Debbie Schlussel: Anniversary of Beirut Bombing Murder of Our Marines
Twenty-three years ago, today, on October 23, 1983, Hezbollah with the help of the Syrians, Yasser Arafat & his PLO, and assorted others, murdered at least 241 U.S. Marines--by other counts, it was over 300 Marines and U.S. civilians (the U.S. Embassy in Lebanon was bombed on April 18th of that year). The names of the slain U.S. servicemen are listed here.
As our Marines slept in Beirut, they were blown up. They were there to protect the P.L.O. and their sympathizers in Beirut from the Israelis who could have crushed them. They came in peace. For this--for protecting these people--our Marines were blown to bits.
A few of the Marines managed to escape. A trucker friend of mine from Michigan was among them. He told me that Palestinian and Syrian gunman with machine guns surrounded the perimeter of the Marine barracks, showering those few who managed to escape the fiery explosion with bullets.
As we see now, this is always the way American liberators are treated by the Muslim world--with death and destruction as a form of "appreciation."
While I admire Ronald Reagan greatly, he made a great mistake after this attack. Not long after, he pulled up the stakes and sent our Marines home. There's an old saying from Stalin or Lenin:
And you shall probe with bayonets. If you find steel, retreat. But if you find mush, keep digging.
Islamists found mush in America, when they drove us out of Beirut. Then, in 1985, they murdered Navy Diver Robert Stethem and after him, there were the torture deaths of Colonel William R. "Rich" Higgins and CIA Attache William Buckley--actions they would not likely have perpetrated, had we shown the Hezbos who's boss. But we didn't. Then they found mush in Somalia, and a cornucopia of other places. Bin Laden and others saw this. And they don't forget. "The Marines fled after two explosions," Bin Laden once said of the U.S. in Lebanon.
That's why we can't forget the Marines who gave their lives on October 23, 2006 to the thugs of Hezbollah--25,000 of whose supporters we gave tax-funded, free transport to America's shores, this summer.
The slain Marines probably turned over in their graves over that. They probably turned over in their graves that Hezbollah now has a large Amen corner in Dearbornistan, and it's growing. May those 241 plus U.S. Marines Rest In Peace.
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Read about Armando Ybarra, who lived but is seriously disabled in his right leg. He was awarded a Purple Heart.
Beirut Attack Survivor, Marine Armando Ybarra, Then . . .
Armando Ybarra, Now . . .
There is a memorial to the Marines, the Beirut Memorial in Jacksonville, North Carolina. Also check out the Beirut Stamp initiative site, the goal of which is to get a stamp memorializing these slain American peacekeepers before the 25th anniversary in 2008.
Read the story of the memorial and the family of one of the murdered Marines. "They Came in Peace" is carved on the wall--something you can never say about our Islamist enemies.
Others remember the murdered Marines, today.
More on the anniversary and what happened on that fateful day of October 23, 1983, at No Pasaran.
Posted by Debbie on October 23, 2006 02:48 PM to Debbie Schlussel