Thirty-Fifth Anniversary of the Marine Barracks Bombing

-Source-TownHall- With all the media focus on the caravan the Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi murder and later the pipe bombs there was scant coverage of the tragic Beirut US Marine Barracks bombing October 23 1983. We had proof positive intelligence the orders for that bombing came direct from Tehran but we never responded. It is well to review the events surrounding this tragedy and why we never responded. On that day 241 of our finest military personnel were killed with scores more seriously injured. Almost simultaneously a similar attack was carried out at the French military headquarters killing 58 French paratroopers. We have positive proof that these attacks were planned and ordered by Iran using their Islamic Amal terrorist proxies forerunners to Hezbollah in Lebanon. It is astounding that we had the information to prevent these attacks and even more astounding is the reason" for not retaliating. The National Security Agency issued a highly classified message dated Sept. 27 1983 which contained the instructions that Iranian Ambassador Ali Akbar Montashemi in Damascus had previously received from Tehran and then gave to Husayn al-Musawi the leader of the Islamic Amal. Those instructions directed the terrorist group to concentrate its attacks on the Multi-National Force but take a spectacular" action against the U.S. Marines. I was deputy chief of naval operations at that time and I did not receive that message until Oct. 25 two days after the bombing. That same day I was called out to the CIAs Langley headquarters because CIA Director William Casey wanted to see me. At the meeting Casey asked me whether I would develop plans to take out the perpetrators if he discovered who they were and where they were located. I readily agreed. He then had one condition whatever we give you cannot be shared with the joint staff. He didnt want to read about it in the next edition of the Washington Post. I agreed and never did turn over the key intelligence.