Word: contra
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...Administration also tried to regain the offensive back home. After weeks of thrashing about, one minute backing the peace process, the next claiming unwavering support for the contras, Washington tilted strongly toward the rebels last week. On vacation in California, President Ronald Reagan issued two pledges of continued support for the contras' war against the Sandinista regime in Nicaragua. He broadcast a morale-boosting message that was beamed to guerrillas in the field over a rebel radio station. Three days later Reagan met with contra leaders in Los Angeles. In Washington, officials criticized the Sandinistas, issuing statements of support...
...Iran-contra debacle clearly showed the dangers of relying on semiprivate operators to handle such tricky covert missions. The CIA's legal authority and practical capacity to operate in the gray area between intelligence activity and paramilitary action have come under grave question. The business of conducting covert wars in an open and democratic society has never come easily to the Pentagon either. America's armed forces traditionally resemble a sheriff prepared for a shootout on Main Street at high noon but not for a back-alley brawl...
...Army did avoid one of the worst blunders of the Iran-contra affair. Though some of its clandestine activities were initially kept from legislators, to their displeasure, most were properly described to congressional oversight committees. Partly as a consequence, and somewhat paradoxically, the Army escaped the intense spotlight that the many Iran- contra investigations have cast on covert operations in general...
...putative presidential candidacy. Thoughtful and highly respected in the Senate for his mastery of defense issues, Nunn had announced in February that he would make no move to organize a campaign for six months, until after the summer congressional recess and the conclusion of his service on the Iran-contra panel. "Nunn believed that by now the parade would have passed him by," said one of his closest political advisers. "But when he looked back up, it hadn...
...Nunn difference is as much ideological as it is a manifestation of Southern boosterism. With his right-of-center views on foreign policy and military spending, Nunn would provide a counterweight to the seven current Democratic candidates, who are united in their opposition to contra aid and Ronald Reagan's Star Wars program. He has also taken a more moderate stance on many social issues, thus appealing to disaffected Democrats worried about their party's long love affair with various special-interest groups. Without Nunn in the race, the prevailing sentiment among centrist Democrats in the South (and perhaps elsewhere...