The War Iran Chose: Remembering the Beirut Bombing

The American Spectator | USA News and Politics

The best form of remembrance … reminding ourselves that the war with Iran didn’t begin this past February 28th with the decapitation strikes on Iran’s fanatical leadership

"On Oct. 23, 1983, shortly after 6:00 a.m. local time, a hijacked Mercedes stake-bed truck carrying approximately 6 tons of TNT-equivalent explosives smashed through a series of inadequate barriers and sentry posts and detonated at the building near the Beirut airport serving as the main barracks for peacekeepers from the first battalion of the 8th Marine Regiment. The four-story building collapsed on its occupants. Two hundred and forty-one American servicemen died: 220 Marines, 18 sailors, and three soldiers.

"Not quite 10 minutes later, a second truck bomb struck some four miles away at the building housing a contingent of French paratroopers, also present as peacekeepers deployed to help bring an end to the Lebanese Civil War. This time, 58 French soldiers died in the blast.

"For many days afterward, rescuers struggled valiantly to search for survivors trapped in the rubble, which proved to be largely a forlorn effort. The U.S. and French governments promised that they would honor their dead by staying the course and completing the mission and, briefly, their respective contingents were reinforced. But soon, and quietly, the withdrawal began. The U.S. would continue for a while to maintain a “rapid response force” situated on landing ships offshore, and the French conducted airstrikes.

"Most dramatically, the battleship New Jersey arrived and bombarded “terrorist associated targets” in Lebanon and Syria, pounding the Bekaa Valley with hundreds of 2700 pound 16-inch shells. Eventually, the New Jersey would also be withdrawn, along with the rapid responders, to no very great long-term effect.

"During the period following the bombing, the U.S. intelligence community generated significant evidence that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) had been behind the bombings. Retaliatory strikes against Iranian targets were debated vociferously, but quietly, within the Reagan administration, but in the end no such action was taken.". . .

. . . "Today, we mark the anniversary of the Beirut bombing. By all means, take the time to remember and reflect, to honor those who died so horrifically. But please, in your moment of reflection, remember that they were the casualties of a war we’re still fighting, a war we never wanted, a war not of choice but a war inflicted upon us. I would like to think that the dead from that day would appreciate the fact that, all these years later, we’re finally fighting back.

"One might say it’s about time."    More.

 James H. McGee is a retired nuclear security and counter-terrorism professional. His most recent novel, The Zebras from Minsk, was featured among National Review’s favorite books in 2025. His next novel, The Cathedral of Sorrows, will directly focus on the plight of Africa’s Christians.