The 41-year-old lessons of the 1983 U.S. Marines barracks bombing in Beirut

Americans should reflect on how the United States got ensnared in an earlier Israeli war there, and a tragic result of that involvement that occurred 41 years ago this week. Israel invaded Lebanon in 1982, which was the beginning of an occupation that would not end completely until 2000. One of the most horrifying low points was the massacre in September 1982 at the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps. The Israel Defense Forces, fired illuminating flares so that the killing could continue through the night. A couple of weeks earlier, the United States under the Reagan administration had agreed to deploy US Marines. At least on the face of it, this deployment had a noble peacekeeping mission (Read more at New Arab).