IV 

110TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. RES. 1455 

Commemorating the 25th anniversary of the terrorist bombing of the United 

States Marine Corps barracks in Beirut, Lebanon. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 17, 2008 

Mr. LAHOOD (for himself, Mr. RAHALL, Mr. DREIER, Mr. BOUSTANY, and 

Mr. ISSA) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 

Committee on Armed Services 

RESOLUTION 

Commemorating the 25th anniversary of the terrorist bombing of the United States Marine Corps barracks in Beirut, Lebanon. 

Whereas October 23, 2008 marks the 25th anniversary of the 

terrorist bombing on October 23, 1983; 

Whereas 241 members of the Armed Forces of the United 

States, including 220 members of the United States Marine Corps, were killed; 

Whereas, on October 24, 1983, the House of Representatives 

agreed to House Resolution 345, Ninety-eighth Congress, 

honoring the memory of those who lost their lives in Beirut; 

Whereas the terrorist bombing was the deadliest day for the 

United States Marine Corps since World War II, when 


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•HRES 1455 IH 

the United States Marine Corps fought to secure Iwo 

Jima; 

Whereas the October 23, 1983 attack came in the wake of 

a multinational intervention striving to restore order and 

peace in a war-torn Lebanon; 

Whereas the terrorist bombing was preceded by an April 18, 

1983 terrorist attack involving a car bomb that struck 

the United States Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, wounding more than 100 people and killing 86 people, including 

17 Americans, 32 Lebanese embassy employees, and 14 

embassy visitors and bystanders; 

Whereas, on September 20, 1984, a bombing of the United 

States Embassy annex in Beirut killed over 20 people; 

Whereas Hezbollah reportedly assisted or was complicit in the 

abduction, torture, and murder of United States hostages 

from 1984 to 1991, including Army officer William F. 

Buckley, the CIA station chief in Beirut, who was abducted by Hezbollah in 1984 and who died in captivity, 

and William Higgins, a colonel in the United States Marine Corps and commander of the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Lebanon, who was seized by 

Hezbollah in 1988, tortured, and eventually hanged; 

Whereas Navy diver Robert Stethem was brutally beaten by 

terrorists before being shot to death during the 1985 

Hezbollah hijacking of TWA Flight 847; 

Whereas the families of those brave members of the United 

States Marine Corps continue to mourn the loss of their 

loved ones who lost their lives during the terrorist bombing; 

Whereas terrorism remains a threat to the international community; and 


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Whereas young men and women in the Armed Forces of the 

United States continue to preserve freedom by fighting 

terrorism around the world: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the House of Representatives, in com2 memoration of the terrorist bombing of the United States 

3 Marine Corps barracks in Beirut, Lebanon— 

4 (1) recalls with sadness, the October 23, 1983 

5 terrorist bombing in Beirut; 

6 (2) extends its prayers and sympathies to the 

7 families of the 241 members of the Armed Forces of 

8 the United States who died and others who were 

9 wounded in the bombing; 

10 (3) calls upon all people of the United States to 

11 remember the members of the Armed Forces of the 

12 United States’ bravery and service to their country; 

13 and 

14 (4) honors the dedication and courage of all 

15 members of the Armed Forces of the United States, 

16 including members of reserve components, who have 

17 made the ultimate sacrifice for the United States. 

Æ 


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