Targeted Quotes

“the Marines, if successful, would prove even more extraordinary than an attack on the embassy. The Marines were, after all, a symbol of American might. For the operation, he brought in Abu Haydar Musawi, who commanded a martyrdom group known as the Husayni Suicide Forces. On October 18—the same day Reagan’s”
― Jack Carr, Targeted: Beirut: The 1983 Marine Barracks Bombing and the Untold Origin Story of the War on Terror

“Welcome to the Beirut Hilton. Military Discounts Available.”
― Jack Carr, Targeted: Beirut: The 1983 Marine Barracks Bombing and the Untold Origin Story of the War on Terror

“But the Marines were there not to fight; they were to serve only as peacekeepers.”
― Jack Carr, Targeted: Beirut — The 1983 Marine Barracks Bombing and the Untold Origin Story of the War on Terror

“Where do we find men like this?” the president continued. “We all know the answer. They come from families like yours, from farms and villages, towns and cities across this nation. What they did for us—for our country—is what America is all about.”
― Jack Carr, Targeted: Beirut: The 1983 Marine Barracks Bombing and the Untold Origin Story of the War on Terror

“Assad is willing to run a high-risk policy using his considerable assets to physically intimidate Lebanese communal leaders as well as to employ military force in support of Syria’s surrogates,” one secret State Department memo explained. “Syria has become so implacably opposed to Amin Gemayel that it is willing to see him fall rather than attempt to reach some accommodation with him.” To accomplish this, Assad tapped Druze and Shiite militias as proxies to wage war on Lebanon’s central government and undermine Gemayel.”
― Jack Carr, Targeted: Beirut: The 1983 Marine Barracks Bombing and the Untold Origin Story of the War on Terror

“In bewilderment and desperation, the United States keeps trying to apply Band-aids to cancer,” wrote New York Times columnist Flora Lewis.”
― Jack Carr, Targeted: Beirut: The 1983 Marine Barracks Bombing and the Untold Origin Story of the War on Terror

“We have people up in helicopters. We’re shooting rockets and artillery,” argued Illinois Republican senator Charles Percy. “If that isn’t imminent hostilities, I don’t know what it is.”
― Jack Carr, Targeted: Beirut: The 1983 Marine Barracks Bombing and the Untold Origin Story of the War on Terror

“McFarlane said of Kissinger. “It was a classic case of the ends justifying the means.”
― Jack Carr, Targeted: Beirut: The 1983 Marine Barracks Bombing and the Untold Origin Story of the War on Terror

“The real Syrian fear,” as one observer noted, “is that peace between Lebanon and Israel would draw yet another Arab state into the Israeli orbit and leave Damascus further isolated and open to devastating attack by the Jewish state.”
― Jack Carr, Targeted: Beirut: The 1983 Marine Barracks Bombing and the Untold Origin Story of the War on Terror

“Given Assad’s intractability, the administration decided to sideline Syria and focus first on Israel, a snub that would ultimately prove to be a serious misstep.”
― Jack Carr, Targeted: Beirut: The 1983 Marine Barracks Bombing and the Untold Origin Story of the War on Terror

“The fifty-two-year-old Assad, who had seized power in a bloodless coup, considered Lebanon a part of greater Syria, a hangover from the era before the breakup of the Ottoman Empire, which saw the region carved up into smaller nations.”
― Jack Carr, Targeted: Beirut: The 1983 Marine Barracks Bombing and the Untold Origin Story of the War on Terror

“another sad journey that we had to make before coming here tonight,” he said. “I just don’t feel, coming as we did from Andrews Air Force Base, I could stand up here. If you’ll forgive us, we’ll just hold on to the script and take a raincheck, and I’ll keep it for next year.”
― Jack Carr, Targeted: Beirut: The 1983 Marine Barracks Bombing and the Untold Origin Story of the War on Terror

“Gemayel failed to realize that by destroying those potential relationships, he created an opportunity for Syria to exploit domestic divisions and doom any hope of national reconciliation. “If there were any in Lebanon’s Muslim community whom Gemayel did not alienate, I didn’t know of them,” Friedman quipped. “Gemayel’s pigheadedness soon became America’s liability.”
― Jack Carr, Targeted: Beirut: The 1983 Marine Barracks Bombing and the Untold Origin Story of the War on Terror

“President Amin Gemayel viewed the Shiites, as Ambassador Dillon observed, “as low-class savages who could be ignored.”
― Jack Carr, Targeted: Beirut: The 1983 Marine Barracks Bombing and the Untold Origin Story of the War on Terror

“We’re going right into the fire on this one, where revenge, revenge, revenge is the order of the day,” added Senator Henry “Scoop” Jackson, a Washington Democrat.”
― Jack Carr, Targeted: Beirut: The 1983 Marine Barracks Bombing and the Untold Origin Story of the War on Terror

“I would simply ask that all Americans this evening, with a bended knee, thank God that this country of ours can still produce young Americans who are willing to lay down their life for free men everywhere.”
― Jack Carr, Targeted: Beirut: The 1983 Marine Barracks Bombing and the Untold Origin Story of the War on Terror

“The mission’s ambiguous nature frustrated General Vessey. “American military forces are reared in the doctrine that says that if you are going to use the forces, you need to give them a task to perform. What is it that you want them to do?” Vessey said. “We never got a sufficiently defined task that either we or the forces on the ground really understood.”
― Jack Carr, Targeted: Beirut: The 1983 Marine Barracks Bombing and the Untold Origin Story of the War on Terror

“The first mission of American military forces had been to oversee the withdrawal of the Palestine Liberation Organization, an operation that had a clear objective. But now, what precisely was the new mission? And without a defined goal, what would define success? No one knew.”
― Jack Carr, Targeted: Beirut: The 1983 Marine Barracks Bombing and the Untold Origin Story of the War on Terror

“Poor people in the U.S. have it good compared to this place,” Private David Madaras wrote in a letter.”
― Jack Carr, Targeted: Beirut: The 1983 Marine Barracks Bombing and the Untold Origin Story of the War on Terror

“Blessed are the peacemakers,” it read, “for”
― Jack Carr, Targeted: Beirut: The 1983 Marine Barracks Bombing and the Untold Origin Story of the War on Terror

“given Iran’s desire not to leave its fingerprints on the mission. The date selected for the operation proved easier. Al-Musawi needed a day in which the Marines would be relaxed, their guard down. For that, there was only one option. Sunday.”
― Jack Carr, Targeted: Beirut: The 1983 Marine Barracks Bombing and the Untold Origin Story of the War on Terror

“Politics is the art of compromise. War is not. —SENATOR ROBERT BYRD September 29, 1983”
― Jack Carr, Targeted: Beirut: The 1983 Marine Barracks Bombing and the Untold Origin Story of the War on Terror

“disparaged colleagues and wielded deceit as a political tool. “Working for such a complex, conspiratorial man, I found it hard, at times, to maintain my moral compass,” McFarlane wrote. “It was a four-year course in political hardball.”
― Jack Carr, Targeted: Beirut: The 1983 Marine Barracks Bombing and the Untold Origin Story of the War on Terror

“Ancient hatreds and danger lurked beneath that veneer. “Lebanon was a kaleidoscope of different factions and groups,” warned Draper, “not one of which could be trusted.” Friedman agreed. “There are no good guys here,” he added, “there are only bad guys and civilians.” This was the perilous reality American troops would soon face. “If”
― Jack Carr, Targeted: Beirut: The 1983 Marine Barracks Bombing and the Untold Origin Story of the War on Terror

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.” —MATTHEW 5:9, KING JAMES VERSION”
― Jack Carr, Targeted: Beirut: The 1983 Marine Barracks Bombing and the Untold Origin Story of the War on Terror