More than 600 relatives of the U.S. servicemen killed in a 1983 bombing attack in Beirut charged yesterday that Iran was responsible for the bombing, as a landmark lawsuit began in U.S. District Court in Washington. The Oct. 23, 1983, truck bombing of the Marines’ 24th Amphibious Unit barracks killed 241 and injured scores more, and was the blow that eventually led to the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Lebanon. Under rules of combat, U.S. troops would have no clear legal rights to sue. But because they were on a peacekeeping mission under peacetime rules of engagement, U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth has ruled that survivors and family members can sue Iran under the provisions of a 1996 law that allows U.S. citizens to take legal action against nations that sponsor terrorism. “The U.S. military force . . . embodies everything that is resented by the enemies of this country,” Lamberth wrote. “Failure to permit military service member [lawsuits] would create a perverse incentive for state sponsors of terrorism to target noncombatant U.S. military personnel.” Full Story
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