Washington Report, October 31, 1983, Page 6

Facts For Your Files: A Chronology of U.S.-Middle East Relations

October 5:

The Pentagon notified Congress of its intent to sell the government of Lebanon 253 M113A2 armored personnel carriers equipped with communications gear and M-2 .50 calibre machine guns. Spare parts and ancillary support equipment for the troop carriers were also included in the proposed sale, estimated to cost $61 million.

October 6:

Commenting on steps being taken by some Congressmen to have Iraq put back onto the U.S. government's list of countries which are believed to support international terrorism, State Department spokesman Alan Romberg said: "The government of Iraq has publicly denounced international terrorism since at least September, 1982." He added: "Based on the evidence available to us, we have no reason to believe that the government of Iraq has supported acts of international terrorism since about that time." The U.S. government restricts exports to countries it considers to be supportive of international terrorism. Iraq's name was removed from the list by the Reagan Administration in February, 1982.

October 6:

The Senate confirmed the nominations of Reginald Bartholomew to be U.S. ambassador to Lebanon and Nicholas Veliotes to serve as ambassador to Egypt. Also approved by the Senate were Charles Dunbar to be ambassador to Qatar and Donald Leidel to be ambassador to Bahrain.

October 8:

President Reagan said in his weekly radio address that Syria had received a "massive amount" of Soviet-made weapons—including new surface-to-surface SS-21 missiles—and that therefore "we have to wonder aloud about Syrian protestations of their peaceful intentions" in the region. The President also said, in reference to the U.S.-mediated agreement signed last May by Israel and Lebanon for the withdrawal of Israeli troops: "We stand by this agreement."

October 12:

President Reagan signed a compromise resolution, approved by the House and Senate, authorizing him to keep U.S. marines in Lebanon for an additional 18 months. The President, who has maintained that he was not bound by provisions of the War Powers Resolution requiring Congressional approval to keep the marines in Lebanon for more than 60 days, issued a statement expressing his view that "...the imposition of such arbitrary and inflexible deadlines creates unwise limitations on presidential authority to deploy ... forces in the interests of ... national security."

October 14:

President Reagan was given a written message from Lebanon's president Amin Gemayel, asking the U.S. to undertake new diplomatic initiatives to help bring about the withdrawal of Israeli and Syrian forces from Lebanon. The message was delivered by Wadi Haddad, Mr. Gemayel's national security advisor.

October 17:

Robert C. McFarlane was appointed by President Reagan to be his advisor on national security affairs. Mr. McFarlane, who has been chief U.S. Middle East negotiator since replacing Phillip Habib last July, succeeded William Clark. Mr. Clark was named Secretary of the Department of the Interior.

October 19:

Asked at a news conference what the U.S. would do if Iran tried to carry out recent threats to close the Strait of Hormuz if its oil installations were attacked by French-supplied Iraqi jets, President Reagan replied: "I do not believe the free world could stand by and allow anyone to close the Straits of Hormuz and the Persian Gulf to the oil traffic through those waterways."

October 23:

A truck carrying about a ton of explosives drove through several barricades and into a building housing U.S. marines at their compound at the Beirut International Airport. More than 225 marines were killed in the blast and scores were wounded.