Aide: Reagan Warned Before Beirut Blast

By CALVIN WOODWARD, Associated Press Writer
Mon Jan 30, 11:28 PM ET



A former defense secretary for Ronald Reagan says he implored the president to put Marines serving in Beirut in a safer position before terrorists attacked them in 1983, killing 241 servicemen.

"I was not persuasive enough to persuade the president that the Marines were there on an impossible mission," Caspar Weinberger says in an oral history project capturing the views of former Reagan administration officials.

Recollections of an initial 25 Reagan aides were released this week by the Miller Center of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia. Altogether, scholars interviewed 45 Cabinet members, White House staffers and campaign advisers in a project begun in 2001, when Reagan was secluded with advanced stages of Alzheimer's disease. Reagan died in June 2004 at the age of 93.

Transcripts offer largely admiring portraits by Reagan's chief loyalists and Weinberger is no exception, crediting the president with restoring U.S. power and outfoxing the Soviet Union.

But he said one of his greatest regrets was in failing to overcome the arguments that "'Marines don't cut and run,' and 'We can't leave because we're there'" before the devastating suicide attack on the lightly armed force.

"They had no mission but to sit at the airport, which is just like sitting in a bull's-eye," Weinberger said. "I begged the president at least to pull them back and put them back on their transports as a more defensible position."

On another dark corner of Reagan's presidency, the Iran-Contra affair, former Secretary of State George Shultz said Reagan was so moved by meeting the families of U.S. hostages that officials feared the encounters would cloud his judgment, and began keeping the families at bay.

"The president, it just drove him crazy that there were these hostages in Lebanon," Shultz said in his December 2002 interview. Consequently, the "cockeyed dream" took hold of secretly selling arms to Iranians in return for their leverage in freeing the captives.

Weinberger, who often clashed with Shultz on foreign policy, agreed that Reagan's "idea of trying to get the hostages back overweighed almost everything" and arose from meeting the families. "Those meetings destroyed him, absolutely," he said.

Weinberger said Reagan discovered that his description of the Soviet Union as an "evil empire" twice got lopped out of drafts of his soon-to-be famous 1983 speech. "The third time he didn't put it in the draft, but he gave the speech with that phrase," Weinberger said.

"And you could hear this gasp from the conventional-wisdom people virtually all over the world."

James Kuhn, Reagan's second-term executive assistant, credited Nancy Reagan with much of her husband's success but said she was hard to please. He described her as a first lady who "could ask questions that there were no answers to."

For example, she would demand details of the weather in whatever place the Reagans were going. "And she'd say: 'Rain. Why is it raining? Why is it raining in Cleveland?'" Kuhn related.

"I'd say, 'Well, I guess there's a low pressure system that came in.'

"'Well, why?'

"I'd think, 'Oh God, I'm getting in deeper here.'"

Secondary Claims Important to Veterans

By: MIKE SCHUSTER - For the North County Times

I have received several e-mails from readers and thank them for their input. Tom McManus called to let me know that all Vietnam-era veterans from the early years of that conflict are now recognized by the VA as in-country Vietnam veterans from Feb. 28, 1961 through April 1975.

Let's discuss secondary claims for all veterans:

# Disability, which is proximately due to, or the result of a service-connected disease or injury. For example, a veteran has a right knee service-connected injury. For years he favors his good knee, but it, too, goes bad. The veteran may file a claim for his left knee condition secondary to his service connected right knee. The vet will need a doctor's opinion documenting that condition.

# A psychological condition often causes hypertension and heart disease, which VA and National Academy of Sciences studies have linked to the years of stress from these conditions.

This can mean that a veteran who suffers PTSD, major depression or similar disabilities can make a claim for secondary hypertension/heart disease to his service connected psychological disorder with a doctor's opinion. Or his widow, if the veteran died of a heart condition, may file a claim after producing a doctor's opinion that his psychological condition contributed to his death.

# Agent Orange Diabetes II that can lead to neuropathy, kidney, heart and other secondary conditions, which the veteran should and could be rated for.

# Prescription drugs for a service-connected condition that causes other medical conditions would be claimable. Once I had a veteran on prescriptions for his combat stress, which caused his teeth to fall out, his dental condition was ruled as being service connected by the VA.

Let's review "presumptive" conditions. The VA recognizes that certain disabilities veterans may develop years after service may be directly related to military exposure to certain conditions. Of course, all of these claims need a current medical diagnosis, such as:

# Asbestosis ---- A lung disease developed many years later from the veterans exposure to asbestosis during the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s, when asbestos was used as insulation on all U.S. Navy ships and numerous military barracks. If you have a lung disease, please talk to your doctor if it may be related. X-rays will show asbestosis.

# Other "presumptive" conditions exist for veterans exposed to atomic radiation and Agent Orange, and have been diagnosed with Gulf War Syndrome and more. For a review of those conditions, go to the VA Web site: www.va.gov and review the 38 Code of Federal Regulations, Sections 3.309 to 3.317. Get a doctor's opinion a diagnosis, your DD-214, and go see your veteran advocate to file that claim ---- if not for you, for your wife and children. A small investment in the beginning will pay off for the rest of the veteran's life.

Remember, the VA hires highly educated, many legally schooled, rating specialists, so give these VA employees the medical and legal opinions they seek. These VA rating specialists are mostly pro-veteran, but they too, have laws and rules set by Congress that they must adhere to. The best way to work the system is to provide them with the documentation they need to help you, the veteran.

Why Do We Want Justice?

I am asked many times a day on the web what is it that you want the government to do? Why can't you just let it go? What's done is done, so why not let it drop?

I answer all of these the same way, if you lost one member of your family would you let it go? No you wouldn't, no one would. We lost 241 members of our family that day not to mention the 32 killed before and after. When I say we I mean all of us, not just Marine, Navy, Army or Air Force but every person in this country. These men proved worthy of being a family member by taking up arms without question to protect all of us. Only a family member would risk it all for someone.

Now let's get to the point of just what justice is for me. Iran paid and helped plan the attack, Hezbollah provided the suicide bomber. These we know for sure are guilty of murder. Yes I said murder not an act of war, when people are killed by a group that is not recognized by the nation that it claims to protect it can only be murder. Since then Hezbollah and their backers have used terror to take control of Lebanese people.

Now I have to look at the evidence that I found 22 years ago, a message warning of the attack. It was sent from the comm shack to CINCLANT (Commander in Chief Atlantic Fleet), the message said between 10-22 and 10-24 and around 2200 on the 22nd the marines were put on alert. This makes me believe that at least someone took the warning serious, most likely on the local command level. Around 0200 on the 23rd the alert was rescinded, by whom? This is one of the questions we must have answered. If this was ordered at a local level of command then I would assume that the local commanders would be at fault. If the alert was ordered to be rescinded by Washington D.C. then I have to assume that there is more to this than meets the eye.

Recently I learned that a classified version of the first Beirut Investigation exists, if it contains what the public version does why is it still classified. It has been rumored that Israel knew the make, model, color and lic. plate number of the vehicle to be used in the bombing and decided not to give us anymore information than a probable attack between the 22nd and 23rd. Why? Because we removed Arafat from Lebanon and out of their grasp.

Weighing all this evidence is it possible to say that we don't have to bother looking at it all again? Or is it possible that these pieces of evidence are nothing more than circumstancing?

Everynight I see the faces of those I carried off the pile of rubble, they are dead but their eyes beg for justice. I have ignored their cries for 22 years now I have to fight this fight, it is my burden and our responsibility to see them at peace.

Some ask me why this concerns them? This is a disturbing question, it concerns all of us who have been protected by one of these men who died on October 23rd 1983. This also includes the 52 French Soldiers killed that day, it applies to the Italians who sent aid to help us remove our fallen and the British who aided in reinforcing our lines. The terrorists didn't just target Americans, they targeted everyone on the MNF ( Multi-National Force), now all of us should be demanding for justice.

The media, ahh yes the media. I have asked many large outlets for assistance in this matter only one has responded. Joe Galloway said he would be out of the country but would ask Knight-Ridder to look into this. I was appreciative but am still doing all I can do without their help. I have learned a lot in the last 3 months, there are very few people you can count on, of those divide by 2 and that is the number who will do more than talk about it. My wife, my brothers from Beirut, a few good souls on myspace and a few more from other assorted online communities. I was let down by this lack of caring for this cause but I was not shocked.

Be prepared to see this all over the internet, if a site has a forum we will post and announce our petition, if we can get any air time we will be all over it. But I know of a few sites that trashed the link to the petition as trolling, we posted it with evidence, never at any time did we bait anyone so I figure these sites deserve a mention here and I will one a week until they get the message.


www.politicalcrossfire.com/

This is the forum that decided that a petition had no place on a political forum in a section called House and Senate. Twice they locked our thread and removed the link. This is a conservative board mostly and guess what? So am I.

Well I guess what I am asking you to do is sign our petition, call your congressman, write letters and pass this around to all your friends. The best help is talking about it, when you are at work bring it up, bring it up whenever you can speak to a group of people who will listen. If you are a veteran talk to patients at the VA and even the staff. If you want to start your own paper petition please do, then when you have all the signatures you can get contact me and I will send you my mailing address so we can incorporate these into the online petition. The more signatures we have the less we can be ignored.

Original Petition

Secondary Petition for those who have a hard time loading the first

My Page

My wife's page

Remember it is our duty to remember.

PTSD

The medical community definition of PTSD;

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD, is a psychiatric disorder that can occur following the experience or witnessing of life-threatening events such as military combat, natural disasters, terrorist incidents, serious accidents, or violent personal assaults like rape. People who suffer from PTSD often relive the experience through nightmares and flashbacks, have difficulty sleeping, and feel detached or estranged, and these symptoms can be severe enough and last long enough to significantly impair the person's daily life.

PTSD is marked by clear biological changes as well as psychological symptoms. PTSD is complicated by the fact that it frequently occurs in conjunction with related disorders such as depression, substance abuse, problems of memory and cognition, and other problems of physical and mental health. The disorder is also associated with impairment of the person's ability to function in social or family life, including occupational instability, marital problems and divorces, family discord, and difficulties in parenting.

Pretty neat and clean isn't it? Well I can define it for me in a different light. It has been like I died 22 years ago and have been trapped in a body not capable of the simplest of emotions or recall, I may be able to move and I am thankful for that, I am truly thankful that I am not dead and have seen the birth of 2 more children and 2 grandchildren. But then there are the days I wish I had died so my wife and older children could have lived without seeing me like this.

Within days of leaving Beirut and heading home I started becoming angry for no reason, I was in arguments with my LPO ( leading Petty Officer) everyday. I felt the rage when I woke and kept it with me until I passed out from pure exhaustion every couple of days. When we reached port I would drink until I passed out to stop the rage I felt, but the anger was always just a click away.

Back at home I continued drinking myself to sleep everynight, usually would take a case of beer and a quart of whiskey between two of us. My family suffered, my career was over but I didn't know it yet and of course I was hurting myself with the everyday drinking.



I was diagnosed with PTSD in late 1984 after I begged the Navy for help, the rage had beaten the alcohol and I my life was in danger. I felt it building in me, eating away at me everyday, it was a cancer that had spread from me to my family. My wife watched as I came apart and sat on the brink of death, ready to take my own life. I didn't fear death then, I feared myself and what I was doing to my family. I hadn't seen what was causing the anger, it was locked under the alcohol and the denial. All I knew was that I was hurting and wanted to end the pain for all of us.

Well I got the help that was available at the time, some words and mostly medications to replace the alcohol. It didn't do much good, I saw what was causing the feelings, Beirut and the death and destruction. Myself and about 23 percent of the Beirut Veterans suffer from PTSD, why only 23%? Modern medicine really doesn't know what causes one person to develop PTSD when another doesn't. I have a theory that it is related to additional disorders, such as Bi-Polar.

I am not a doctor but I have talked to enough PTSD Vets within the VA and a lot also suffer Bi-Polar Disorder, and most suffer the effects of Chronic/Severe Panic Disorder. I developed the panic while in the hospital, I was headed home and was leaving a place I became safe. It was like setting off a nuclear device in my mind and now that I had some control over the PTSD it had been replaced by panic and a new group of fears. The worst was an overwhelming fear of death, not all death but dying in peace. I would without a doubt go out in a blaze of glory without any problems. I lay awake still everynight counting the breaths I have left and everyday that I wake up I feel blessed then I see that I am a day closer to the end and it starts all over.

22 years have passed and I have no better handle on the PTSD than the day I walked out of the hospital for the first time, most psychiatrists I speak to only want to know what medications I want, not what I truly need. I need justice for the murder of all 273 men killed in Beirut. My PTSD is based on the BLT HQ bombing at the message I have spoken about, others suffer from PTSD stimulated in many different actions. The WWII generation were afraid to speak of it, afraid to be labeled as weak so they drank and remained untreated. PTSD places a label on those already suffering, people refer to us as psychos, I hear he might go Postal, I wouldn't want him around me, etc. I have yet to go "Postal" or even raise my voice without provocation ( toward someone outside my home ) since I was discharged in 1985.

My wife and children have heard the rage, I did my fair share of yelling but I do not hit my family. That was taught to me before the PTSD, I was told never hurt those who depend on you for their safety, always protect those who are weaker or in danger.

Now I live everyday waiting for the next, waiting to see if I can make it one more day without the rage, the lack of emotion has been the only way I can keep the panic at arms length. But that same tool is what hurts my family, I either suffer or they do, neither of us can be comfortable at the same time.

As I said before I am still alive, can walk and have seen my grandchildren and for this I am grateful. My wife mourns the loss of the man she married 3 years before Beirut, we knew each other in High School and I was in love with her from afar then. I was lucky to marry her and now I have wasted 22 years of our life together by holding my back against a dam of emotions and fears. I know it was selfish but yet I still did it.

October 23rd 2005 I decided that enough was enough and I would seek justice for those men and their families, maybe the path would also allow me and my family to rest, maybe this is the key to the chains that bind my soul to that one moment in time. I have decided to pursue this in the political arena and to pay a tribute to my fallen brothers every chance I get. This Blog is just one of those tributes.

For more information on PTSD click here

Stupak Agrees To Help Beirut Veterans

Today I spent about an hour and a half on the phone with Rep. Bart Stupak of Michigan, we talked about the tragedy in Beirut in 1983. Rep. Stupak agreed to send a letter and ask for the investigation to be reopened he said it was doubtful anything would come of this letter but he would pursue it anyway.

When I sat on the cot in Beirut and cried for my country and all of our heroes and patriots I knew that a grievous act had been committed but by whom. Yes Hezbollah and Iran had been responsible for the bombing but who was responsible for ignoring the warnings? Our own government? Israel for not reporting all the facts? I feared the answer so I locked up my emotions and walked back onto the building to dig for more brave men who were murdered in their sleep.

The bombing was the largest loss of U.S. troops in a single day since the Tet Offensive, the largest loss of Marines since Iwo Jima. 241 men died while protecting a collapsing government from complete destruction. Israel had chased the PLO into Lebanon in the midst of a civil war, The Christian Phalangist Government had asked for our help and we with allies responded.

The British, French and Italians all sent their brave men to aid in this request. On October 23rd the French and the U.S. forces were hit with truck bombs, the British and Italians rushed to aid us and the French. It was a day that should always been in the minds of anyone who despises terror and the people who use it to control the weak.

Rep. Stupak understands the sacrifice made by all during those times, he is sympathetic to this cause but his fellow representatives are not and for this we may not be heard again. I would urge anyone who would like to see this happen to contact your representatives tell them to join Bart Stupak on this.

Please join me in thanking Rep Stupak for his assistance, even though I may disagree on his positions some of the time I feel I can trust him and this will be the first time I have been able to trust anyone since the day I found the message.