October 2008
25 Years Ago: The 1983 Beirut Bombing: Who Did It and How It Has Affected History
By CWO-4 Randy Gaddo, USMC (Ret)
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When the bombing occurred in 1983, these relationships and the true nature of the Middle East generally were known only to foreign-affairs experts at the highest levels. Marines, sailors and soldiers knew only that they were placed in the midst of this turmoil with a mission that was relatively new to the U.S. military: peacekeeping.
The irony of that title can be appreciated only if one considers that in that part of the world peace has been elusive for thousands of years. Peace in the Middle East continues to be a paper tiger chasing its own tail.
In the years following the 1983 Beirut bombing, the relatives, friends and fellow servicemembers of those slain in Beirut have kept their memories alive with annual October remembrances in Jacksonville, N.C. The attendees now include the children and grandchildren of those 1983 heroes.
But dedicated descendants want more than memories; they want someone to take responsibility. Some have initiated lawsuits that establish blame and seek compensation from guilty parties.
“Vince would have said we must hold these men accountable,” said Lynn Smith Derbyshire, whose brother, Marine Captain Vincent Smith, was killed in the 23 Oct. attack. She joined other family members of the 241 deceased servicemembers and injured survivors to become plaintiffs in a lawsuit entitled “Peterson v. The Islamic Republic of Iran.” Deborah Peterson is the sister of Corporal James Knipple, who also was killed in the bombing.
The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia conducted a bench trial on 17 and 18 March 2003 to determine the liability of the defendants for this “inhuman act.” Defendants were Iran, the Iranian Ministry of Information and Security (MOIS), Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.
The court ultimately found the defendants were guilty and liable to the plaintiffs for compensatory and punitive damages totaling billions of dollars. In the course of the hearings, many significant facts came to light that help explain some of the core questions posed earlier.
Court documents confirm beyond doubt that Hezbollah was the lead agent responsible for the bombing. But, more significantly, Hezbollah acted under orders from Iran.
Dr. Patrick Clawson, a renowned authority on Iranian affairs, provided expert testimony that in 1983 Hezbollah was a creature of the Iranian government.
“Both from accounts of Hezbollah members and from accounts of the Iranians and of every academic study that I’m aware of … Hezbollah is largely under Iranian orders,” he told the court. He added that in 1983 Hezbollah, consisting primarily of Shi’ite Muslims in Lebanon, acted almost entirely under the orders of the Iranians and was financed by them as well. Iran framed Hezbollah’s primary objective: to engage in terrorist activities in order to convert Lebanon into an Islamic theocracy modeled after Iran.
Hezbollah originally was formed in 1982 as a direct response to the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, confirms Robert T. Jordan and Don Philpott in their 2006 book “Terror—Is America Safe?” Jordan was a Marine major in Beirut during 1983, serving as the public affairs officer and chief spokesman for Marines there.
“This Lebanon-based radical Shia group takes its ideological inspiration from the Iranian revolution and the teachings of the late Ayatollah Khomeini,” they wrote in the book. “Hezbollah is dedicated to liberating Jerusalem and eliminating Israel and has formally advocated ultimate establishment of Islamic rule in Lebanon.”
Iran’s involvement was established further with testimony from Admiral James A. Lyons, who was Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Plans, Policies and Operations in 1983. He testified that 25 Oct. 1983, he was notified of a message between Tehran and Damascus, Syria.
The message was from MOIS to the then-Iranian Ambassador to Syria, Ali Akbar Mohtashemi, who in 2003 served as an advisor to the President of Iran. The message instructed Mohtashemi to contact Hussein Massawi, leader of terrorist group Islamic Amal (predecessor to Hezbollah), to have his group initiate attacks on the multinational coalition (Americans, French, Italians and British) in Lebanon and to take “spectacular action against the United States Marines.”
This assertion was validated by videotaped testimony from a Lebanese Shi’ite Muslim known on court records only as “Mahmoud,” who was a Hezbollah member involved in the 1983 attack. He testified that word was sent to go forward with the attacks against the Americans and French. (Dozens of French paratroopers were injured, and 58 were killed in an identical attack seconds apart from that on Americans.)
Mahmoud described a meeting where principal Islamic extremist leaders planned the attacks.
