Opinion

Still paying for Reagan's decision?

Posted November 09, 2015 12:00 am

One can only wonder if the U.S. would have been attacked on 9/11 and now be facing terrorist threats if President Reagan had not cut and run following the terrorist attack on the Marine compound that resulted in the death of 242 Marines and service members in 1983.

President Reagan, without Congressional approval, had deployed 1,800 service personnel as part of the multinational force in Lebanon despite disapproval from military leaders. Three months after the terrorist attack that killed 242 Marines President Reagan ordered the withdrawal of all U.S. military personnel from Lebanon.

Why didn't President Reagan use the killing of 242 Marines by terrorists to severely punish terrorists groups? And why did the Reagan administration sell missiles to Iran a country that supported terrorism?

We will never know if we would still be facing the same level of terrorism if Reagan had not cut and run from Lebanon following the attack on Marines in Lebanon, but I suspect the failure to vigorously punish the terrorists in Lebanon only emboldened the terrorists to step up their program of terrorism.

Victor Darst

West Dundee

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