Benghazi and Beirut: Why no outrage over Reagan's deadly blunder?

I find it ironic but enlightening how today’s Republican and conservative commentaries are fixated on Benghazi, especially when compared to Beirut.

In 1983 President Reagan, over the strong objection of his own secretary of defense, ordered that American service members be sent into Lebanon as an international peacekeeping force. Although they were being ordered into a war zone, they were under strict presidential orders not to load their weapons. President Reagan’s own advisers pointed out that these service members were “sitting ducks.”

The American Embassy in Beirut sent numerous cables warning the Reagan administration that this action, combined with his ordering of naval bombardment of Lebanon would provoke terrorist actions and gravely harm America’s leadership in the Mideast.

The commander of the Marines in Beirut, Col. Geraghty, went on record opposing the United States Navy’s gunfire upon the Lebanese army on Sept. 19 as this “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.”

Pay in blood they did! On Oct. 23, 1983, 299 American and French service members died as a direct result of President Reagan’s actions. A suicide bomber drove 12,000 pounds of explosives into the Marine barracks unopposed and unchallenged and leveled the barracks. The loss of 248 U.S. military members, mostly Marines, still stands as the single deadliest day for the Marines since the WWII Battle of Iwo Jima.

The historical record is clear as to the culpability of President Reagan, but the times and the politics were different. Although President Reagan had ordered the Marines into an impossible defensive situation and issued orders that limited their ability to defend themselves, he was not overly criticized by the media and received even less criticism from Democrats.

A similar response from the media and Democrats was forthcoming after 9/11. Even though the two largest terrorist attacks in America’s history occurred under Republican presidential watches, Democrats’ patriotism and support of both Republican presidents was honorable. Using today’s Republican and conservative criteria, both presidents should have been impeached.  

There was something then about being Americans together, in troubling times, that made us stand together when attacked — rather than going on the attack against each other.

President Reagan’s failures three decades ago greatly contributed to the current mess in the Middle East. While President Reagan maintained that the guilty parties would be brought to justice and that America would not cut and run — cut and run America did.

Following the attack President Reagan pledged to keep a military force in Lebanon. His administration — to the man — maintained that America would stand by this pledge of staying, fighting and bringing to justice the terrorists responsible for such a large loss of American lives.  

Yet less than four months after bombing, on Feb. 7, 1984, President Reagan ordered the Marines to begin withdrawing from Lebanon. By Feb. 26, 1984, the withdrawal was completed and rather than hunting down the terrorists, America’s departure only increased their numbers and ambitions.

The once peaceful and beautiful Lebanon became the breeding grounds of terrorism — especially Hezbollah — with America’s abandonment. It remains so today.

The vacuum created by President Reagan’s handling of the largest terrorist attack against Americans — until Sept. 11, 2001 — greatly contributed to the growth of terrorism in the region, the permanent establishment of Hezbollah and terrorism throughout the world.   

In contrast, President Obama’s record at killing terrorists who have attacked Americans has been so successful in decimating the original al-Qaida network that Congress is considering enacting new legislation under the “authorization to use military force” enacted in 2001.  

When one compares Benghazi to Beirut, it is apparent that President Reagan had feet of clay compared to President Obama.

Tom Muri, of Whitefish, is a retired Naval JAG officer.