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THE YEAR WHEN EVERYTHING CHANGED

Why was the 1982 Marine deployment to Lebanon Reagan’s greatest regret?

To understand what 1982 is about, we must revisit the different memories it held. If 1982 is a message, it is not the same for everyone. The readings of the events that took place during that year’s summer varied from Sassine Street to the refugee camps, from the barricaded embassies to the religious seminaries frequented by Shiite youth.

Why was the 1982 Marine deployment to Lebanon Reagan’s greatest regret?

Arrival of the US Marines Sept. 29, 1982, in front of the MEA planes grounded on the tarmac since June 7. (Credit: L'Orient-Le Jour Archives)

BEIRUT — As US President Ronald Reagan was about to board Marine Force One for the last time in 1989 during George H.W. Bush’s inauguration, he told his press secretary, Marlin Fitzwater, that was the Marine deployment as part of the Multinational...
BEIRUT — As US President Ronald Reagan was about to board Marine Force One for the last time in 1989 during George H.W. Bush’s inauguration, he told his press secretary, Marlin Fitzwater, that was the Marine deployment as part of the Multinational...