U.S. Marines in Beirut

Karam (1993) traced the origins of the gracious war to umpteen factors, including a weak state structure, regional tensions, and the trouble in the Arab world in response to the series of defeats by Israel. He felt that the Arab defeat in 1967 essenti whollyy lead to the wakening of various hibernating(prenominal) political and ghostly minorities, and the expulsion of the Palestinians from Jordan represent the final blow to Lebanese attempts to remain on the sidelines of the acherunning dispute between Israeli and Arab relates. In gain to that, Christians from many an(prenominal) radical Islamic countries had immigrated to Lebanon and they, too, were radicalized by the region's conflicts. All of this led to a fragmented, hostile society in which Christians and Muslims, and various factions at heart both groups, began to fight each other over the future of Lebanon (Fisk, 1992).

Essentially, according to Karam (1993), the com promises that the people of Lebanon had made with each other in order to exist as a state bust down. They were replaced by a radical factionalism that found compromise approximately sacrilegious, or offensive to their religious dogma. The radicalization of Lebanon was not unusual in the context of the Middle East of the 1970s. It was, instead, representative of the response of many of the people of the region to rapid freshization, military tensions with Israel, and perceived U.S. ideological, cultural, and amicable dominatio

However, in the week followers that first withdrawal of the Marines, Lebanon's Presidentelect, Bashir Gemayel was assassinated and Israel immediately invaded double-u capital of Lebanon. Following that came the Sabra and Shatila massacred, which involved the slaughter of the Palestinian well-bredians. According to Friedman (1989), the payoff was that the Reagan administration was overwhelmed with guilt for withdrawing the Marines so quickly and determined to deploy them under the guise of national security interests and support of the reign of the Lebanese government.

The situation that the U.S. entered was one in which rival religious groups, tribes, and clans were engaged in a feud to the death with each other.

The origin of these feuds were often centuries old, although suppressed by various conquerors and the modern building of the nationstate (Hiro, 1993). Nonetheless, they had never been resolved and remained dormant and waiting for the situation that would lead to the Lebanese civil war.

Auster, B.B. and Kiley, S. (1993). From Beirut to Somalia. U.S. News & World Report, 115(16), 3335.

What Might Have Been a Better Solution

Within Lebanon itself, there were both allies to, and opponents of, the U.S. interest in the Middle East. As Karam (1993) noted, the status quo forces in the civil war were essentially aligned with the United States and the West, particularly France. They tended to make up increased Arab influence in the country and oppose the Palestinian presence in Lebanon. Karam noted that early in the civil war the two forces could have been labelled as representing the proWestern, nationalistic, Lebanese, and conservative faction and the proSoviet, PanArab, reformist, leftist faction, temporary hookup by the later stages of the civil war the ideological contribution had faded into a religious conflict between Christians and Muslims.

In its investigation after the debacle, the Pentagon placed blame on all the parties involved. It considered t
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