Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, October 22, 1993 TAG: 9310220202
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RON MARTZ COX NEWS SERVICE
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
"I feel we've failed. We haven't told our story well enough," Jordan said.
The story Jordan has been trying to tell is one of a military presence in a foreign country for political purposes, of politicians refusing to give the commander on the ground the flexibility and firepower needed to defend his troops, and of needless American deaths.
But Jordan's story is not about Somalia. It's about Lebanon.
Several hundred members of the Beirut Veterans of America will gather today in Jacksonville, N.C., to remember the 1983 and 1958 military missions to Lebanon.
Jordan, founding president of the organization and the Marine Corps' chief spokesman in Lebanon in 1983, said more than 1,000 are expected to attend a ceremony Saturday at the Beirut memorial just outside the gates of Camp Lejeune.
For many, it will be a reunion and commemoration made more painful by recent events.
The mistakes made in Somalia, said Jordan, are many of the same mistakes made in Beirut in 1983 and 1958.
"Don't we ever learn?" he said.
It was Jordan's dusty face and pained voice on the nation's television sets the Sunday morning of Oct. 23, 1983 explaining how a suicide truck bomber had crashed into the concrete barracks near the Beirut airport, killing 241 Marines and sailors and wounding more than 80.
It has been Jordan who is determined to keep alive the memories of those who died and to remind politicians and the public of the lessons learned there. The group has adopted the motto: "The First Duty Is To Remember."
Former Marines who served in Lebanon and plan to attend this weekend's memorial service say they are still angry about the restrictions on them during their deployment.
One of the biggest complaints: They were not allowed to shoot back at attackers without permission from higher authority.
"From Korea up until now everything is run by politics. Officers were scared to make the wrong decisions because they'd get caught up in politics," said Donald Renshaw, 31, of Folkston, Ga.
In a roundabout way, Jordan said, the fact that the Marines were withdrawn from Beirut so quickly after the bombing may have encouraged others to confront the United States, first in Kuwait, now in Somalia and Haiti.
"The fact we let this tragedy deter us from this original purpose gave the signal to others that all you have to do is kill a few Americans and the public will clamor for their removal. That is the wrong message to send," Jordan said.
Future missions abroad should be carefully selected, Jordan said, and the commanders on the ground given more latitude to defend their troops.
"We can no longer afford to be checker players against chess masters," Jordan said.
by CNB