The Administration acts to strengthen, and justify, the Marines'position
In Washington, as in Lebanon, it was a week of false hopes. Day after day, the reports from Beirut suggested that the fighting in Lebanon's Chouf Mountains was just about over, thereby reducing the threat to the lives of the 1,200 U.S. Marines dug in around Beirut International Airport. But the ground combat and the artillery fire persisted as the fledgling Lebanese Army fought Syrian-backed Druze forces for control of the strategic hill town of Suq al Gharb. The Marines, after savoring a brief lull...