'Ghost' of dead Marine lectured in film
Jaime Jeske
By Lou Marano
From the Life & Mind Desk
Published 9/12/2002 4:35 PM
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WASHINGTON, Sept. 12 (UPI) -- A former U.S. Marine who served in Lebanon
is angry that an Egyptian filmmaker would presume to lecture the ghost
of one of his dead comrades about U.S. foreign policy in relation to the
Sept. 11 attacks.
The movie montage, titled "11'09"01 September 11," which was screened at
the Venice Film Festival last week, consists of the short contributions
of 11 directors from around the world.
Egyptian auteur Youssef Chahine uses the artistic device of having the
director's alter ego tell the ghost of a Marine killed in Lebanon about
the suffering of the Palestinian people and the myriad deaths caused by
the United States from Hiroshima to Vietnam.
"Mr. Chahine should look to his own country for the cause of U.S.
foreign policy," said William Brownawell of Newville, Pa.
Ayman al-Zawahiri, an Egyptian physician, is considered to be Osama bin
Laden's top lieutenant and the real brains behind the airplane
hijackings.
"Experts say bin Laden's terror network grew in part out of Egyptian
extremist groups, and many of al Qaida's leaders are Egyptians," said a
Council on Foreign Relations fact sheet.
"In recent years, bin Laden brought two leaders of (the) Egyptian
Islamic Jihad, Ayman al-Zawahiri and the late Muhammad Atef, into the
top echelons of al Qaida ... Dozens of Egyptian militants passed though
al Qaida training camps in Taliban-run Afghanistan," it said.
Brownawell served with the Marine peacekeeping force in Lebanon in 1983.
In the summer of 1982 the Lebanese government requested a U.S. military
presence in that country to serve as a buffer between warring Muslim and
Christian factions. In March 1983, the 24th Marine Amphibious Unit,
stationed at Camp Lejeune, N.C., received orders to head to Beirut.
Initially the Americans, along with French, Italian and British forces,
provided a measure of stability. But as diplomatic efforts failed to
achieve a basis for a lasting settlement, the Muslim factions came to
perceive the Marines as enemies, and their positions came under
artillery, mortar and small arms fire.
Brownawell blamed U.S. leaders not for their foreign policy decisions
but for "tying the hands of the commander on the ground. They refused to
let us carry loaded weapons or fortify our compound," he said. "They
felt these measures would be seen as aggressive and inconsistent with
our 'peacekeeping' role."
In the early morning of Oct. 23, 1983, Iranian-backed Hizballah suicide
bombers crashed a truck through the security perimeter of the First
Battalion, 8th Marines, headquarters building at Beirut International
Airport.
The Marine sentry on duty, who was not allowed to keep a loaded magazine
in his rifle, couldn't react in time. The resulting explosion and the
collapse of the building killed 241 Marines, sailors and soldiers.
At almost the same time, another truck bomb killed 58 French
peacekeepers.
"In Vietnam our (military) leaders were limited by the leadership in
Washington," Brownawell said, "and in Somalia when the commander on the
ground asked for tanks and heavy artillery to be moved on shore, his
request was denied. Our government does not learn from its mistakes, and
I fear for our servicemen today."
But he directed his strongest criticism against Chahine. "I am angry
that anyone, let alone an Egyptian, would use the image of a Beirut
Marine in this way," he said.
"He mentions Nagasaki and Hiroshima as if these were acts of terrorism
carried out by the U.S. military. These were acts of retribution for the
terrorism committed by the Japanese navy in an unprovoked attack on
Pearl Harbor. As for the Middle East crisis, even the Palestinian
government now realizes that peace cannot be had through the killing of
innocent women and children."
In the film, the father of a Palestinian suicide bomber says: "Israel
fools everyone. Bush lets them decide who the terrorists are, but
imagine your house or the olive trees your ancestors planted being
bulldozed."
Brownawell said the "ghost" Chahine attempts to enlighten "is one of the
241 friends I lost that day, killed in his sleep by cowards for bringing
peace, not war, to Lebanon. These young men were there to separate the
warring parties, including the IDF (Israeli Defense Force), so that a
lasting peace could be established and the killing stopped. Neither they
nor the U.S. government had any other objective than to assist the
Lebanese government in securing peace."
The BBC reported that Chahine's segment brought boos from the audience
in Venice.
"Some Americans ... felt the film showed a one-sided view of world
events," the network said. It quoted Taran Davies, a New Yorker who was
at the festival to show an independent film about Afghanistan in the
wake of Sept. 11.
"People are going too far," Davis said. "They are criticizing a lot of
purported atrocities committed by the United States rather than the
atrocities committed against the United States."
Alain Brigand, the film's French producer, said the collage of shorts
wouldn't be shown in the United States "while the American people are
still mourning."
Copyright © 2002 United Press International. All rights reserved.
Jaime