University Daily Kansan, February 9, 1984
Page 5
Lebanon chaos reminiscent of 1975 war
Bv United Press International
BEIRUT, Lebanon — Nine years and several wars later, Lebanon is back at the status quo of its 1975 civil war days — with Beirut split into two camps and a Christian president under fire.
Leftist forces, mostly Shite and Druse militias, are now in control of Muslim
ANALYSIS
west Beirut, while the Christian militiamen and troops loyal to the government hold the eastern sector.
Former President Suleman Franjah faced a similar scene in 1975, when Muslim militiamen and Palestine Liberation Organization fighters swaggered through west Beirut unchallenged.
FRANJEH STUBORNLY stayed in office until his term expired in September 1976. The result was all-out civil war.
The term in office of President Amin Gemayel, a Maronite Christian, expires in September 1888. Gemayel's friends say he is more stubborn than Franjiek.
When Gemayel took office in September 1982, the Israeli army controlled Beirut, the defeated PLO was being shipped out of west Beirut and the Lebanese army was in shambles.
Nearly 17 months later, the Lebanese army is riddled by deserts among Muslim troops, the Israelis are firmly rooted in south Lebanon, the Syrians control northern and eastern Lebanon and keep a deep vein of peacekeeping forces — which have helped prop up Gemayel's minority regime — are leaving.
GEMAYEL IS becoming a solitary figure. He is still backed by his Christian Phalange party and its militia, in theory by his Christian-commanded army and by a good deal of verbal and moral support from the Reagan administration.
But with the Muslim militias, backed by Syria, in control of so much territory, he needs more than that just to hold on — and still more
to restore his rule, at least in the greater Beirut area.
It is a time of reckoning, and the options are few
A military operation would mean more death and destruction. The political options are resignation or concessions to the Muslim majority that would be tantamount to political suicide for Gemayel.
FOR A MILITARY strike to change the balance of power, Gemayel's forces would have to at least seize Muslim west Beirut, the city's densely populated and heavily armed Shile southern suburbs and the Druse-held mountains that are east of the capital.
That would mean a bigger army, more tanks and planes that they do not have. The anti-government forces are well-armed, highly experienced and have the support of such arms suppliers and political backers as Syria, Libya and Iran.
The pro-government forces, at least for now, can bank on U.S. military aid.
Reagan continued from p. 1
directs the State Department and Pentagon to prepare to implement the redevelopment plan.
A statement announcing the action is drafted and a tentative decision made to issue it while Reagan is in the West.
- Feb. 6: As Reagan celebrates his 73rd birthday in his native Illinois, Rumsfeld holds a "decisive meeting" with Gemayel who agrees to the redeployment. The announcement the next day will say the steps are being taken at Gemayel's request.
Reagan, by then in Las Vegas, authorizes cables to the leaders of the other multinational force members — France, Italy and Britain — informing him of his decision. Although he would later say the action followed "consultation
with our MNF partners," notification comes basically after the fact.
Reagan's aides hold a series of urgent meetings to discuss how and when the major policy shift will be announced. Reagan rejects the idea of cutting short his vacation, although some image-conscious advisers urge him to do so.
- Feb. 7: As Reagan prepares to deliver two speeches, neither containing mention of Lebanon, Bush presides over two meetings of national security advisers in the White House, where a decision is made on announcing the pullback.
REAGAN SPEAKS BY phone with Secretary of State George Shultz, who is on a trip to the
Caribbean and who reportedly objects to the plan.
Speakes, under pressure for a statement, tells reporters Reagan has ordered "further vigorous diplomatic efforts" to achieve a cease-fire, but that the decision is prepared to abandon the Marine positions.
An hour later, as Reagan attends a GOP fund-raising luncheon, his advisers get the latest Lebanon reports from Bush by telephone, and conclude the announcement should be made.
The announcement does not come for another six hours. After Air Force One lands near Santa Barbara, Reagan remains on board for 20 days while stationing of a written statement drafted days earlier
east of Beirut opened up on Christian areas with artillery and rocket fire at midday. U.S. officials blamed the mountain Druse and said they fired mortars, anti-aircraft guns and anti-tank vehicles to Mr. Omer's residence and the temporary U.S. Embassy offices at the British Embassy in west Beirut.
Mideast continued from p. 1
The New Jersey responded off the Lebanese coast by unleashing a five-hour barrage, three salvos at a time, from its 16-inch guns, which can fire an arcade gun and its launch shells weighing 1,900 and 2,700 pounds.
The shelling was the first time U.S. forces struck other than in retaliation for attacks on Americans. Reagan coupled permission for the barrages with his withdrawal order Tuesday, hoping to end the "sanctuary from which to bombard Beirut at will."
OFFICIALS SAID IT was the biggest display of U.S. naval forepower since the Vietnam war.
Among targets hit, chief Pentagon spokesman Michael Burch said, were Druse command bunkers, gun and artillery emplacements and ammunition depots. In Damascus, official Syrian radio said the bombardment had leveled six buildings killed civilians but inflicted no Syrian losses.
"Dozens of civilian women, children and old men were killed and wounded by the barbarian banshees during battleships off the baltic coast," a Syrian spokesman said. The claim could not be confirmed.
The pullout of the 115 British troops from the 5,000-strong multinational force was orderly but sudden. The troops were sent to the warship Reliant.
French Ambassador Luc de la Barre de Nanteuil met twice with Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar, then asked Security Council President Shah Nawaz of Pakistan to sit on the possibility of a U.N. presence to replace a multinational force withdrawing from Beirut
He said the talks would begin today, but no mention was made of a public meeting of the
FRANCE TOOK THE first step yesterday toward involving the U.N. Security Council in the "terrible situation" in Lebanon in an attempt to四国 the four-nation peacekeepers with U.N. forces.
ITALY SAID IT planned a gradual withdrawal of its 1,400 troops but France said it had no immediate plans for a withdrawal of its 2,000-strong contingent, although it was considering it if a U.N. force was deployed to assume the peacekeeping role.
IN PARIS, FRENCH Prime Minister Pierre Mauroy said on television, "France is taking firm and steady action to seize the Security State and rebuild Nations take real action to save Lebanon."
U. N. spokesman Francois Giuliani said, "The United Nations is behind the door waiting. It is ready to help if there is a request."
___continued from p. 1
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