Word: backdown
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...appeared to fulfill U.S. demands that Iraq let unfettered inspections resume immediately. But it came with a two-page annex listing nine items Iraq wanted in return, which Saddam dubbed "positions" but the U.S. called unacceptable "conditions." The approval--and global sigh of relief--that initially greeted Saddam's backdown soured into fresh anxiety. Annan, who had welcomed the missive as a "positive step" that "in my opinion" met U.N. demands, was forced to call for "clarifications...
...rhetorical resolve on the part of the allies. Top U.N. officials, backed by the Russians, argued against further confrontation. Meanwhile, the British, the Germans and the Americans continued searching for a way to avoid both a full-scale continuance of the air campaign and the humiliation of yet another backdown...
...ambassador: "As long as people know the U.S. is engaged and reliable, they are unlikely to do foolish things. It's reassuring and restraining. And this serves our national interests because stability and peace make our economy and trade prosper." Conversely, a senior Administration official admits the American backdown in Somalia probably emboldened the Haitian military to defy the U.S., and it would be surprising if Kim Il-Sung were not watching Bosnia for clues as to how far he can go. Moreover, another Administration official warns, for all the American public's | current indifference, "foreign policy could unhinge this...
ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER DEADLINE. AND ANOTHER backdown by Saddam Hussein, for what seems like the zillionth time. This time the Iraqi dictator had moved surface-to-air missiles into position to shoot down allied planes enforcing the no-fly zone established by the U.N. over southern Iraq. That provoked yet another Western ultimatum, this one joining the U.S., Britain, France and Russia. Its essence: get those missiles out by 5:30 p.m. New York time Friday (exactly 48 hours after the ultimatum was put in the hands of Iraqi Ambassador Nizar Hamdoon at U.N. headquarters in Manhattan), or else...