In the midst of that subterfuge, they also came up with a plan to sell weapons to Iran in an effort to get them to convince Hizbollah to release American hostages held in Lebanon. ..…

In smaller conflicts and interventions, the American military withdrew from Lebanon in 1983 after some 220 Marines (and 20 other service personnel) were killed in a suicide bombing and the until-then hawkish President Ronald Reagan realized he’d stepped into an unwinnable morass. ..…