Letter to the Editor

Dear Editor:

I want to thank the Israeli Military for some partial closure. In 1983, the Marine Barracks in Beirut, Lebanon, was bombed by an Islamic Jihad Terrorist. He drove a truck loaded with 12,000 lbs of explosives, crashed through the gate, and rammed it into the barracks on a Sunday morning, killing 241 Marines, 18 Sailors, and three soldiers.

It was the largest single- day loss of life in Marine Corps history since the battle of Iwo Jima in WW II. The Marines were there on a peacekeeping mission. One of the planners of that attack was Ibrahim Aquil, who was a senior commander of the Hezbollah Terrorist Organization in Lebanon. He was killed by Israel Defense Forces on Sunday, Sept 22, 2024, along with other key commanders of Hezbollah.

The United States had issued a $7,000,000 bounty on him. Forty years later, it is no longer needed. Of the former Marines and sailors who did somehow miraculously survive that attack, most were disabled permanently, and I read they still have issues since that day. The Marine gate guards had weapons but were not allowed to have magazines in them, according to the orders of some diplomats. President Reagan withdrew the remaining forces from Lebanon a day later, and to my knowledge, sadly, nothing was ever done to go after those responsible for that horrible attack.

As a former Marine, I am glad that the day of reconning has come for some of those murderers of Marines and Sailors alive and dead from over 40 years ago. Thanks to the Israeli Defense Forces.

Dave Denton

Stockton