Banner Graphic, Volume 14, Number 92, Greencastle, Putnam County, 22 December 1983 — Page 2

A2

The Putnam County Banner-Graphic, December 22,1983

Beirut tragedy: House report faults Visibility over security' in deaths of Marines

WASHINGTON (AP) A decision by Marine commanders to emphasize high visibility for peacekeeping troops in Beirut over ensuring their safety led to the truck bombing that killed 241 servicemen, a congressional investigation concludes. Leaders on the ground, lacking clear guidance from their superiors in the chain of command, found that their mission to provide a “presence” as part of the multinational force often conflicted with security considerations, the report said. "This conflict lay at the center of many of the decisions made by the Marines that led to inadequate security and laid the Marine compound open to the kamikaze attack that was to come,” said a 78-page report issued Wednesday by the House Armed Services investigations subcommittee. The full report, which drew on testimony the panel obtained in eight days of hearings in Beirut and Washington, supplemented a five-page “summary of findings and conclusions” made public Monday. Col. Timothy J. Geraghty, commander of the 1,800-member /Marine amphibious unit in Beirut at the time of the Oct. 23 ex- . plosion, was accused in the summary of making “serious errors in judgment in failing to provide better protection for his -troops.” ,t The full report said:

Islamic extremists give 'last warning'

BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) The Islamic Holy War extremist group today claimed responsibility for bombing the French regimental headquarters and gave a “last warning” to U.S. and French peacekeeping forces to leave Lebanon in 10 days. „“This is the last warning for the American and French forces. We shall give them 10 days to leave Lebanon. Otherwise, we shall make the earth shake underneath their feet,” an anonymous caller told the Agence France Presse news agency in Beirut. The pro-Iranian Shiite Moslem group also has claimed responsibility for numerous attacks against U.S. and French positions, including the Oct. 23 'Suicide bombings of a U.S. Marine barracks and a French headquarters in Beirut that killed 241 American servicemen and 58 French paratroopers. They also claimed respon•LV.UKJ t«r AprU'a V) .S. Kill bassy bombing in Beirut in

Good intentions left tangled in the Cabbage Patch

(c) 1983 Dallas Morning News DALLAS Neil Bloch is caught up in an unselfish act of Christmas giving. So far, it has alienated his secretary. He thinks it may cost him his best friend. Bloch, 36, is divorced and has no children of his own. But he does have a 6-year-old godchild, Samantha Nolan, who lives in Fort Worth, Texas. “Samantha’s birthday was in August,” explains the Dallas CPA. “I don’t know much about kids and wasn’t sure where to go and shop for a six-year-old. My secretary has kids. So, I asked her to go out and get Samantha a doll. I told her to get something special. Samantha’s a great kid. I like to spoil her.” The secretary did the shopping and left her purchase at Bloch’s office. She explained that she had bought what she thought a six-year-old would adore. It was something called a Cabbage Patch Kid. That was last summer, long before Cabbage Patch Kids became a national obsession. “I was a little upset when I saw that doll,” Bloch says. “It just wasn’t what I had in mind. It didn’t look very special. In fact, it was downright dopey-looking. It just didn’t seem right for Samantha. She’s a kid who likes to dress up. She likes pretty clothes. I wanted her to have something like a Barbie Doll with lots and lots of different outfits.” Bloch says he didn’t want to hurt his secretary’s feelings,

Arrived In Time For Christmas Giving JORDACHE JEANS

w /Sy jny

OPEN TONIGHT

which 83 people died. The telephoned threat came as U.S. warplanes swept low over Beirut and searchers dug through the rubble of the French headquarters where a truck bomb exploded Wednesday night, followed minutes later by another bomb going off in a hotel bar. At least 14 people died in the two bombings, according to various sources. The twin-tailed F-14 Tomcats from the aircraft carrier USS Independence streaked overhead from the Mediterranean Sea toward the Syrian-controlled central mountains east of Beirut, witnesses said. The U.S. Marine contingent based at Beirut International Airport was ordered to stand by its highest state of alert, apparently anticipating a possible bombardment by Syrianbacked anti-government militiamen because of the overflights, Associated Press ptiotograplier 'William Foley reported from the base.

Ladies’ Sizes 26 to 32 Also Junior Sizes Reg. S 4O OO SPECIAL S2Q9O

I fks°' s \

“Col. Geraghty is a dedicated and talented officer who was given a difficult mission that, as he interpreted it, became increasingly more difficult to perform without exposing the Marines under his command to significant death or injury. “This is not a case of dereliction of duty, or of neglect. But it is a case of misjudgment with the most serious consequences.” Geraghty, who returned with his unit to Camp Lejeune, N.C., earlier this month, has not been available for comment. “The origins of this attitude that visibility took precedence over security remains obscure,” the report said, but there was no evidence that it had been forced upon the Marines by the U.S. Embassy in Beirut. In fact, it said, the ambassador wanted his own facility turned into a fortress. But, the panel said, Geraghty and his predecessor in Beirut, Brig. Gen. James Mead, “argued forcefully on behalf of visibility even now. It appears that the Marine commanders, recognizing correctly that their mission was primarily political and not a traditional military one, determined to be more diplomatic than the diplomats.” The report said Mead told the panel: “I am concerned if you go into a mole-like atmosphere and dig deep and don’t go out amongst the population, I am concerned about morale and concerned about the accomplishment of the mission.”

Steve Klotz is covered with ice as he and other firelighters battle an apartment building blaze this week in the southwestern Chicago suburb of Justice, 111. There

so he quietly packed the funny-looking doll away in his closet at home and went out himself to buy Samantha “something splashier.” He says he forgot about the doll until last month when he had a conversation with his maid, Ametta Bush. “She was complaining about how expensive it was going to be having Christmas for her four children. They range in age from five to 14. The five-year-old is a little girl. “I said she didn’t have to worry about the little girl,” Bloch explains. “I said I had a doll that she was welcome to.” He retrieved the doll from the closet, gave it to Mrs. Bush, and didn’t think anything more about it. A week later, newspapers and television news shows suddenly were brimming with stories about the hottest toy of the season, the Cabbage Patch Kid. Bloch’s secretary brought up the subject with her boss. “Did I make you a hero with Samantha?” she asked. “What do you mean?” said Bloch. “I got you that doll for Samantha months before it became an endangered species,” she answered. “Suddenly, it hit me,” says Bloch. “That ugly little toy I’d given away was a Cabbage Patch Kid. I looked horrified and confessed that I gave it away to my maid. My secretary turned up her nose and started acting huffy. She was furious that I hadn’t trusted her taste.”

Reagan files in Illinois, New Hampshire

c. 1983 N.Y. Times WASHINGTON President Reagan, in another step toward what his aides say will be a formal declaration for re-election, signed papers on Wednesday certifying that he intends to seek the Republican nomination for president in the New Ham pshire and Illinois primai7

Christmas Holiday Hours: Our facilities, including drive-in services will be CLOSED SAT., DEC. 24 AND MON., DEC. 26 We will reopen 9 a.m. Tuesday, Dec. 27,1983 Central National Bank Ist Citizens Bank & Trust Co. Greencasfle Federal Savings & Loan We wish you a safe and happy holiday season.

elections. White House and campaign officials asserted, however, that Reagan signed the papers “to keep his options open” and that his action on Wednesday did not preclude the possibility that he could later remove himself from the presidential contest.

At another point, Mead said: “You were told to create an environment. You know, obviously you had to be seen to do that, because the Lebanese people had to have the feeling of wellbeing with which they would not use their arms and their militia.” Geraghty also said he was concerned that his troops not give an impression “that we were cowering, particularly with the shelling. I was very adamant that we maintain our visibility.” Asked by the subcommittee why he did not erect dirt barriers and other impediments at the compound, Geraghty replied: “It was a balance really in judgment on what we could do, what we should do, and at the same time not giving the appearance of being an occupation force.” But the strongly worded report, which one source said actually was watered down a bit before publication, rejected that reasoning. “How was the absence of dirt barriers around the Marine area at the (Beirut) airport complementary to the mission? ” it asked rhetorically. “After all, the area wasn’t open to the public and few would know what was behind all the dirt barriers. How would tank traps that could possibly have stopped a truck attack convey a ‘fortress mentality’ in a way that a quarter-million sandbags

were no serious injuries, but firefighters' efforts were severely hampered by ice and bitterly cold weather. (AP Laserphoto)

Bloch ran to call Samantha’s father, John Nolan, a Fort Worth stockbroker. The two men have been friends for years. Bloch was the best man in Nolan’s wedding. “I asked if Samantha had a Cabbage Patch Kid. I was sure she had to. Samantha has everything.” But Nolan was frantic. His daughter didn’t have the doll, he told Bloch. She wanted one very badly. He couldn’t find one anywhere. He almost choked when he heard that Bloch had one and gave it away. “But I told him not to panic,” Bloch explains. “I said I’d call my maid and explain there had been a mistake. I was going to get the original doll back, buy another one for her little girl and give her money to buy all the other kids some presents, too. I thought that would make up for everything.” But when Bloch called Mrs. Bush, his hardhearted intentions melted. He asked Mrs. Bush if she’d looked at the doll yet. Yes, she said, and she was never more thrilled in her life. She couldn’t thank him enough. She said her little girl wanted that doll more than anything. “He really made me believe in Santa Claus,” Mrs. Bush says of her boss. “He’s such a dear, kind, generous man.” Meanwhile, Nolan is desperately trying to find a Cabbage Patch Kid. And he says he is yet to be caught up in Bloch’s holiday spirit. “I’d like to wring his neck,” says Nolan.

“In his view, he is not a candidate until he stands up before the American people and says he is a candidate,” said James Lake, press secretary to the president’s re-election organization, Reagan-Bush ’B4. Reagan indicated last week that he intended to make his intentions known formally on Jan.

29 and, sometimes teasingly, has brushed aside all questions about his thinking. Lake said Reagan filed the papers Wednesday because of early filing deadlines in New Hampshire and Illinois. The president’s strategists plan to have Reagan run in most states with primaries.

high-tech shipment to Soviets

DENVER (AP) Customs agents substituted concrete and an obscene message for a laser system en route to Moscow by way of a West German company believed to be a link in an scheme to send high technology equipment to the communist bloc, authorities say. Assistant US. Attorney Richard Spriggs revealed the actions Wednesday at a hearing for two men charged with trying to illegally ship components to “unfriendly nations.” A suburban Denver firm, Internationa! Consulting Group, had planned to ship the goods from Stapleton International Airport to a Munich firm for

(protecting other Marine positions) did not?” And the report said the mindset that made security secondary to visibility “may have led to the curious refusal of antiterrorist” training offered Marines by the U.S. European Command. It said the Maines “received insufficient direction from above on how to interpret” their mission and noted testimony that although a stream of high-ranking officers visited their positions, none questioned the adequacy of security arrangements. News reports have said the truck was believed to be carrying 5,000 pounds of explosives, but FBI experts who examined the damage told the subcommittee that they placed the force of the blast conservatively as equivalent to 12,000 pounds of TNT. They also said cylinders of gas had been wrapped around the device to enhance the explosive effect. A separate five-member investigating panel appointed by Defense Secretary Caspar W. Weinberger questioned many of the same witnesses as the House subcommittee, and sources have said it is believed to have reached many of the same conclusions in its report, which it submitted Tuesday. Chief Pentagon spokesman Michael I. Burch said he hopes an unclassified version of the study can be made public •

Snow, ice snarl travel for holidays

By DANA FIELDS Associated Press Writer Winter roared in officially today behind a 6-foot calling card of autumn snow, smashing the nation with a sixth straight day of ice storms, snow, and lethally cold air blamed for 65 deaths so far including six as far south as Texas. Christmas travel plans were imperiled by snow that covered icy Texas highways and stranded 250 bus passengers in Abilene this morning, by 5 inches of snow and freezing rain that held up Chicago air traffic late Wednesday, and by sheer cold that froze batteries in Denver. “Everyone and his brother’s car is broke,” grumbled a service station worker in Denver, where the Rocky Mountain AAA auto club received more than 1,000 calls for help Wednesday. Northern states from Michigan to New England were due today for up to half of foot of snow from a Rocky Mountains storm that slid rapidly Wednesday from northern Texas up through Missouri, Nebraska, Kansas and Illinois, leaving 6 to 10 inches in its wake. On the storm’s fringes, sleet coated highways as far east as Washington, D.C. and Baltimore, closing bridges over the Potomac River and a 2-mile stretch of the Capitol Beltway. “We got more accidents than we have police,” said a Baltimore officer. As the storm forged eastward, snow fell over Michigan, eastern Wisconsin, northern Indiana and northern and central Illinois early today, with •freezing drizzle from southern Indiana to western Tennessee and freezing rain over New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey south to the mountains of North Carolina. For once, the storm spared Minnesota, where earlier snow falls since Nov. 8 had dumped 69.2 inches on Duluth, the most in 114 years of record-keeping. But clear skies in the upper Plains only helped freeze the air to 23 below zero at Alliance, Neb., by early today.

relay to the National Physics Institute in Moscow, Spriggs told U.S. Magistrate Royce Sickler. But customs agents intercepted the goods Dec. 15, and the Soviets wound up with 700 pounds of concrete instead of a $53,700 krypton laser system for etching computer chips and a $113,000 seismometer for detecting nuclear explosions, Spriggs said. He said the agents also included a message that said only, “ —you.” Norman Comerford, 38, the president of International Consulting Group, and Bruce Adamski, 30, the office manager, were arrested

Montana remained locked in the deep freeze, where Butte had this morning’s nationwide low temperature at 43 below zero. In Omaha, Neb., the temperature hasn’t topped zero since 3a.m. Saturday. In all, the temperature broke or tied record lows in 33 cities around the country Wednesday, with the minus-37 at Casper, Wyo., an all-time low for December. In Oklahoma, temperatures slid to a record 2 degrees below zero in Oklahoma City. The Salvation Army in Enid gave up trying to collect money on downtown streets and asked people to mail in their donations. Cold air and freezing drizzle snapped power lines as the storm swept through Arkansas, cutting power to about 68,000 people Wednesday. Utility companies said about 44,000 people were still without power today. Much of Texas was still glazed today by ice and a light coating of new snow. About 2 inches fell at Abilene Wednesday night, forcing Trailways to put several loads of bus passengers up at the local Civic Center until the buses could roll today. Dallas hit a record low of 11 degrees, breaking a record set in 1909. The National Weather Service predicted snow today from Missouri and Wisconsin eastward to New England. Showers and thunderstorms were expected over Southern Texas and from the lower Mississippi valley and Central Gulf states to New Jersey. Rain was forecast for the northern California coast and snow for the Northern Rockies and intermountain region. High temperatures were expected to be near 20 degrees below zero over northwest Montana with below-zero readings extending from Idaho and the northern Rockies to the upper Mississippi valley. Temperatures around the nation at 2 a.m. EST ranged from the 43 below in Butte to 76 in Key West, Fla.

Tuesday the same day that U.S. and West German agents raided the Munich firm and found papers showing the goods were bound for Moscow, Spriggs said. A search Tuesday at ICG’s headquarters in Englewood showed “about 80 additional shipments of air freight from Stapleton to points overseas,” Spriggs said. He did not say if any of those shipments were to communist nations. Sickler on Wednesday reduced Comerford’s bond to SIOO,OOO from $500,000 after his lawyer said Comerford, a British citizen who has lived in the United States since 1968, had ties to the community.