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If It Sounds Like Vietnam, It Must Be Lebanon

By VVAW

American Marines are dying in the Middle East. While the papers are full of "facts" about the Lebanese "government," army, and history, there a more than a few facts omitted. THE VETERAN presents some of them for you here:

1. Lebanon was a French colony whose borders were extended to include such Muslim areas as Tripoli and the Beka Valley.
2. Lebanon became "independent" in 1943. The French insured a 6 to 5 Christian majority of the citizenry. This was done through a manipulation of a 1930's census which has not been updated since.
3. The country remained relatively stable until 1956 by adhering to strict neutrality between the West and Muslim worlds.
4. The US changed this by pouring CIA funds into the coffers of the Christian President who attempted to change the Constitution and align with the US, leading to a civil war, followed by US troop invasion in 1957.
5. The Phalangist Party, the group that presently controls the government is modeled after the Fascist parties of Spain and Italy including a theory of racial superiority over their own Muslim citizens.
6. The U.S. and Christians approved an applauded the Syrian invasion of Lebanon in 1976 as a counter to the PLO.
7. The present "government" of Lebanon has no base except among the Phalangist Party (not even the whole Christian community, which is split several ways, supports it) and in reality should be call the government of Beirut. Beirut is the only area it "governs" and it needs Us, French, British and Italian troops to do that.

All things considered, how can U.S. troops serve any real use in unifying and promoting peace in Lebanon? And how many of Reagan's failed foreign adventures are worth the life of even one Marine?