America Shouldn't Choose Sides in Iraq's Civil War

Online WSJ ^ | June 19, 2014 7:12 p.m. ET | Rand Paul

[ansel12]

Huh? Reagan didn’t get mired in the Middle East, the Granada attack was already launched when the Marine garrison was bombed, and he stayed focused on the Soviet empire, and brought it down, much to everyone’s shock and dismay.

[wideminded]

the Granada attack was already launched when the Marine garrison was bombed

Actually the Grenada attack was launched two days later.

Reagan didn’t get mired in the Middle East

We were mired enough to have had troops in Beirut for over a year and to have over 300 killed and wounded.

It is interesting that the Wikipedia article on the bombing points out that Weinberger had advised against stationing Marines in Lebanon.

[ansel12]

Reagan didn’t get mired in the Middle East by letting the bombing redirect his administration’s focus, instead he stayed focused on the USSR, which threatened America’s very existence and the entire world, regardless of what differing opinions his advisors and staff personally held, from moving in more troops to fight a war of revenge, to never having had any there in the first place as part of the international peacekeeping force, the MNF.

The Grenada attack had already been launched when the bombing took place, and less than 47 hours later, the Army was in ground combat at Point Salinas airport.