American policy towards present Middle-East in support of Israel and the GCC states under leadership of Saudi Arabia feeding on revenge for 1983 Beirut US Marines barrack bombing. The rise of Khomeiny and the hostage taking at US embassy in Teheran of 1979.
1983 bombing was opening salvo in ‘war on terror’: Pence | The Daily Star – Beirut |
U.S. Vice President Mike Pence Monday described the 1983 Beirut bombing that killed over 200 Marines as the “opening salvo” of the war on terror as he hit out at Hezbollah and Iran.
Pence: Hezbollah sparked the war on terror
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A truck carrying more than 2,000 pounds of explosives sped past a sentry post and exploded outside the Beirut barracks in the early hours of Oct. 23, 1983, as many servicemen slept. (AP Photo/Jim Bourdier)
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On March 8, 1985, a car bomb carrying 200 kilograms of explosives detonated outside Fadlallah’s home in the southern suburbs of Beirut. The bomb devastated the neighborhood, killing 80 people and wounding approximately 200 more. Fadlallah, however, escaped without injury. In the eyes of his followers, there was no doubt who was responsible: They strung up a “MADE IN USA” banner over a destroyed building immediately following the attack. The U.S. government, however, steadfastly denied any involvement. Targeted assassinations, officials pointed out, were explicitly forbidden since Gerald Ford’s administration.
Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward’s explosive account of CIA involvement in the Middle East, Veil: The Secret Wars of the CIA 1981-1987, would eventually undermine the official denials. Woodward, drawing on interviews with President Ronald Reagan’s aggressive CIA Director William Casey, reported that Casey had circumvented the spy agency’s established bureaucracy to funnel money to a professional hit team trained to assassinate Fadlallah.
