The State Department rejected today the suggestion that the bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Beirut yesterday demonstrates that the Lebanese army cannot provide adequate security against terrorists in south Lebanon. The Lebanese were responsible for security at the two entrances to the Embassy grounds.
Department deputy spokesman Alan Romberg said the U.S. continued to seek a “settlement” in Lebanon that provided for the withdrawal of all foreign troops and the exercise of sovereignty by Lebanon over all its territory, while “paying appropriate attention” to Israel’s security needs. This “is not changed” by the bombing, he said and stressed that “adequate measures can be taken by the Lebanese.”
Romberg said that as of noon today, eight Americans were officially listed as dead and seven were listed as missing. Among the 60 dead was Robert Ames, 49, director of the Central Intelligence Agency’s (CIA) Office of Analysis for the Near East and South Asia who was in Beirut for routine consultations. At least 100 people were also injured in the bombing.
Romberg said that the Lebanese government is conducting the investigation with the cooperation of the U.S. He expressed confidence in the ability of the Lebanese to carry out the investigation when a questioner noted that the Lebanese government still has not completed its probe into the massacre of Palestinians in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps in Beirut last September.
The State Department spokesman warned against any moves in Congress to place restrictions on President Reagan’s ability to send more marines to Lebanon. There are presently 1,200 marines with the multinational force in Beirut. “We need flexibility in negotiating with the various parties on numbers and deployment,” Romberg stressed.
He said he was “not aware” that the marines and other members of the multinational force had been warned that they too would be targets of terrorist attacks. He said, however, that it was “fair to assume” that there was increased “vigilance” at all U.S. installations in Beirut.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.