Reagan on the US Marine force in Lebanon, 1983 (since it's D-Day)

[lebkuchen]

on edit: dates corrected

9/21
From the very first, I said we will never send our men any place where they will not be allowed to defend themselves if they come under attack.

On 10/19 three different reporters ask about the safety of US Marines in Beirut.

Reagan: We're not sitting idly by. We're looking at every option...to carry out the mission for which they were sent and...make their lives safer.

On 10/23 241 Marines die in Beirut when their barracks are bombed by a terrorist.

[charlie]

1. It was 10/23

And on 10/25 Ronnie launched the invasion of Grenada. Guy was pretty quick at making lemonade out of lemons, eh?

[lebkuchen]

4. Thanks for the correct

I'm reading the dates on my 1988 Ronald Reagan Countdown Calendar wrong.

It says of Oct. 26:

Spokesman Larry Speakes says Grenada airport was closed, though several flights left that day. He confirms that Grenada's promise of safety for US citizens on 10/24 was rejected. Plan to evacuate Americans on Cunard liner "Countess" was dropped.

Four reporters held incommunicado for 18 hours on ship "Guam." FCC warns ham radio operators not to transmit news from Grenada.

It says of Oct. 27:

Reagan on Grenada invasion: Last weekend I was awakened in the early morning hours...We had to assume that several hundred Cubans....could be military reserves....the number was much larger, and they were a military force.

Reagan on Marine barracks: When the truck crashed through...the guards opened fire, but it was too late.

(I'll bet you know the problem with that statement--
testimony confirmed that the guards' guns were unloaded)

[Hubert Flottz]

8. RE: "the guards opened fire, but it was too late"

He just got his scripts mixed up! Like the one the GOPers use about him being a "WAR HERO"!

[lebkuchen]

9. The US is being dragged through the mire now as with Reagan

Coincidence? I think not!

I'm adding to the post I made to you below.

BTW, is Reagan's "environmental" secretary James Watt still alive?

James Watt in Fresno, CA, Jan. 9, '82, as quoted by Colman McCarthy, Washington Post: I never use the words Republicans and Democrats. It's liberals and Americans.

Same shit, different decade!

[Old and In the Way]

5. The original 'Wag the Dog' distraction.

What anembarrassment that whole "war" was.

[charlie]

7. Think of how embarassed

Grenada vets must be, with their puny stories of a Weekend in Hell :)

[BeFree]

2. Lebanon was in a civil war then

And soon after the Marines were killed, the troops came home and Lebanon was peaceful again.

And they say if we pull our troops out of Iraq ........

[Hubert Flottz]

3. Reagan said he wouldn't make deals with terrorists too!

That is how he beat Jimmy Carter though!

[lebkuchen]

6. At first he denied it, and when caught, wouldn't apologize for it

RR on 11/13/86:

We did not--repeat--did not trade weapons or anything else for hostages. Nor will we.

RR on 11/19/86:

To eliminate the widespread perception that we have been exchanging arms for hostages, I have directed that no further...arms of any kind be sent to Iran. I don't think a mistake was made. It was a high-risk gamble...I believe the circumstaces warranted . And I don't see that it has been a fiasco...We still have those contacts, we still have made some ground, we got our hostages back, three of them."

RR on the Iran crisis, 11/24/86:

I'm not firing anybody.
and...I did not make a mistake by sending arms to Iran.

On 11/25/86 RR fires Lt. Col. Oliver North and accepts the resignation of VAdm John M. Poindexter, national security adviser, after disclosure by Edwin Meese III of diversion of funds from Iranian arms sales to provide arms to Nicaraguan contras.

Reagan: I was not fully informed on the nature of one of the activities undertaken in connection with this initiative. (Reagan must have had a talk with his lawyer, as Bush is doing now!)

12/12/86 Govt. sources tell LA Times that CIA Director Casey pushed arms merchant Manucher Ghorbanifar as a link with Iran, though the agency believed him "a chronic liar." (shades of Chalabi)

12/15/86 CIA Director William J. Casey hospitalized after brain seisure.

[Hubert Flottz]

10. The Gipper Was A Flipper?

That sucker waffled on his promise!("I'm not firing anybody") A Flipper and for sure a total Flopper when it came to REAL COMPASSION for anyone but the super wealthy!

[lebkuchen]

11. Yep! All the evidence, right here in my RR Countdown Calendar '88-89

A collector's item as of today!

One thing's for sure about these RW screwballs--they create their own subculture from their lunacy and demagoguery.

[Hubert Flottz]

12. The difference between us and them is:

We don't feel the need to pretend we are something we are not! Pretending is the GOPer's strongest suit! It seems only fair then, that they would worship a play actor like Reagan, as one of their all time best and brightest! A real "Gipper" ONLY on the silver screen, but a play actor in reality! I hated him for his union busting and his deregulation that made things like ENRON and FOX happen!