Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site fritz.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxr!mhuxt!houxm!mtuxo!mtunh!mtung!mtunf!ariel!vax135!cornell!uw-beaver!tektronix!hplabs!pesnta!pertec!felix!fritz!pwb From: pwb@fritz.UUCP (Phil Bonesteele) Newsgroups: net.politics,net.social,net.women,net.flame Subject: Re: Re: To Hell With Diplomacy Message-ID: <3233@fritz.UUCP> Date: Tue, 9-Jul-85 14:43:56 EDT Article-I.D.: fritz.3233 Posted: Tue Jul 9 14:43:56 1985 Date-Received: Sat, 13-Jul-85 11:20:41 EDT References: <373@aurora.UUCP> Reply-To: pwb@<373@aurora.UUCP>.UUCP (Phil Bonesteele) Organization: FileNet Corp., Costa Mesa, Ca. Lines: 54 Xref: watmath net.politics:9888 net.social:815 net.women:6354 net.flame:11102 Summary: In article <> al@aurora.UUCP (Al Globus) writes: >> >I know its hard to be a democratic society and refrain from military >> >intervention. But that time has come !!! > >Correct me if I am wrong, but a year or two back I distinctly remember >news reports about U.S. naval vessels blasting Lebanese villages with >high explosives. I think it was a battleship and a few destroyers. I >can also remember TV pictures of Lebanese homes reduced to rubble. I >don't remember the casualty figures, but given the general inaccuracy >of unspotted naval gunfire they were probably quite large, and very likely >civilian. Shelling people is an act of war. > > . . . > > (more justification of attacks on U.S. embassy, U.S. Marines, etc.) If my memory of those events serves me correctly, you are indeed wrong. The Battleship New Jersey and said destroyers fired on GUN EMPLACEMENTS ONLY, and with great accuracy at that (our modern naval vessels are equipped with automated means of determining trajectories of incoming rounds, and thus the exact coordinates of the firing gun emplacement ... of course these coordinates can be fed to automated fire control systems ... isn't it a wonder what computers have done for surgical warfare?). The rounds fired by the U.S. naval vessels were in RESPONSE to shells fired at the ground based Marines and/or the ships themselves from gun emplacements in the hills around Beirut and in the Bekka Valley. The objective was to silence the offending guns and the Navy was quite successful in achieving that objective with little loss of life (except for those stationed at the offending guns), a minimal number of rounds, and without "blasting Lebanese villages with high explosives". Never during the U.S.'s participation in the MULTINATIONAL peace keeping force did any U.S. military unit fire without having been fired upon. Remember, as a jesture of this policy, the Marines stationed at the Beirut airport were ordered to maintain their weapons unloaded. I would be pleased if Mr. Globus would attempt to restate his justifications of the bombing attacks on the U.S. Marines stationed at the Beirut airport and the U.S. Embassy, and the recent TWA hijacking in light of the above recollection of the past events. My opinion, briefly stated, is that the reasons for the various attacks on U.S. personnel, installations, and civilians is not as simple as Mr. Globus presents in his original article. Phil Bonesteele FileNet Corp. Costa Mesa, CA {ucbvax,decvax,ihnp4}!trwrb!felix!pwb "Government after all is a very simple thing." - Warren G. Harding, 29th President of the U.S.