110 HRES 1455 IH: Commemorating the 25th anniversary of the U.S. House of Representatives 2008-09-17 text/xml EN Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain.

IV 110th CONGRESS 2d Session H. RES. 1455 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES September 17, 2008 Mr. LaHood (for himself, Mr. Rahall, Mr. Dreier, Mr. Boustany, and Mr. Issa) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Armed Services RESOLUTION Commemorating the 25th anniversary of the terrorist bombing of the United States Marine Corps barracks in Beirut, Lebanon.

Whereas October 23, 2008 marks the 25th anniversary of the terrorist bombing on October 23, 1983; Whereas 241 members of the Armed Forces of the United States, including 220 members of the United States Marine Corps, were killed; Whereas, on October 24, 1983, the House of Representatives agreed to House Resolution 345, Ninety-eighth Congress, honoring the memory of those who lost their lives in Beirut; Whereas the terrorist bombing was the deadliest day for the United States Marine Corps since World War II, when the United States Marine Corps fought to secure Iwo Jima; Whereas the October 23, 1983 attack came in the wake of a multinational intervention striving to restore order and peace in a war-torn Lebanon; Whereas the terrorist bombing was preceded by an April 18, 1983 terrorist attack involving a car bomb that struck the United States Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, wounding more than 100 people and killing 86 people, including 17 Americans, 32 Lebanese embassy employees, and 14 embassy visitors and bystanders; Whereas, on September 20, 1984, a bombing of the United States Embassy annex in Beirut killed over 20 people; Whereas Hezbollah reportedly assisted or was complicit in the abduction, torture, and murder of United States hostages from 1984 to 1991, including Army officer William F. Buckley, the CIA station chief in Beirut, who was abducted by Hezbollah in 1984 and who died in captivity, and William Higgins, a colonel in the United States Marine Corps and commander of the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Lebanon, who was seized by Hezbollah in 1988, tortured, and eventually hanged; Whereas Navy diver Robert Stethem was brutally beaten by terrorists before being shot to death during the 1985 Hezbollah hijacking of TWA Flight 847; Whereas the families of those brave members of the United States Marine Corps continue to mourn the loss of their loved ones who lost their lives during the terrorist bombing; Whereas terrorism remains a threat to the international community; and Whereas young men and women in the Armed Forces of the United States continue to preserve freedom by fighting terrorism around the world: Now, therefore, be it

That the House of Representatives, in commemoration of the terrorist bombing of the United States Marine Corps barracks in Beirut, Lebanon— (1)recalls with sadness, the October 23, 1983 terrorist bombing in Beirut; (2)extends its prayers and sympathies to the families of the 241 members of the Armed Forces of the United States who died and others who were wounded in the bombing; (3)calls upon all people of the United States to remember the members of the Armed Forces of the United States’ bravery and service to their country; and (4)honors the dedication and courage of all members of the Armed Forces of the United States, including members of reserve components, who have made the ultimate sacrifice for the United States.