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The April 1983 U.S. Embassy bombing occurred on April 18, 1983, and was a suicide bombing of the United States Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon. This event was the deadliest attack on a U.S. diplomatic mission up to that time, and is seen by many as a watershed moment in U.S.-Islamic relations. Additionally the bombing has been considered by many to be an unofficial declaration of war upon the U.S. by Islamic terrorist groups.¹

Contents 1 The attack 2 Casualties 3 Motives 4 Lost ground 5 The aftermath 6 See also 7 External links 8 Notes 8.1 References

[edit] The attack

The attack was carried out by a suicide bomber driving a van carrying about 2,000 pounds of TNT. The van, believed stolen from the embassy a year before, gained access to the embassy compound and parked under the portico at the very front of the building, where it exploded.² Due to it’s origination from the embassy, the van was able to foil security and blend into it’s surroundings without drawing attention. The blast collapsed the front section of the embassy and killed 63 people, 49 of whom were embassy staff, while injuring more than 100. Most of the victims were eating lunch together when the blast occurred.³

[edit] Casualties

Seventeen of the casualties were Americans, eight of them worked for the Central Intelligence Agency, including the CIA's Near East director Robert Ames, several Army Instructors, a US Marine, and journalist Janet Lee Stevens who translated for Arab Media in Lebanon. The eight CIA casualties made up the entire Middle East contingent and represented a serious loss in Intel of the Middle East and experience in dealing with the more extreme forms of Islam. In addition to the 34 serious injuries, another 100 people reported being injured in the Suicide Bombing. Although there were nowhere near as many casualties as the Marine Barracks Bombing, the attack was the first Islamic attack that intentionally targeted American civilians.⁴

[edit] Motives

The attack was motivated by the American intervention in the Lebanese Civil War and the attack represented built up anger by Muslims against Western interference . In the aftermath of the killings of Palestinians at the Sabra and Shatila Massacre at refugee camps by Lebanese Christian militiamen, American troops had landed to try and restore order and central government authority to the war ravaged country. The group that was responsible for the attack had been the then slowly forming group Hezbollah (the name did not yet exist, rather the group consisted of an unknown number of Shiite Muslims), and would eventually solidify itself into modern form in 1985. Representing the Shi’a community of Lebanon, Hezbollah’s main goal in the attack was resisting “Modern Western Imperialism”.⁵

[edit] Lost ground

The deaths of the eight CIA Agents represented the greatest loss of information in the Middle East possible due to the complete destruction of the intelligence community.⁶ The CIA lost not only its agents, but also their connections, contacts, and safe sources of information. As a result the Reagan Administration was apprehensive to use military force when such an unclear situation was present in not only Lebanon, but also the Middle East as a whole.⁷

[edit] The aftermath

Following the attack, the embassy was moved to a supposedly more secure location to the north in East Beirut. However, on September 20, 1984, another car bomb exploded at this embassy annex, killing 20 and injuring 58. The US Embassy closed in September 1989 due to security threats and did not open again until November 1990. Along with the Marine Barracks Bombing, the incident prompted the Inman Report, a review of overseas security for the U.S. Department of State. This in turn prompted the creation of the Diplomatic Security Service from the old office of 'SY' in the U.S. State Department. A U.S. District Court judge ruled in 2003 that the attack was by what had been at the time been a new organization called Hezbollah supported by the state of Iran.^[1]

[edit] See also

• 1983 Beirut barracks bombing
• Suicide attack

[edit] External links

• Lebanese civil war 1983 Full of Pictures and Information
• BeirutVeterans.info - Information for and about the Beirut Veteran
• Beirut Memorial: The US Embassy Bombing

[edit] Notes

• Note 1: The Beirut Memorial, “History”<http://www.beirut-memorial.org>[12 February, 2007]
• Note 2: Embassy of the United States-Beirut, Lebanon. “Lebanon History” http://lebanon.usembassy.gov [13 February, 2007]
• Note 3: The Beirut Memorial, “History”<http://www.beirut-memorial.org>[12 February, 2007]
• Note 4: JSTOR, “Misunderstanding Terrorism” http://www.jstor.org [ 13 February, 2007]
• Note 5: JSTOR, “Misunderstanding Terrorism” http://www.jstor.org [ 13 February, 2007]
• Note 6: PBS, “Interview: Bill Cowan”http://www.pbs.org [13 February, 2007]
• Note 7: PBS, “Interview: Bill Cowan”http://www.pbs.org [13 February, 2007]

[edit] References

1. ^ Bates, John D. (Presiding) (September 2003). Anne Dammarell et al. v. Islamic Republic of Iran (PDF). The United States District Court for the District of Columbia. Retrieved on 21 September 2006.

2. The Beirut Memorial. 26 Apr. 2000. 12 Feb. 2007 <http://www.beirut-memorial.org>.

3. Cowan, Bill. Interview. PBS. 13 Feb. 2007. 13 Feb. 2007 <http://www.pbs.org/

4. Embassy of the United States-Beirut, Lebanon. 13 Feb. 2007 <http://lebanon.usembassy.gov>.

5. Simon, Jeffrey D. "Misunderstanding Terrorism." Foreign Policy 67 (Summer 1987): 104-120. 12 Feb. 2007 <http://www.jstor.org/search/