Recalling the 1983 suicide bombing of the U.S. Marine Barracks in Lebanon in which 241Marines were killed, President Ronald Reagan had this to say: "Perhaps we didn't appreciate fully enough the depth of the hatred and the complexity of the problems that made the Middle East such a jungle. Perhaps the idea of a suicide car bomber committing mass murder to gain instant entry to Paradise was so foreign to our own values and consciousness that it did not create in us the concern for the marines' safety that it should have."
"In the weeks immediately after the bombing, I believed the last thing that we should do was turn tail and leave. Yet the irrationality of Middle Eastern politics forced us to rethink our policy there. If there would be some rethinking of policy before our men die, we would be a lot better off. If that policy had changed towards more of a neutral position and neutrality, those 241 marines would be alive today."
Civilized world leaders should pick up on Reagan’s remark and see that they have no choice but to deal realistically with cultures and nations that spawn suicide bombers who kill as a means of earning their way into their version of Paradise. President Barack Obama, take heed.
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