When Reagan Sent in the Marines: The Invasion of Lebanon

Journalist Sloyan (The Politics of Deception) recounts the 1982 Lebanon War and the bombing of the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut in this fast-paced, carefully sourced account. Sent as part of a multinational peacekeeping force to oversee the withdrawal of the PLO following the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, American troops were given ambiguous orders and rules of engagement, according to Sloyan. The massacre of refugees at the Sabra and Shatila military camps in Beirut, U.S. involvement in fighting between Christian and Muslim militias, and the rise of Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed Lebanese Shiite militia, set the stage for terrorist attacks on the American embassy and the Marine barracks, the latter of which killed 241 American servicemen. Sloyan’s biting critique finds fault with President Reagan for “tend[ing] to conflate old movies with pressing reality”; being obsessed with inflicting damage on the Soviet Union and its client state, Syria; allowing himself to be misled by national security adviser Robert McFarlane, among others; and scapegoating the Marine commander in Beirut rather than taking his fair share of the blame. Sloyan’s rapid-fire barrage of names, dates, and events will trip up neophytes, but those well versed in the subject will savor this critical assessment of U.S. involvement in the Middle East. (Dec.)