Spheres of Intervention: US Foreign Policy and the Collapse of Lebanon, 1967–1976

295 Pages·2016·19.96 MB·English

by  James R. Stocker

SPHERES OF INTERVENTION

SPHERES OF
INTERVENTION
US FOREIGN POLICY AND THE
COLLAPSE OF LEBANON, 1967–1976
James R. Stocker
CORNELL UNIVERSITY PRESS
Ithaca and London
Copyright © 2016 by Cornell University
All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a
review, this book, or parts thereof, must not be
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First published 2016 by Cornell University Press
Printed in the United States of Amer i ca
Library of Congress Cataloging-i n- Publication Data
Stocker, James R., 1980– author
Spheres of intervention : US foreign policy and the
collapse of Lebanon, 1967–1976 / James R. Stocker.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-5017-0077-4 (cloth : alk. paper)
1. United States— Foreign relations— Lebanon.
2. Lebanon— Foreign relations— United States.
3. Lebanon— History— Civil War, 1975–1990
4. Lebanon— History—1946–1975 I. Title.
DS87.5.S76 2016
956.9204'3— dc23
2015036172
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Cloth printing 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Cover design: Richanna Patrick.
Cover photograph: US Envoy L. Dean Brown in
Lebanon with members of the Lebanese Arab Army,
April or May 1976. Courtesy of National Archives and
Records Administration.
Contents
Acknowl edgments vii
Introduction: “This Is the American Policy” 1
US Interests in Lebanon 5
Causes of the Lebanese Civil War 9
The Course of the Conflict, 1975–76 16
1. Sparks in the Tinderbox: The United States, the June
War, and the Remaking of the Lebanese Crisis 20
Lebanese Domestic Tensions on the Eve of the June War 21
The United States and Lebanon in the 1960s 25
Lebanon’s Six Day War 29
Pepsi- Cola Hits the Spot 36
The Beirut Airport Raid 39
2. Compromise in Cairo: The Nixon Administration
and the Cairo Agreement 44
“Trying to Be Helpful” 45
The August Attacks and the Rogers Plan 56
October Crisis and the Cairo Agreement 60
3. From Cairo to Amman: The United States and
Lebanese Internal Security 69
Post- Cairo US Assistance to Lebanon 70
Implementing the Cairo Agreement 74
The Kahhale Ambush and the Exodus from the South 78
Causes of the Calm 85
4. Plus ça change: International Terrorism, Détente,
and the May 1973 Crisis 92
The New International Terrorism 93
A New Request for Support 98
v
vi Contents
The Israeli Raid on Beirut and the May Crisis 103
The Aftermath 111
5. Reckoning Postponed: From the October War
to the Civil War 118
The October War and the Start of Negotiations 119
Lebanese Domestic Politics after the October War 128
Diplomacy on the Rocks 134
6. Disturbing Potential: The United States and the
Renewed Conflict 142
The Outbreak of Conflict 143
The Military Cabinet and Syrian Mediation 148
Sinai II and the Resumption of Vio lence in Lebanon 152
The January Cease- Fire 163
7. Reluctant Interveners: The Red Line Agreement
and Brown’s Mediation 169
The Constitutional Document and Shifting Alignments 171
The Non- Negotiation of the Red Line 174
The Brown Mission and the PLO 180
From Election to Intervention 190
8. Taking Its Course: The Syrian Intervention
and Its Limits 195
Reacting to the Syrian Intervention 196
Assassinations and Evacuations 202
The New US- Syrian Dialogue 205
The Second Syrian Military Offensive and the
End of the Conflict 210
Red Line Redux? 214
Epilogue: The Cycle Continues 221
Notes 225
Index 279
Acknowl edgments
Funding for this book came from a variety of
sources, including the Gradua te Institute of International and Development
Studies (formerly l’Institut de Hautes Études Internationales), the Swiss Na-
tional Science Foundation, the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Foundation, and
Trinity Washington University.
I am deeply grateful to Jüssi Hanhimäki for his guidance and support.
Mohammed- Reza Djalili of the Gradu ate Institute and Douglas Little of
Clark University provided useful feedback that improved the manuscript. Da-
vid Painter of Georgetown University and Samir Seikaly of the American
University of Beirut kindly welcomed me to their respective institutions and
opened doors to a variety of resources. In Beirut, Ambassador Abdallah Bou-
habib of the Issam Fares Center for Lebanon, Habib Malik of Lebanese
American University, and Niqula Nassif of al- Akhbar newspaper shared their
time, advice, and assistance in a variety of ways. My gratitude is also due to
the many Americans, Lebanese, and Syrians who agreed to be interviewed
for this proj ect. I alone am responsible for any errors of fact or judgment.
The staff members at the Nixon and Ford presidential libraries, the Na-
tional Archives II fac il i ty in College Park, the Danish Institute in Damascus,
and the Jaffet Library at the American University of Beirut were generous
with their time and knowledge. My sincere thanks are due to Michael Mc-
Gandy of Cornell University Press for shepherding this work through the
peer review pro cess and into publication.
Among personal debts, friends and family too numerous to list provided
food, shelter, conversation, and inspiration in Geneva, Beirut, Damascus,
Washington, Arkansas, and elsewhere. My wife, Yelena Osipova, read the
manuscript several times and provided essential intellectual and moral sup-
port. This work is dedicated to her.
vii

SPHERES OF INTERVENTION