The Foreign Service Journal, July-August 2013

10 JULY-AUGUST 2013 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL an “attack” (three times), as well as an “outrageous, shocking attack,” “sense- less violence,” “brutal acts” and “this terrible act,” and identified the culprits as “attackers” (twice) and “killers who attacked our people.” But he never referred to “terrorism” or “terrorists.” Nonetheless, on May 10 White House spokesman Jay Carney three times assured the press that last September, “The president called it an act of terror.” The president himself repeated that claim in a press conference following his May 15 meeting with British Prime Minister David Cameron: “The day after it happened, I acknowledged that this was an act of terrorism.” No matter how many times the presi- dent and his defenders repeat that claim, it does not make it true. Instead, by declaring, “We reject all efforts to denigrate the religious beliefs of oth- ers,” Pres. Obama clearly advanced a fable: that the Benghazi attack was the result of a hitherto obscure video whose producer still languishes in U.S. prison, while already identified and easily identifiable terrorists gleefully stroll the streets and lounge in cafes of the Middle East. The president’s single reference to terror—“No acts of terror will ever shake the resolve of this great nation”—came only after evoking the “memory of the 9/11 [2001] attacks,” which are univer- sally recognized as terrorism. But his use of that term cannot retroactively be applied to the Benghazi attack, since he so scrupulously avoided identifying that as terrorism. John B. Thompson Senior FSO, retired Pompano Beach, Fla. Beirut, 1983 In his April letter, “More Memories of Reginald Bartholomew,” Tim Lawson recalls a truly sad date: Oct. 23, 1983, when 241 Marines were killed in Bei- rut. He goes on to describe the bomb that blew up the Marine barracks as “the largest non-nuclear explosion ever.” That 1983 terrorist attack was indeed tragic. But so far as I know, it has never been ranked among the world’s largest non-nuclear explosions, much less deemed the largest in history. To keep things in perspective, I would point to some of the mines used by the Allies on the Western Front in World War I. The largest of those I have read about used 455 tons of explosives to kill thousands of Germans. Then there is the accidental December 1917 explosion of a munitions ship in Halifax, Nova Scotia, which killed more than 2,000 people. The horrific 1944 Port Chicago, Calif., explosion took some 320 lives, most of them African-American sailors, while a 1947 ammonium nitrate ship explo- sion in Texas City, Texas, killed at least 581 people and triggered the first-ever class-action lawsuit against the U.S. government. In comparison, the 1983 Beirut attack is estimated to have been carried out using the equivalent of six tons of explosives. Steve Flora FSO, retired Canberra, Australia Recognizing Sacrifices When I joined the Foreign Service in 1960, there were 72 names on the AFSA Memorial Plaque. First on the list was William Palfrey, lost at sea in 1780. By the time I retired in 1996, the number of names had grown to the point that AFSA had to add a second plaque. Now there is a third, on which AFSA inscribed eight more names, unveiled at this year’s ceremony during Foreign Affairs Day, May 3. That brings the total number to 236, more than triple the number when I began my Foreign Service career. With so high a toll, it’s a pity so few Americans know anything about sacri- fices Foreign Service members and their families make to serve our country. Most people in New Mexico, where I live, are amazed when I tell them that there is such a thing as the Foreign Service. It would be nice if there were some public recognition for the Foreign Service, such as a license plate or other commemorative item. Judy Chidester FSO, retired Las Cruces, N.M. The Foreign Service at the Oscars Thank you to AFSA for putting on a wonderful Foreign Affairs Day memo- rial plaque service at State. I attended both the State and USAID memorials, and found them to be moving tributes to our colleagues. I also would like to take a moment to let you know how impressed I was that “Argo” star and direc-