View source for 1983 Beirut barracks bombing

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{{Infobox civilian attack
|title=1983 Beirut barracks bombing
|image=Beirutbarr.jpg|300px|caption=A smoke cloud rises from the rubble of the bombed barracks at Beirut International Airport.
|location= <nowiki/>
* {{Coord|33|49|45|N|35|29|41|E|type:landmark|name=USMCBarracksatBeirutAirport|display=inline,title}}<br/>[[United States Marine Corps]] [[barracks]], [[Beirut Airport]]
* {{Coord|33|52|10|N|35|29|17|E|type:landmark|name=DrakkarBarracks}}<br/>'Drakkar' barracks of French [[''1er Régiment de Chasseurs Parachutistes'']], Ramlet al Baida, Beirut
|date=October 23, 1983
|time=6:20 a.m.
|type=[[Suicide bombing|Suicide]] [[Car bomb|truck bombs]]
|fatalities= 241 American servicemen<br/> 58 French servicemen<br/> 6 civilians<br/> 2 suicide bombers
|injuries=75
|perps=Attributed to Imad Mughniyah{{Citation needed|date=April 2010}}}}
In the '''Beirut barracks bombing''' (October 23, 1983 in Beirut, Lebanon) during the Lebanese Civil War, two [[truck bomb]]s struck separate buildings housing [[Military of the United States|United States]] and [[Military of France|French military forces]]—members of the Multinational Force in Lebanon—killing 299 American and French servicemen. The organization [[Islamic Jihad Organization|Islamic Jihad]] claimed responsibility for the bombing, but that organization is thought to have been a ''nom de guerre'' for [[Hezbollah]]—or a group that would later become part of Hezbollah<ref>{{cite web|title=Informed Comment <!-- BOT GENERATED TITLE -->|url=http://www.juancole.com/2006/07/congress-expects-islamic-dawa-to.html|work=|archiveurl=http://www.webcitation.org/query?id=1241720698924967|archivedate=2009-05-07|deadurl=no|accessdate=2009-03-08}}</ref>—receiving help from the Islamic Republic of Iran.<ref name=Ranstorp>Ranstorp, ''Hizb'allah'' (1997), p. 89–90</ref>

[[Suicide bomber]]s detonated each of the truck bombs. In the attack on the American Marines barracks, the death toll was 241 American servicemen: 220 Marines, 18 [[United States Navy|Navy]] personnel and three [[United States Army|Army]] soldiers, along with sixty Americans injured, representing the deadliest single-day death toll for the [[United States Marine Corps]] since the Battle of Iwo Jima of World War II, the deadliest single-day death toll for the United States military since the first day of the Tet Offensive during the Vietnam War, and the deadliest single attack on Americans overseas since World War II.<ref name=HouseReport>{{cite web|accessdate=2007-09-30
|url=http://www.foreignaffairs.house.gov/archives/109/30143.pdf
|format=PDF
|title=Hezbollah's Global Reach
|work=Joint Hearing before the Subcommittee on International Terrorism and Nonproliferation and the Subcommittee on the Middle East and Central Asia of the Committee on International Relations
|publisher=House of Representatives, 109th Congress
|date=2006-09-28
|id=Serial No. 109–233
}}</ref>  In addition, the elderly Lebanese custodian of the Marines' building was killed in the first blast.<ref name=DoDreport8>{{ cite web|accessdate=2007-09-30
|url=http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/AMH/XX/MidEast/Lebanon-1982-1984/DOD-Report/Beirut-8.html
|title=Part 8 - Casualty Handling
|work=Report of the DoD Commission on Beirut International Airport Terrorist Act, October 23, 1983}}</ref>  The explosives used were equivalent to 5,400&nbsp;kg (12,000 pounds) of [[trinitrotoluene|TNT]].

In the attack on the French barracks, the eight-story 'Drakkar' building, two minutes after the Marine attack, 58 paratroopers from the [[1st Parachute Chasseur Regiment]] were killed and 15 injured, in the single worst military loss for France since the end of the Algerian War.<ref name=Wright72>Wright, Robin, ''Sacred Rage'', Simon and Schuster, 2001, p.72</ref>

The blasts led to the withdrawal of the international [[peacekeeping]] force from Lebanon, where they had been stationed since the withdrawal of the [[Palestine Liberation Organization]] following the Israeli 1982 invasion of Lebanon.

==The bombings==
[[File:USMC Barracks Lebanon 1983 Photo.jpg|thumb|left|The USMC barracks in Beirut]]
[[File:Marine Barracks, Beirut 1982.jpg|thumb|left|The building in 1982]]
[[File:USMC Barracks Lebanon 1983 Map.jpg|thumb|Sketch map of the route taken by the suicide bomber on the morning of 23 October 1983. [From the Long Commission Report].]]
At around 6:20 a.m., a yellow Mercedes-Benz truck drove to [[Beirut International Airport]], where the 1st Battalion 8th Marines under the 2nd Marine Division had set up its local headquarters. The truck had been substituted for a hijacked water delivery truck. The truck turned onto an access road leading to the Marines' compound and circled a parking lot. The driver then accelerated and crashed through a [[barbed wire]] fence around the parking lot, passed between two sentry posts, crashed through a gate and drove into the lobby of the Marine headquarters. The Marine sentries at the gate were operating under [[rules of engagement]] which made it very difficult to respond quickly to the truck. By the time the two sentries had locked, loaded, and shouldered their weapons, the truck was already inside the building's entry way.

The [[suicide bomber]] detonated his explosives, which were equivalent to 5,400&nbsp;kg (12,000 pounds) of [[trinitrotoluene|TNT]]. The force of the explosion collapsed the four-story cinder-block building into rubble, crushing many inside. According to Eric Hammel in his history of the Marine landing force,
<blockquote>The force of the explosion initially lifted the entire four-story structure, shearing the bases of the concrete support columns, each measuring fifteen feet in circumference and reinforced by numerous one-and-three-quarter-inch steel rods. The airborne building then fell in upon itself. A massive shock wave and ball of flaming gas was hurled in all directions.<ref>Eric Hammel (1985): ''The Root: The Marines in Beirut, August 1982-February 1984,'' Harcourt: 303.</ref></blockquote>
The explosive mechanism was a gas-enhanced device, probably consisting of bottled [[propane]], [[butane]], or [[acetylene]], placed in proximity to a conventional explosive such as [[primacord]], all of which are readily available on the retail market. Despite the lack of sophistication and ubiquity of its component parts, a gas-enhanced device can be a very lethal weapon. These devices are similar to fuel-air or [[thermobaric]] weapons, explaining the large blast and damage.<ref>Paul Rogers(2000)"[http://www.brad.ac.uk/acad/peace/publications/papers/psp1full.pdf Politics in the Next 50 Years: The Changing Nature of International Conflict]"</ref>

About two minutes later, a similar attack occurred against the barracks of the French 3rd Company of the 1st Parachute Chasseur Regiment, 6&nbsp;km away in the Ramlet al Baida area of West Beirut. Another suicide bomber drove his truck down a ramp into the 'Drakkar' building's underground parking garage and detonated his bomb, leveling the eight-story building and killing 58 French soldiers. Many of the soldiers had gathered on their balconies moments earlier to see what was happening at the airport<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rcp1.terre.defense.gouv.fr/index.php?centre=coeur_regiment/organisation/3cie.html|title=1st Parachute Regiment, Third Company|accessdate=2010-01-09|publisher=[[French Army]]}}</ref>  It was the worst military loss for France since the end of the Algerian War, 22 years earlier.<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,921350,00.html|title=Carnage in Lebanon|journal=Time|date=1983-10-31|accessdate=2010-04-19}}</ref>

==Death toll==
Rescue efforts continued for days.  While the rescuers were at times hindered by [[sniper]] fire, some survivors were pulled from the rubble{{Clarify|date=February 2010}}<!--Which building - US or French --> and airlifted to the [[USS Iwo Jima (LPH-2)|USS ''Iwo Jima'']], located offshore, and/or to the hospital at RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus or to U.S. and German hospitals in West Germany.<ref name="DoDreport8"/><ref>Buske, Jennifer, "Marine Museum Keeping Beirut Memories Alive", ''Washington Post'', October 22, 2008, p. VA3.</ref>  An 18 year-old local woman was killed after firing several shots at a rescue team nearby.{{Citation needed|date=May 2009}}

In the attack on the American barracks, the death toll was 241 American servicemen: 220 Marines, 18 [[United States Navy|Navy]] personnel and three [[United States Army|Army]] soldiers. Sixty Americans were injured. In the attack on the French barracks, 58 paratroopers were killed and 15 injured, in the single worst military loss for France since the end of the Algerian War.<ref name="Wright72"/>
In addition, the elderly Lebanese custodian of the Marines' building was killed in the first blast.<ref name="DoDreport8"/> The wife and four children of a Lebanese janitor at the French building were also killed.<ref name=AP19831030>"French Troops Heard Blast at Marine Headquarters, Then . . ." The Associated Press, October 30, 1983.</ref>

This was the deadliest single-day death toll for the United States Marine Corps since the Battle of Iwo Jima of World War II (2,500 in one day) and the deadliest single-day death toll for the United States military since the 243 killed on January 31, 1968, the first day of the Tet Offensive during the Vietnam War. The attack remains the deadliest single attack on Americans overseas since World War II.<ref name="HouseReport"/>

==Motivation==
According to some observers a major motivation for the bombing was the ill will generated among Lebanese Muslims, especially Shiʿa living in the slums of West Beirut and around the airport where the Marines were headquartered. They saw the MNF "not as a peacekeeping force but as another faction in the Lebanese war." U.S. troops particularly were seen as siding with the Maronite Catholics in their domination of Lebanon. Muslim feelings against the American presence were "exacerbated when missiles lobbed by the U.S. Sixth Fleet hit innocent by-standers in the Druze-dominated Shuf mountains."<ref>{{cite web|title= Marine Barracks Bombing (Lebanon) answers.com|url=http://www.answers.com/topic/marine-barracks-bombing-lebanon|work=|archiveurl=http://www.webcitation.org/query?id=1241720723487136|archivedate=2009-05-07|deadurl=no|accessdate=2009-03-08}}</ref>  Moreover, there was a growing feeling of frustration inside the Muslim and Druze community in Lebanon with US direct backing of Israel in the 1982 invasion of Lebanon and other pro-Israeli factions within Lebanon.  Furthermore, these factions had been responsible for multiple attacks committed against the Muslim and Druze Lebanese population.{{Citation needed|date=April 2010}}

Col. Timothy J. Geraghty, the commander of the Marines in Beirut during the incident, has said that "the Marine and the French headquarters were targeted primarily because of who we were and what we represented;" and that, <blockquote>It is noteworthy that the United States provided direct naval gunfire support -- which I strongly opposed for a week -- to the Lebanese Army at a mountain village called Suq-al-Garb on 19 September and that the French conducted an air strike on 23 September in the Bekaa Valley. American support removed any lingering doubts of our neutrality, and I stated to my staff at the time that we were going to pay in blood for this decision.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/story.asp?STORY_ID=1616 |title=25 Years Later: We Came in Peace |author=Colonel Timothy J. Geraghty, U.S. Marine Corps (Retired) |date=October 2008 |work= |publisher=U.S. Naval Institute's Proceedings |accessdate=2009-12-24}}</ref></blockquote> Other observers offer the same observation, while also recognizing that this is not the popular way to remember history; they also allege that some intellectuals and commentators on this issue have a skewed version of history<ref name="Nir Rosen">{{cite web |url=http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2009/10/29/lesson_unlearned |title=Lesson Unlearned |author=Nir Rosen |date= October 29, 2009 |work= |publisher=Foreign Policy |accessdate=2009-12-24}}</ref>.

Some analysts believe the Islamic Republic of Iran was heavily involved and that a major factor leading it to participate in the attacks on the barracks was America's support for Iraq in the Iran Iraq War and its extending of $2.5 billion in trade credit to Iraq while halting the shipments of arms to Iran.<ref>Anthony H. Cordesman, ''The Iran-Iraq war and Western Security, 1984-1987: Strategic Implications and Policy Options'', Janes Publishing Company, 1987</ref> A few weeks before the bombing, Iran warned that providing armaments to Iran's enemies would provoke retaliatory punishment.<ref>For Iran's threat of retaliatory measures; see ''Ettela'at'', 17 September 1983; ''Kayhan'', 13 October 1983; and ''Kayhan'', 26 October 1983, quoted in Ranstorp, Magnus, ''Hizb'allah in Lebanon : The Politics of the Western Hostage Crisis'', New York, St. Martins Press, 1997,p.117</ref>

==Response==
[[File:USS New Jersey firing in Beirut, 1984.jpg|thumb|The [[USS New Jersey]] fires a salvo against anti-government forces in the Shouf, 9 January 1984]]
U.S. President Ronald Reagan called the attack a "despicable act"<ref>Friedman, Thomas E. "Beirut Death Toll at 161 Americans; French Casualties Rise in Bombings; Reagan Insists Marines Will Remain." The New York Times [New York City]. Print.</ref>and pledged to keep a military force in Lebanon. Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger, who had privately advised the administration against ever having stationed U.S. Marines in Lebanon,<ref name=pbs>{{cite news
|url=http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/target/interviews/weinberger.html
  |first=Caspar
  |last=Weinberger
  |publisher=PBS Frontline
  |title=Interview: Caspar Weinberger
  |year=2001
  }}</ref> said there would be no change in the U.S.'s Lebanon policy. On October 24 French President François Mitterrand visited the French bomb site. It was not an official visit, and he only stayed for a few hours, but he did declare: "We will stay." U.S. Vice President George H. W. Bush toured the Marine bombing site on October 26 and said the U.S. "would not be cowed by terrorists."{{Cite quote|date=May 2010}}

In retaliation for the attacks, France launched an [[airstrike]] in the Beqaa Valley against alleged [[Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps|Islamic Revolutionary Guards]] positions. President Reagan assembled his national security team and planned to target the Sheik Abdullah barracks in Baalbek, Lebanon, which housed Iranian Revolutionary Guards believed to be training Hezbollah militants.<ref>{{cite paper
|title=Anne Dammarell et al. v. Islamic Republic of Iran
|url=http://www.dcd.uscourts.gov/01-2224.pdf
|author=Bates, John D. (Presiding)
|date=September 2003
|format=PDF
|location=District of Columbia, U.S.
|publisher=The United States District Court for the District of Columbia
|accessdate=21 September 2006}}</ref>  A joint American-French air assault on the camp where the bombing was planned was also approved by Reagan and Mitterrand.  Defense Secretary Weinberger, however, lobbied successfully against the missions.

In fact, there was no serious retaliation for the Beirut bombing from the Americans,<ref>McFarlane, Robert C., "[http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/23/opinion/23mcfarlane.html?_r=1&oref=slogin From Beirut To 9/11]", ''New York Times'', October 23, 2008, p. 37.</ref> besides a few shellings. In December 1983, U.S. aircraft from the {{USS|Enterprise|CVN-65}} battle group attacked Syrian targets in Lebanon, but this was in response to Syrian missile attacks on planes, not the barracks bombing.{{Citation needed|date=May 2010}} Multi-service ground support units were withdrawn from Beirut post attack on the Marine barracks due to retaliatory threats.

In the meantime, the attack gave a boost to the growth of the Shi'ite organization Hezbollah.  Hezbollah denied involvement in the attacks, but was seen by Lebanese as involved nonetheless as it praised the "two [[Martyrdom in Islam|martyr]] [[mujahideen]]" who "set out to inflict upon the U.S. Administration an utter defeat not experienced since Vietnam ..."<ref>quote from FBIS, August 1994, quoted in Ranstorp, Hizb’allah in Lebanon (1997), p.38</ref> Hezbollah was now seen by many as "the spearhead of the sacred Muslim struggle against foreign occupation".{{Cite quote|date=May 2010}}

[[Amal movement|Amal militia]] leader Nabih Berri, who had previously supported U.S. mediation efforts, asked the U.S. and France to leave Lebanon and accused the U.S. and France of seeking to commit 'massacres' against the Lebanese and creating a "climate of racism" against the Shia.<ref>statement from November 22, 1983. Wright, Sacred Rage, (2001), p.99</ref>  Islamic Jihad phoned in new threats against the MNF "pledging that 'the earth would tremble' unless the MNF withdrew by New Year's Day 1984.<ref>statement from December 1983, from Wright, ''Sacred Rage'', (2001), p.99</ref>

The Marines were moved offshore where they could not be targeted.  On February 7, 1984,  President Reagan ordered the Marines to begin withdrawal from Lebanon. This was completed on February 26, four months after the barracks bombing; the rest of the multinational force was withdrawn by April.

On 8 February 1984, {{USS|New Jersey|BB-62}} fired almost 300 shells at Druze and Syrian positions in the Bekaa Valley east of Beirut. Some 30 of these massive projectiles rained down on a Syrian command post, killing the general commanding Syrian forces in Lebanon and several other senior officers. This was the heaviest shore bombardment since the Korean War.<ref name="navysite">{{cite web |url=http://navysite.de/bb/bb62.htm |title=USS New Jersey (BB 62) |publisher=navysite.de|accessdate=2005-05-27}}</ref>

Although ''New Jersey'' performed her job expertly{{Who|date=May 2010}} during the intervention in Lebanon some{{Who|date=May 2010}} have criticized the decision to have ''New Jersey'' shell Druze and Syrian forces. Members of this camp allege that this action forced a shift in the previously neutral U.S. forces by convincing local Lebanese Muslims that the United States had taken the Christian side;<ref>{{cite web |url=http://countrystudies.us/lebanon/104.htm |title=Lebanon - United States |accessdate=2007-05-25 |author=U.S. Library of Congress}}</ref> ''New Jersey'''s shells had killed hundreds of people, mostly Shiites and Druze.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.charlesglass.net/archives/2006/07/lebanon_agonist.html |title=Lebanon Agonistes|accessdate=2009-10-17 |last=Glass |first=Charles |year=2006 |month=July |authorlink=Charles Glass|publisher=CounterPunch}}</ref> In his memoir, General Colin Powell (at the time an assistant to Caspar Weinberger) noted that "When the shells started falling on the Shiites, they assumed the American ‘referee’ had taken sides."<ref>Powell, Colin A. and Joseph Persico, ''My American Journey'', Ballantine, ISBN 0-345-40728-8</ref>

==Aftermath==
===Search for perpetrators===
[[File:Injuredussoldier1983.jpg|thumb|right|An injured U.S. Marine.]]
At the time of the bombing, several Shia militant groups claimed responsibility for the attacks, and one, the Free Islamic Revolutionary Movement, identified the two suicide bombers as Abu Mazen and Abu Sijaan.<ref name=BBC>
{{cite news|accessdate=2007-09-30
|url=http://news.billinge.com/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/23/newsid_2489000/2489117.stm
|title= 1983: Beirut blasts kill US and French troops
|work=On this Day &mdash; October 23
|publisher=BBC
}}</ref>

After some years of investigation the bombing was thought to have been committed by the Lebanese Shia militant [[militia]] and political party [[Hezbollah]] while it was still "underground," though opinion is not unanimous. Hezbollah did not formally announce its existence until 1985 when it published a manifesto condemning the West and proclaiming "Allah is behind us supporting and protecting us while instilling fear in the hearts of our enemies."<ref name=Goldberg>
{{cite news|accessdate=2007-09-30
|url=http://www.jeffreygoldberg.net/articles/tny/a_reporter_at_large_in_the_par.php
|title=A Reporter At Large: In The Party Of God (Part I) &mdash; Are terrorists in Lebanon preparing for a larger war?
|author=Goldberg, Jeffrey
|work=The New Yorker
|date=October 14, 2002
|archiveurl=http://www.webcitation.org/query?id=1241720710838211|archivedate=2009-05-07|deadurl=no}}</ref> The U.S. government believes that elements that would eventually become Hezbollah, backed by Iran and Syria, were responsible for this bombing,<ref name=Morley>
{{cite news|accessdate=2007-09-30
|url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/17/AR2006071700912.html
|title=What Is Hezbollah?
|author=Morley, Jefferson
|date=July 17, 2006
|work=Washington Post
|archiveurl=http://www.webcitation.org/query?id=1241720717437074|archivedate=2009-05-07|deadurl=no}}</ref> as well as the [[April 1983 U.S. Embassy bombing|bombing of the U.S. Embassy]] in Beirut earlier in April. Hezbollah, Iran and Syria have denied any involvement.

Two years after the bombing, a US grand jury secretly indicted Imad Mughniyah as the mastermind behind the bombing.  Mughniyah was never apprehended and was killed by a car bomb  in Syria on February 12, 2008.<ref>Hampson, Rick, "[http://www.usatoday.com/news/military/2008-10-15-beirut-barracks_N.htm 25 Years Later, Bombing In Beirut Still Resonates]", ''USA Today'', October 16, 2008, Pg. 1.</ref>

Lebanese author Hala Jaber claims that Iran and Syria helped organize the bombing which was run by two Lebanese Shia, Imad Mughniyeh and Mustapha Badredeen:

<blockquote>Imad Mughniyeh and Mustapha Badredeen took charge of the Syrian-Iranian backed operation. Mughniyeh had been a highly trained security man with the [[PLO]]'s Force 17 . . . Their mission was to gather information and details about the American [[embassy]] and draw up a plan that would guarantee the maximum impact and leave no trace of the perpetrator. Meetings were held at the Iranian embassy in Damascus. They were usually chaired by the [[ambassador]], Hojatoleslam Ali-Akbar Mohtashemi, who played an instrumental role in founding Hezbollah. In consultation with several senior Syrian intelligence officers, the final plan was set in motion. The vehicle and explosives were prepared in the Bekaa Valley which was under Syrian control.<ref name=Jaber>Jaber, Hala.  ''Hezbollah : born with a vengeance,'' New York : Columbia University Press, c1997. p.82</ref></blockquote>

Commentators argue that the lack of a response by the Americans emboldened terrorist organizations to conduct further attacks against US targets.<ref>McFarlane, Robert C., "[http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/23/opinion/23mcfarlane.html?_r=1&oref=slogin From Beirut To 9/11]", ''New York Times'', October 22, 2008, p. 37.</ref>  Along with the U.S. embassy bombing, the barracks bombing prompted the Inman Report, a review of the security of U.S. facilities overseas for the United States Department of State.

===Alleged retaliation===

{{Main|1985 Beirut car bombing}}

On March 8, 1985 a truck bomb blew up in Beirut killing more than 80 people and injuring more than two hundred. The bomb detonated near the apartment block of Sheikh Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah, a Shia cleric thought by many to be the spiritual leader of Hezbollah. Although the US  did not engage in any direct military retaliation to the attack on the Beirut barracks, the 1985 terrorist bombing was widely believed by Fadlallah and his supporters to be the work of the United States; Sheikh Fadlallah stating that `They sent me a letter and I got the message,` and an enormous sign on the remains of one bombed building reading: `Made in the U.S.A.`" Robert Fisk also claims that CIA operatives planted the bomb and that evidence of this is found in an article in the ''Washington Post'' newspaper.<ref>Robert Fisk, ''Pity the Nation'', 1990, p.581, paragraph 4</ref>  Journalist Robin Wright quotes articles in the ''Washington Post'' and ''New York Times'' as saying that according to the CIA the "Lebanese intelligence personnel and other foreigners ... had been undergoing CIA training" <ref>''Washington Post'', may 12, 1985</ref> but that `this was not our [CIA] operation and it was nothing we planned or knew about.` <ref>''New York Times'' may 13, 1985</ref> "Alarmed U.S. officials subsequently canceled the covert training operation" in Lebanon, according to Wright.<ref>Wright, Robin, ''Sacred Rage : The Wrath of Militant Islam'', Simon and Schuster, 2001 p.97</ref>.

===Lessons learned===
Shortly after the barracks bombing, American president Ronald Reagan appointed a military fact-finding committee headed by retired Admiral Robert L.J. Long to investigate the bombing. The commission's report found senior military officials responsible for security lapses and blamed the military chain of command for the disaster.  It suggested that there might have been many fewer deaths if the barracks guards had carried loaded weapons and a barrier more substantial then the barbed wire the bomber drove over easily. The commission also noted that the "prevalent view" among U.S. commanders was that there was a direct link between the Navy shelling of the Muslims at Suq-al-Garb and the truck bomb attack.<ref>{{cite web|title= 20 Years Later: Nothing Learned, So More American Soldiers Will Die by James Bovard, October 23, 2003|url=http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig4/bovard1.html|work=|archiveurl=http://www.webcitation.org/query?id=1241720729505090|archivedate=2009-05-07|deadurl=no|accessdate=2009-03-08}}</ref>

Following the bombing and the realization that insurgents could deliver weapons of enormous yield with an ordinary truck or van, the presence of protective barriers ([[bollard]]s) became common around critical government facilities in the United States and elsewhere, particularly in relation to Western civic targets situated overseas.<ref>[http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0JIW/is_1_58/ai_n14858440/pg_19 Hospital ships in the war on terror: sanctuaries or targets? | Naval War College Review | Find Articles at BNET]</ref>

An article in Foreign Policy titled "Lesson Unlearned" argues that the U.S. military intervention in the Lebanese Civil War has been downplayed or ignored in popular history - thus unlearned - and that lessons from Lebanon are "unlearned" as the U.S. militarily intervenes elsewhere in the world<ref name="Nir Rosen"/>

===Civil suit against Iran===
On October 3 and December 28, 2001, the families of 241 servicemen who were killed as well as several injured survivors filed a civil suits against Islamic Republic of Iran and the [[Ministry of Intelligence and National Security of Iran|Ministry of Information and Security]] (MOIS) in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia.
<ref name=Decision>"[http://news.findlaw.com/cnn/docs/iran/ptrsniran53003opn.pdf Memorandum Opinion] (Royce C. Lambert, judge), ''Deborah D. Peterson, Personal Representative of the Estate of James C. Knipple, et al., v. the Islamic Republic of Iran, et al.'' (Civil Action No. 01-2684 (RCL)) and ''Joseph and Marie Boulos, Personal Representatives of the Estate of Jeffrey Joseph Boulos v. the Islamic Republic of Iran, et al.'' (2003).</ref> In their separate complaints, the families and survivors sought a judgment that Iran was responsible for the attack and relief in the form of damages (compensatory and punitive) for wrongful death and common-law claims for battery, assault, and intentional infliction of emotional distress resulting from an act of [[state-sponsored terrorism]].<ref name=Decision/>

Iran (the defendants) was served with the two complaints (one from Deborah D. Peterson, Personal Representative of the Estate of James C. Knipple, et al., the other from Joseph and Marie Boulos, Personal Representatives of the Estate of Jeffrey Joseph Boulos) on May 6 and July 17, 2002.<ref name=Decision/> Iran denied responsibility for the attack<ref name=CNN2007>"[http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/09/07/marines.beirut/index.html Iran must pay $2.6 billion for attack on U.S. Marines, judge rules]." CNN 7 September 2007.</ref> but did not file any response to the claims of the families.<ref name=Decision/> On December 18, 2002, Judge Royce C. Lamberth entered defaults against defendants in both cases.<ref name=Decision/>

On May 30, 2003, Lamberth found Iran legally responsible for providing Hezbollah with financial and logistical support that helped them carry out the attack.<ref name=Decision/><ref name=CNN2003>"[http://www.cnn.com/2003/LAW/05/30/iran.barracks.bombing/ Iran responsible for 1983 Marine barracks bombing, judge rules]. CNN 30 May 2003.</ref> Lamberth concluded that the court had personal jurisdiction over the defendants under the [[Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act]], that Hezbollah was formed under the auspices of the Iranian government and was completely reliant on Iran in 1983, and that Hezbollah carried out the attack in conjunction with MOIS agents.<ref name=Decision/>

On September 7, 2007, Lamberth awarded $2,656,944,877 to the plaintiffs. The judgment was divided up among the victims; the largest award was $12 million to Larry Gerlach, who became a quadriplegic as a result of a broken neck he suffered in the attack.<ref>"Kessler>"Kessler, Glenn. "[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/07/AR2007090702494.html Iran Must Pay $2.6 Billion for '83 Attack]." ''Washington Post'' 8 September 8, 2007.</ref>

The attorney for the families of the victims uncovered some new information, including a [[National Security Agency]] (NSA) intercept of a message sent from Iranian intelligence headquarters in Tehran to Hojjat ol-eslam Ali-Akbar Mohtashemi, the Iranian ambassador in Damascus. As it was paraphrased by presiding U.S. District Court Judge Royce C. Lamberth, "The message directed the Iranian ambassador to contact Hussein Musawi, the leader of the terrorist group Islamic Amal, and to instruct him ... 'to take a spectacular action against the United States Marines.'"<ref name=Timmerman>
{{cite web|accessdate=2007-09-30
|url=http://www.kentimmerman.com/2003_12_22-beirut.htm
|title=Invitation to September 11
|author=Timmerman, Kenneth R.
|date=December 22, 2003
|work=Insight on the News
}}</ref> Musawi's Islamic Amal was a breakaway faction of the [[Amal Movement]] and an autonomous part of embryonic Hezbollah.<ref name=Lebanon>
{{cite web|accessdate=2007-09-30
|url=http://countrystudies.us/lebanon/90.htm
|title=Lebanon: Islamic Amal
|work=Country Studies
|publisher=Library of Congress
}}</ref>

Some in the U.S. government continue to hold that culpability in the Marine barracks attack is undetermined. In 2001, former Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger stated: "But we still do not have the actual knowledge of who did the bombing of the Marine barracks at the Beirut Airport, and we certainly didn't then."<ref name=pbs />

===Mossad involvement===
The self proclaimed former [[Mossad]] agent Victor Ostrovsky has accused Mossad of knowing of the plans for the bombing, but instead delivering a general warning (Ostrovsky 1991). It has been suggested that the reason that Israel did not inform the US was that the withdrawal of US and French forces prevented them from interfering with Israeli operations in Lebanon.<ref>{{cite book|author=Victor Ostrovsky and Claire Hoy|title=Way of Deception: The making and unmaking of a Mossad officer|publisher=St.Martin Press|year=1990}}</ref>  Benny Morris in his review of the book called Ostrovsky "barely a case officer before he was fired; most of his (brief) time in the agency was spent as a trainee" adding that due to compartmentalization "he did not and could not have had much knowledge of then current Mossad operations, let alone operational history." Benny Morris wrote that the claim regarding the Baracks was "odd" and an example of one of Ostrovsky's "Wet" stories which were "mostly fabricated."<ref>[http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0377-919X(199624)25%3A2%3C93%3ATFSOC%3E2.0.CO%3B2-0 The Far Side of Credibility, Benny Morris]</ref>

===Terrorism classification===
The bombing was categorised by the United States as an act of terrorism.<ref name="oded">{{cite book|isbn=0472069535|title=Predators and Parasites: Persistent Agents of Transnational Harm and Great Power Authority|author=Oded Lowenheim|year=2006|publisher=University of Michigan Press}}</ref>{{Rp|191|date=May 2009}} But according to academic Oded Lowenheim, the U.S. Marines had become allied with the Maronite Christians in Lebanon and were actively engaging in battles, thus waiving their non-combatant status.<ref name="oded"/>{{Rp|191|date=May 2009}} The U.S. still categorised this attack as an act of terror as it was directed against off-duty servicemen, which the U.S. defines as non-combatants.

==See also==
* [[Tyre headquarters bombings]], similar attacks against Israeli military posts in Lebanon
* [[Khobar Towers Bombing]]

==References==
{{Reflist|2}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|1983 Beirut barracks bombing}}
* [http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=39775 President Reagan reads Chaplain Arnold Resnicoff's first-hand account of bombing: ''Text Version'']; [[:wikipedia:en:Media:Reagan Speech Beirut Bombing.ogv|''Video Version'']]; [http://www.rabbinicalassembly.org/pastoral_care_resources/pastoral%20intervention/Resnicoff.pdf Text of original report,]
* [http://www.lebwar.org/ Lebanese civil war Full Information]
* [http://241.SaveTheSoldiers.com 241.SaveTheSoldiers.com A Honorary Tribute to the soldiers who died]
* [http://www.liberty05.com/civilwar/civil3.html Lebanese civil war 1983 Full of Pictures and Information]
* [http://www.rand.org/pubs/conf_proceedings/CF129/CF-129.chapter6.html John H. Kelly : Lebanon 1982-1984 – includes Diary entries by Ronald Reagan: " I have ordered the use of Naval Gunfire. " – September 11, 1983]
* [http://ibiblio.net/hyperwar/AMH/XX/MidEast/Lebanon-1982-1984/USMC-Lebanon82/index.html Report on the bombing]
* [http://www.lebaneseforces.com/images/blt1983/ Aftermath pictures]
* [http://www.beirut-memorial.org The Beirut Memorial Online]
* [http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/terror.htm Memorial to those killed]
* [http://www.beirutveterans.info/ BeirutVeterans.Info – Information for and about the Beirut Veteran]
* [http://www.beirutstamp.com/ Beirut Stamp Initiative]
* [http://www.beirutveterans.org/ Official Beirut Veterans of America Website]
* [http://www.drakkar-1983.org/ Drakkar, Beirut, 23 October 1983] – French tribute site with photographs

==Further reading==
*{{cite book
 | last = Geraghty
 | first = Timothy J.
 | authorlink =
 | coauthors = Alfred M. Gray Jr. (Foreword)
 | year = 2009
 | chapter =
 | title = Peacekeepers at War: Beirut 1983--The Marine Commander Tells His Story
 | publisher = Potomac Books
 | location =
 | isbn = 1597974250
}}

*{{cite book
 | last = Dolphin
 | first = Glenn E.
 | authorlink =
 | coauthors =
 | year = 2005
 | chapter =
 | title = 24 MAU 1983: A Marine Looks Back at the Peacekeeping Mission to Beirut, Lebanon
 | publisher = Publish America
 | location =
 | isbn = 1413785018
}}

*{{cite book
 | last = Frank
 | first = Benis M.
 | authorlink =
 | coauthors =
 | year = 1987
 | chapter =
 | title = [http://purl.access.gpo.gov/GPO/LPS98826 U.S. Marines in Lebanon, 1982-1984]
 | publisher = U.S. Marine Corps
 | location =
 | isbn =

}}

*{{cite book
 | last = Petit
 | first = Michael
 | authorlink =
 | coauthors =
 | year = 1986
 | chapter =
 | title = Peacekeepers at War: A Marine's Account of the Beirut Catastrophe
 | publisher = Faber & Faber
 | location =
 | isbn = 057112545X

}}

*{{cite book
 | last = Hammel
 | first = Eric M.
 | authorlink =
 | coauthors =
 | year = 1985
 | chapter =
 | title = The Root: The Marines in Beirut, August 1982-February 1984
 | publisher = Harcourt Brace Jovanovich
 | location =
 | isbn = 015179006X
}}
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[[Category:Suicide bombings in Lebanon|Beirut barracks bombing]]
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