Send in the Legion

All this talk of inserting a peacekeeping force into Lebanon has reminded of a story I heard from a USMC Gunnery Sergeant who had served in Beirut at the time of the tragic Marine Barracks bombing. My question to him was simple, "Who were the most effective at keeping the peace over there?" (actually, my words were "baddest motherfuckers) His answer shocked the hell out of me.

"The French," he said emphatically.

I guffawed. "You gotta be kidding Gunny. The French? Are we talking about the same people?"

"Look, Sir," he said with tension mounting in his voice. "They'd put a single Legionaire with his rifle and a pack of cigarettes in areas we wouldn't put a company of Marines."

The French Foreign Legion. That made a bit more sense. The modern Legion doesn't quite share the same questionable reputation of their predecessors but they were still a hard group of men not to be trifled with. And say what you want about the French, the leadership tends to give the Legion wide parameters in which to work. Apparently, at one point, one of these Legionaires got stoned while standing his post in a section of Beirut. (I don't remember which one.) Not the green bud, 420-type stoned but old school biblical stoned. He made it safely back to his Command but had taken a few hits. Though the Legionaire was no worse for the wear, the commander of the unit decided that he could not tolerate such an offense. He mustered the whole unit and they made their way back to area of the insult. Once there, the Legionaires locked arms and walked up and down the street putting the boot to everybody; men, women, children, grandmothers. Nobody fucked with the Legion after that.

Now I wasn't there so I can't vouch for the veracity of this account. But I have absolutely no reason to doubt the Gunny's word and plenty of reasons not to. Plus, it also corresponds with what I understand about Arab Muslim culture. Kindness is uniformly considered weakness. A culture of people on the make, violence is often the only way to get through to them and to let them know you are serious. It's a universal language and one they understand well.

Unless the Peacekeepers are going to go in and kick some Hizbollah ass, it's criminal to send them. They will be risking their lives for nothing. You cannot negotiate with a terrorist organization as you would a nation-state. The old rule set no longer applies. The problem is we don't have a new one yet so we're making it up as we go. We're bound to make mistakes but let's not make the same ones we did in 1983. There's the memory of 241 Marines who deserve better than that.