Sending in the Marines

Reagan tentatively offers troops to help evacuate Beirut

The conditions were far from ideal for making a foreign policy decision so fraught with risk. Alexander Haig, who had tried and failed to take charge of Administration policy, was vacationing at a mountain resort in West Virginia after his removal as Secretary of State. His designated successor, George Shultz, was in San Francisco, packing for his move to Washington and awaiting his Senate confirmation hearings this week. President Reagan was on an extended Fourth of July holiday at his five-room adobe ranch house in California's Santa Ynez Mountains. With most of his top aides scattered, the President relied chiefly on his National Security Adviser, William Clark, who is unproved in global affairs but is loyally committed to proving that Reagan can put his own stamp on foreign policy. In a bold move with uncertain ramifications, Ronald Reagan did precisely that last week: he declared that he would be willing to send a contingent of Marines to Lebanon to assist in the evacuation of Palestinian guerrillas from West Beirut.

"I have agreed in principle to contribute a small contingent of U.S. personnel, subject to certain conditions," said the President in a Los Angeles speech to a gathering of legislators from 13 Western states. A battalion of 1,800 Marines, currently sailing with the Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean, was ordered to prepare for possible deployment as part of a multinational peace-keeping force. Under the conditions laid down by Reagan, troops would be dispatched only if his special envoy, Philip Habib, can work out a peace arrangement among all the parties involved, and if at least one other nation, notably France, agrees to participate.

Reagan's high-stakes offer could spur resolution of the dangerous deadlock in Beirut. But there were rumblings at home and abroad last week that the risks might exceed the potential rewards. Soviet President Leonid Brezhnev sent a letter to Reagan stating that if the U.S. sent its Marines to Lebanon, the U.S.S.R. might counter with moves of its own in the region. Senate Majority Leader Howard Baker of Tennessee called President Reagan to express his concern about the plan. Even within the Administration there were qualms. Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger, who has consistently opposed committing U.S. troops abroad, expressed support for the decision. He also noted, however, that it was a "risky business" and stressed that any involvement would be "a very limited, short-term, specific kind of mission." In general, most lawmakers were willing to support the plan if the troops would be limited to overseeing a quick evacuation from Beirut, but there was strong resistance to any mission that might involve American forces in armed conflict.