Hostilities increased against Marines stationed in Beirut, Lebanon, in the summer of 1983. “In September [1983], against the wishes of the U.S. commanders on the ground, the White House authorized ships of the U.S. Sixth Fleet standing offshore to shell Muslim positions outside the capital. Although [Secretary of State George] Shultz, in later testimony before an angry Congress, and [President Ronald] Reagan, in his personal diary, described the naval shelling as purely defensive, in effect it turned the United States into a combatant in the Lebanese conflict, implicitly changing U.S. policy from peacekeeping to intervention on the side of the Christians.” [The 15th of the month used for date sorting purposes only.]
– Karen DeYoung, Soldier: The Life of Colin Powell, Page 140