1983, he was notified of a message between Tehran and Damascus, Syria.
The message was from MOIS to the
then-Iranian Ambassador to Syria, Ali
Akbar Mohtashemi, who in 2003 served
as an advisor to the President of Iran. The
message instructed Mohtashemi to contact Hussein Massawi, leader of terrorist
group Islamic Amal (predecessor to Hezbollah), to have his group initiate attacks
on the multinationalcoalition(Americans,
French, Italians and British) in Lebanon
and to take “spectacular action against the
United States Marines.”
This assertion was validated by video-taped testimony from a Lebanese Shi’ite
Muslim known on court records only as
“Mahmoud,” who was a Hezbollah member involved in the 1983 attack. He testi-
fied that word was sent to go forward with
the attacks against the Americans and
French. (Dozens of French paratroopers
were injured, and 58 were killed in an
identical attack seconds apart from that
on Americans.)
Mahmoud described a meeting where
principal Islamic extremist leaders planned
the attacks.
“They got the order … they met and
adopted the operation against the Marines
SSGT RANDY GADDO
Above: Sailors from U.S. Navy ships offshore prepare to lend a hand in sifting
through the debris to look for remains, information or anything that would help.
Inset: (From left) Col Tim Geraghty, Commanding Officer, 24th MAU; Vice President
George H. W. Bush; and the 28th Commandant of the Marine Corps, Gen P. X. Kelley,
survey the damage two days after the bombing.
testimony that in 1983 Hezbollah was a
creature of the Iranian government.
“Bothfromaccountsof Hezbolla
hmem-bers and from accounts of the Iranians
andofeveryacademicstudythat I’maware
of … Hezbollah is largely under Iranian
orders,” he told the court. He added that
in 1983 Hezbollah, consisting primarily
of Shi’ite Muslims in Lebanon, acted almost entirely under the orders of the Iranians and was financed by them as well.
Iran framed Hezbollah’s primary ob
jective: to engage in terrorist activities in
order to convert Lebanon into an Islamic
theocracy modeled after Iran.
Hezbollah originally was formed in
1982 as a direct response to the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, confirms Robert T.
Jordan and Don Philpott in their 2006
book “Terror—Is America Safe?” Jordan
wasa Marinemajorin Beirutduring1983,
serving as the public affairs officer and
chief spokesman for Marines there.
“This Lebanon-based radical Shia group
takes its ideological inspiration from the
Iranian revolution and the teachings of
the late Ayatollah Khomeini,” they wrote
in the book. “Hezbollah is dedicated to
liberating Jerusalem and eliminating Israel and has formally advocated ultimate
establishmentof Islamicrulein Lebanon.”
Iran”s involvement was established f
urther with testimony from Admiral James
A. Lyons, who was Deputy Chief of Naval
Operations for Plans, Policies and Operations in 1983. He testified that 25 Oct.
and the French barracks at the same
time,” he said. He testified that one Iranian (the driver in the American attack)
and one Shi’ite (presumably the driver in
the French attack) were selected.
Mahmoud also gave testimony about
the vehicles used in the attacks that is
counter to what generally has been known
in the past. Reports from the time of the
attack described the truck used in the
American attack as either a white or yellow Mercedesdumptruck. However, Ma
h-moud provided different information.
“The cars [probably meant “trucks,”
but came out as “cars” in the translations]
were built and equipped in Biralabin
[phonetically spelled],” he stated. “One
red Dodge was painted exactly like the
