Bringing peace to Beirut

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cigar around the corner of his announce". mouth and pointed with the butt of his automatic over the top of the sandbags. "Out there soldiers from END every army under the sun are running around armed to the teeth. Syrians with tanks. Iranians with machetes. Even some bastards from Druze wherever that is. If it wasn't for us here keeping the peace this country MARCH would be in the grip of outside forces within a week."

He paused to loose off some rounds at a nearby bunker.

Some elderly jets of the LebanON ese airforce flew overhead, above them, struggling to fly slowly enough to provide cover, a squadron of Tomcat fighters OCT from the Carrier Eisenhower.

As the bombs began to ring out, a flight of Buccaneers from Cyprus crossed east to west executing a perfect 360 22! degree roll in tight formation.

"Your boys" , the GI said benevolently 'Goddam Limies" ''You want the Soviet Union 11 am, Embankment in here inside a week" , he said, London "You pull us out and see what happens."

In the bay possible was see the US cruiser, New Jersey, manoeuvring into position for another battery from its guns -"shells the size of Volkswagons" said one of the 1,200 marines who had come ashore. A further 12,400 troops stood by to support if the threat to the peace grew any worse.

The commander of the US forces late: explained the new orders that his force had been given. "O.r job is to keep the peace. We are not here to get involved in any combat. As you know when we first arrived we only returned fire when we were fired on.

'We are now moving to a phase we are terming aggressive defence. This will inevitably involve in some cases bringing forward the timing of our response so that it ante-dates the timing of the first attack on us.

'There has , also been an extension of the definition of the forces which might be included among those justifying such a response. In future any attack or potential attack on our allies or local Lebanese forces might be seen to constitute an objective attack on us.

The troops listened to their briefing with the knotted brows of men struggling with cosmic problems. "You mean", asked the first GI, 'that we get to blast anything that moves?" "You got it" , came the reply.

Over the other side of the hill from the peacekeeping forces the so-called Druze militia were preparing to disrupt the normal everyday life of Lebanon.

For us international reporters who remember this country in its heyday it is a pitiful sight. Where we used to sit and drink Campari in the shade, served by the friendly natives, now there is strife and division. The heroic efforts of President whatever his name is to unite the whole nation around the Christian Phalangists has been continually frustrated by Palestinian and Syrian: intervention. The Russians are behind it. They are ever forces can move without the Kremlin's say so.

Yesterday I went with other reporters to visit the British troops but we were nót able to interview them. Their commander had just been taken off to mental hospital after telling a reporter that he thought the whole exercise a "bloody waste of time' One report suggested that he had been angered by a personal message from Mrs Thatcher telling him to 'remember Goose Green' and offering him a posthumous VC.

French troops were treated to a special message from their Socialist President last night who urged them to remember that they were preserving all that was good in the country -especially French cuisine.

It is not yet known what effect the ruling in Britain's High Court will have on the conflict. The ruling that not more than six Druze militiamen can defend any one town is likely to be resisted by the extremists who now appear to have taken over what is rightfully ours ... I mean rightfully belonging to ordinary, peace-loving Lebanese.

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Socialist Organiser no. 147. September Page I visited Turkey with a deledaisinist.

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