A sad anniversary

Today is the 30th anniversary of the bombing of the Marine barracks in Beirut, Lebanon. Headquarters Company of the 1st Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment (the unit was designated Battalion Landing Team 1/8) was hit by a truck bomb driven by a suicide Islamist on a Sunday morning, October 23, 1983, killing 241 American service men, mostly Marines. This site has a great post about the event and notes that the Marines sent to Beirut were handcuffed when it came to accomplishing their peacekeeping mission:

The facts from Beirut were grim and maddening. Sentries without loaded weapons, crew-served guns with no ammo belts, lack of barriers on high-speed avenues of approach. All tactical sins, all foisted upon BLT 1/8 by those in Congress and in government concerned with “posture” and “appearances”.

Political considerations doomed the mission and, as it turned out, hundreds of Americans sent to perform that mission. There was heroism that day as survivors struggled mightily to rescue those trapped in the rubble and care for the wounded.

One of the big lessons of Beirut was don't send American troops to a hostile shore if you don't plan to let them fight to win.  Sadly, I don't think we learned that lesson yet.

Hat tip to Atlas Shrugged for the photo.