2006 Press Releases

Family and friends remembering loved ones. Picture by Georges Abdallah

On the Anniversary of the U.S. Embassy Bombing U.S. Embassy Commemorate Lives Lost in Lebanon in the Service of the U.S. Government

April 18, 2006

U.S. Embassy staff, former employees and family members participated in a remembrance ceremony, April 18, 2006, for the 61 American and Lebanese victims of the Embassy bombings of April 18, 1983, and September 20, 1984. The ceremony, at the Embassy compound in Awkar, was held in front of a memorial for the Americans, Lebanese, and one Tunisian who died serving the U.S. Government in Lebanon between 1976 and 1995. The words “They Came In Peace” and the names of the victims are engraved on the memorial.

In remarks for the occasion, Charge d’Affaires Christopher W. Murray noted that Ambassador Feltman was in Washington D.C. for the visit of Prime Minister Fouad Sinoria and members of his cabinet. He noted that it was significant that on the same day that President Bush was receiving Prime Minister Sinoria at the White House, a gathering at the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, remembered a darker period in the history of the two countries.

Mr. Murray said: “Today’s ceremony remembers those of our community who left us so tragically. But it is also intended to renew the ties between colleagues and to re-affirm the importance of our Lebanese American community in working to achieve common goals. Thus, as we commemorate today tragic events in Lebanon’s past, we also celebrate our long-standing partnership to lead to a more hopeful future. Despite terrible sacrifices in the past—and even in the past year—the firm partnership between our two peoples will ensure that freedom and democracy prevail. Lebanon remains at the top of President Bush’s Freedom Agenda. The United States and the American people stand with Lebanon and the Lebanese people today, tomorrow and in the future, to build and support a secure, sovereign, democratic, united and prosperous Lebanon.”