CHARLES BIERBAUER, CNN SR. CORRESPONDENT: This was a country that didn't have a functioning government of its own and terrorism was right. You had a green line down the center of Beirut and a no-man's land and people crossed at their own peril. And so, there wasn't really very good security for the U.S. Embassy.</s>SEN. LARRY PRESSLER (R), SOUTH DAKOTA: Even though they are protected in the best way possible, they've got to be open so that people can get in and out of them. I mean, they are there to do business.</s>BIERBAUER: You start to realize the limitations that even a powerful nation, such as the United States, has in a country that has no inherent government of its own and is being torn apart by various factions. Terrorism has become an occupational hazard for American diplomats or even for American tourists or for others traveling overseas. Terrorism is now something that can strike just about anywhere. It's no longer a distant thing that happens in far-away countries. Terrorists, those who perpetrate these kinds of acts, have discovered that they can be effective and devastating, but they can also get their message across, even in a perverse way, by carrying out these acts. And while they may not profit from it per se, the issues are raised. Their causes are raised because of these acts of terrorism.
CNN 20: U.S. Embassy Bombed in Beirut, September 20, 1984