On this day in 1983, 241 American servicemen were murdered in their barracks at the Beirut International Airport, by a suicide truck bomber sent by Iran, Hizballah, and the PLO: 1983 Beirut barracks bombing.

The failure of the United States to strike back for this terrorist attack—and for a long line of previous and subsequent attacks—undoubtedly emboldened our enemies:

President Reagan assembled his national security team and planned to target the Sheik Abdullah barracks in Baalbek, Lebanon, which housed Iranian Revolutionary Guards believed to be training Hezbollah fighters. But Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger aborted the mission, reportedly because of his concerns that it would harm U.S. relations with other Arab nations.