On October 23, 1983, “a huge truck bomb had exploded at the airport barracks in Beirut [Lebanon]… By [the next] morning the U.S. death toll was 241, more than in any other single day since the World War II battle of Iwo Jima.” – Karen DeYoung, Soldier: The Life of Colin Powell, Page 140 […]
Category: quotes
10/23/1983
“…on October 23, 1983, six months and five days after the American embassy bombing [in Beirut, Lebanon]–the United States suffered its worst peacetime military loss ever. A suicide driver drove a truck filled with explosives through the front door of a building [in Beirut] the marines had converted into a barracks. Two hundred and forty-one […]
10/23/1983
“In an effort to show America’s resolve [after the Marine barracks bombing in Beirut, Lebanon, on October 23, 1983], Vice President George H.W. Bush was dispatched to Beirut. ‘We’re not going to let a bunch of insidious terrorists, cowards, shape the foreign policy of the United States,’ Bush vowed.” – Donald Rumsfeld, Known and Unknown, […]
10/15/1983
In The Iraq War Reader, Murray Waas wrote: “In October 1983, [U.S. chargé d’affaires in Baghdad William] Eagleton cabled his superiors, recommending: ‘We can selectively lift restrictions on third party transfers of U.S. licensed military equipment to Iraq.’ “ [The 15th of the month used for date sorting purposes only.] – Eds. Micah L. Sifry […]
9/27/1983
“On September 27 [1983], NSA [National Security Agency] sent an urgent warning message to the White House, the CIA stations in Beirut [Lebanon] and Damascus [Syria], and the Second Marine Radio Battalion SIGINT [signals intelligence] detachment in Lebanon, indicating that a terrorist attack might be mounted against the United States in the near future. But […]
9/15/1983
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 […]
4/18/1983
On April 18, 1983, a truck loaded with explosives made a run at the American embassy in Beirut, Lebanon. “Just as it crashed through the lobby’s door–at exactly 1:03 P.M., local time…it exploded. Even by Beirut standards, it was an enormous blast. …Sixty-three people, including seventeen Americans, were killed in what was then the deadliest […]
4/18/1983
“On April 18, 1983, in what would become a model for similar suicide attacks, a delivery van pulled up outside the U.S. embassy in Beirut [Lebanon]. The van had been stolen from the embassy the year before, so it was admitted to the protected compound and parked under the portico at the front of the […]
4/18/1983
“On April 18, 1983, sixty-three people, including the CIA’s Middle East director, were killed and 120 were injured when a 400-pound suicide truck bomb destroyed the U.S. embassy in Beirut [Lebanon].” The Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility. – Peter Lance, 1000 Years For Revenge, Page 181 […]
4/18/1983
“The [April 18, 1983] bombing of the American embassy and the U.S. marine compound in Beirut [Lebanon] was in fact the key turning point in Washington’s decision to build bridges with Baghdad [Iraq]. …Within weeks satellite intercepts of telephone conversations confirmed American suspicions–the terrorists responsible for the bombing had been guided by Teheran [Iran]. The […]