember it well. They were deployed just to calm things down-and actually help the PLO.

Keep thinking. Maybe someday you'll put 2+2 together.



SuluSea -> RE: 25th Anniversary... (10/25/2008 1:43:28 PM)

I was in the U.S. Navy and our ship was part of the Multi National Peacekeeping Force off the coast of Beirut when the bombing happened. We'd be patrolling I guess about 300 yards off the coast of that wrecked city. I had the mid watch that fateful morning and went for a run on the flight deck after my watch. I think it was around 5:50 AM I saw the Captain in a passageway heading towards the Chief Quarters. My first thought was "What is the Captain up this early for?" after I said "g'morning Captain" and noted the concern on his face. I knew something had happened. Little did I know at the time how terrible.



Titanwarrior89 -> RE: 25th Anniversary... (10/25/2008 1:54:12 PM)

A whole rifle company gone.  Very bad!  And some people are crying about whats going on today in iraq.  Whats even worst, most americans don't give it a thought today about what happened then.[:(]



noxious -> RE: 25th Anniversary... (10/25/2008 5:25:34 PM)

My uncle and aunt nearly died in the embassy attentat earlier that year : they taught at the American College (or somesuch in Beyrut) and lived right by the American embassy, in a concrete apartment building.
If they had been home....
I saw the pictures of the aftermath in their apartment : shards of glass stuck inches deep in the concrete walls, like metal shrapnel (but glass...) !!
They left Beyruth then and there.



noxious -> RE: 25th Anniversary... (10/25/2008 5:33:22 PM)

Erh, wrong. You forget the embassy blew up six months earlier : by that point, they were actually involved in the fighting alongside the Maronites militias (not the PLO).
Yes, they were off-duty, yes it was to fuel terror, but they were indeed "legally" combattants as defined by the various war conventions.
That doesn't take away anything from that tragedy, I just would rather have these men remembered for what they were, proud, courageous soldiers, than try to pass it off as a "terror strike" against non combattant personnel, aka the "political leveraging of the strike to further political ends"

That said, my thoughts are with the fallen, as always.



06 Maestro -> RE: 25th Anniversary... (10/25/2008 6:02:33 PM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: BoredStiff


quote:

ORIGINAL: 06 Maestro

I remember it well. They were deployed just to calm things down-and actually help the PLO.

Keep thinking. Maybe someday you'll put 2+2 together.


Are you implying that we should never send in ground troops to stabilize an area? If so, then do you propose just to bomb them into oblivion, perhaps even nuke them? That could solve the problem-ala "finale solution". Of course, we could let nature take its course, which would mean what has actually happened to Lebanon. A nation was destroyed because the world did nothing to protect it from Islamo Fascists.

The problem with just letting nature take its course, is that a bad situation only gets worse. There can be no doubt (assuming one keeps up on current events-for at least the past twenty years) that a nuclear war would have occurred in the Middle East by now. Intervention there is for a good reason, from a rational point of view-unless of course, your are an Islamo Fascist, or want to see a good part of the Middle East turned into glass for some reason.

So, B.S., what is your "finale solution" to this little dilemma? I'm all ears. If you do have a good one, I'll be sure to forward it to my senator at once.
I anxiously await your thoughts on this matter.



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