Word: beirutization
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...seeing an old friend, Gates's special assistant. I had just gotten off a plane from Lebanon. Gates must have overheard us talking, because he popped out of his office and stuck his hand out at me: "Bob Gates, great to meet you. Tell me what's happening in Beirut." He pulled up a chair and listened for the next half hour...
...This was July 1986, and the Reagan Administration's Middle East policy was in shreds. The cornerstone of that policy, the May 17th Agreement, which was supposed to bring peace to Lebanon and Lebanon's recognition of Israel, was clinically dead. The CIA's chief in Beirut had been murdered the year before. Iranian-backed groups were holding dozens of American hostages. It was hard to imagine things getting worse. They did. Four months later the Iran-contra scandal broke...
...damaged the U.S. reputation in Lebanon even among those who have historically been favorable to the U.S., like myself," said Ahmad Moussalli, a professor of political science at the American University of Beirut. "And U.S. support is unlikely to help this government. It has been unable to deliver on internal issues. The government has done nothing so far to start the process of reconstruction, though a lot of funds have been channeled to Lebanon...
...fact of the matter is we are there, and it is the central struggle at this point. The terrorists' only strategy is to break our will. They can't beat us in a stand-up fight. They never have. They go back, and they cite evidence of Beirut in 1983 and Somalia in 1993, when they killed Americans and then Americans withdrew. They think we don't have the stomach for the fight. For us to do what the Democrats--some Democrats--have suggested in Iraq would simply validate that strategy, would simply say to al-Qaeda, You're right...
...keep in mind, that this is a global struggle, that the terrorists have bet from the beginning their only strategy is to be able to break our will. They can't beat us in a stand-up fight. They never have. They go back and they cite evidence of Beirut in 1983 and Somalia in 1993, when they killed Americans and then Americans withdrew. They believe based on their experience in the '90s they could strike us with impunity, and that if they killed enough Americans, they could change American policy. They're trying to break our will. They think...