Word: brasses
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Though Reagan did not order up an air strike then and there, it was clear to military planners that such an action was inevitable. The Pentagon brass was concerned, however, that it lacked the firepower to hit Gaddafi with sufficient force. Since the Sixth Fleet's skirmish only three weeks earlier with Libyan forces in the Gulf of Sidra, the fleet's strength had considerably diminished with the departure of the aircraft carrier Saratoga for its home base in Mayport, Fla. There was not sufficient time to order the flattop back to the central Mediterranean to join the carriers Coral...
...another defendant implicated two army colonels and a major with involvement in the abduction- for-profit conspiracy. The officers have not yet been formally charged with kidnaping. Nevertheless, the allegations mark the first time in memory that the El Salvadoran military has investigated the actions of its top brass. Said one Western observer: "The attitude of the junior officers is, 'Let's clean this thing...
...They are well prepared for a long-predicted Iranian offensive through the Hawazia marshes that flank the highway north of Basra, which is just 50 miles from Fao. Defensive earthworks have been built along the road, with machine-gun nests and tank positions placed every 500 yards. The Iraqi brass is determined not to be diverted from retaking the Fao Peninsula. Declares Defense Minister General Adnan Khairallah, brother-in-law of President Saddam Hussein: "I can assure you we will do so with the least possible casualties...
When the Sixth Fleet struck at Libyan air-defense batteries and patrol boats a fortnight ago without suffering a single casualty, America's top military brass celebrated more than just a victory over Muammar Gaddafi. The Pentagon offered the Navy's demonstration of high-tech firepower as a telling retort to an increasingly restive band of congressional critics who accuse the military of building "gold-plated" weapons that will turn out to be duds in combat. Like Libya's radar transmitters, the Pentagon's detractors were silenced, but only for the moment...
...Navy brass point out that the $75 billion array of carrier groups looked pretty intimidating to Gaddafi, who dared not send his 535-plane air force aloft to challenge the Sixth Fleet. But questions about both the cost and effectiveness of the operation are sure to be part of the continuing debate over how to allocate military resources and structure the Pentagon bureaucracy for the defense the U.S. will need in the decade to come...