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“I lived in Lebanon in the fall of 1983 when the Reagan administration ordered the Marine peacekeepers deployed in Beirut to open fire on a Muslim militia. The commander bluntly warned Washington that a strike would have dire consequences for U.S. policy and his troops. ‘We’ll get slaughtered down here,’ he predicted. Nonetheless, the cruiser Virginia stationed offshore fired 70 deafening rounds on the Lebanese fighters. It was supposed to be a quick hit. It was supposed to send a warning. But 34 days later, on Oct. 23, a yellow Mercedes truck carrying the equivalent of 6 tons of explosives drove into the Marine barracks as the peacekeepers slept.”

http://www.latimes.com/opinion/commentary/la-oe-0829-wright-syria-consequences-20130829,0,7387106.story