Recently I spoke with a sailor who was aboard one of the ships that comprised the battle group supporting the Marines in Beirut in 1983. His story is haunting and damning at the same time. The sailor worked in the Comm section of the ship and handled message traffic on a daily basis. The one message that haunts him to this day is the flash traffic from a "CIA mobile" source located in Beirut on 10/22/83. The complete message will not be repeated here, but the main goal of the message was "Iranian agents planning Marine BLT Compound Attack". The message was passed up the chain, with no response from Washington. I had confirmed the sailors identity and know that his statements of the message are true and factual. His main goal in this release is to make the Marines and Sailors know that they are not at fault and never were. Although Colonel Geraghty had pleaded for more troops and more secure positions, Washington had turned him down. Now as the 23rd of October approached it seemed as if everyone except the Marines knew what was going to happen.
Can we draw the conclusion from these reports that there was sloppy communications? I cannot. I know being a Former Marine that every communication was taken as seriously as possible. The only conclusion I can draw from this is that our Brother Marines and Sailors were left purposely in harms way while the political forces that control the United States wondered if Iran and Syria would really do this to us. After all, we had let the terrorist Arafat go. Spoiled the Hated Israelis chance to capture him. We had gotten in between Israel and the various factions in Lebanon.
Would they (Iran, Syria) really treat us this way?
Yes, they would, they did and they continue to do it to this day. A treasonous act was committed on 10/22/83 by someone in Washington by not protecting our Brother Marines and Sailors. Who was it? We may never know. But know this, we will never stop our search for Justice against Hezbollah and all countries who harbor them.
Yes Virginia History does repeat itself, just look at the condition today of the Able Danger investigation.
ReplyDeleteI am the Sailor who found the message in the comm shack during the recovery effort. I only hope that I have not held on to this information to long.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the blog and have felt the sting of being betrayed by those you trust. I only hope that now maybe we can use this information to correct the wrong and help heal the wounds.