The new government had a destabilizing effect on Lebanon. Lebanon had been friendly to America, but had fallen into a devastating civil war, with one side fueled by Syrian and Iranian support and influence. In response, Pres. Reagan ordered an American armed force into that country--a move intended to protect our interests in the Middle East. A year later, however, with the deadly attack on the marine headquarters in Beirut, we would get our first deadly lesson in the determination and abilities of anti-American crusaders.
Lebanon should have taught us that the traditional hardware of war was becoming obsolete in a world in which enemies increasingly utilized deception, guile, misdirection, and other guerilla tactics--not as an adjunct of traditional forces, but as a replacement for them. In the end, Reagan ordered all military forces out of Lebanon.
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The above quotations are from The Test of our Times: America Under Siege...And How We Can Be Safe Again, by Gov. Tom Ridge. Click here for other excerpts from The Test of our Times: America Under Siege...And How We Can Be Safe Again, by Gov. Tom Ridge. Click here for other excerpts by Ronald Reagan. Click here for a profile of Ronald Reagan.
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