Word: contras
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...beauty contest, we ought to consider their own record. President Clinton might have pioneered a dysfunctional and dangerous cruise-missile diplomacy, but he's never matched the cynicism and pure "Dr. Strangelove" nuttiness of President Reagan's invasion of Grenada. That from the same administration that gave us Iran-Contra and shipped Stinger missiles to the likes of Osama Bin Laden back in the '80s simply because they were fighting the Soviets. And it was the Bush administration, after all, that not only stood back when it had the power to topple Saddam Hussein - an arguably necessary step to avoid...
...pressure, as they have in Europe? As of last week, Campbell claimed to be unfazed, with few customers registering concern, despite the spotlight. Even at the San Francisco rally, there was some ambivalence. "I may not eat Campbell's soup as much," offered Shanae Walls, 19, a student at Contra Costa College who was there with her Environmental Science and Thought class. But as the protesters tossed products from Pepperidge Farm--a Campbell subsidiary--into the toxic-waste bin, she had second thoughts. "I love those cookies," she said wistfully. "That might take some time...
...prominent person who would invigorate the ticket is former Maine Sen. George J. Mitchell. Mitchell has extensive legislative and government experience: He was the Senate majority leader for five years. In the Senate, he worked tirelessly on the Clean Air Act, the Iran-Contra affair and health care legislation. Most importantly, Mitchell was a prominent mediator and architect of the Good Friday agreement in Northern Ireland. His efforts in this area have shown him to be a selfless public servant dedicated to peaceful resolution of the most prickly international issues. "[Mitchell] makes it a special ticket," said Boston Mayor Thomas...
...better to be a fake nobody than a real somebody. Contra Tom Ripley, this is the conclusion reached by the two lead characters in Miss Wyoming (Pantheon; 311 pages; $23), Douglas Coupland's witty and hyper discourse on celebrity. Like much of his previous work (Generation X, Microserfs), it's a brilliant set of riffs that passes as a novel with mixed success...
...More than five years ago, the agency poured millions of dollars into a guerrilla force of the I.N.C., a loose coalition of Iraqi exile groups led by Ahmed Chalabi, a wealthy Iraqi Shi'ite and skillful political organizer. But with the White House nervous about being sucked into a contra-style insurgency war, the CIA pulled the plug on its support for Chalabi's guerrillas and turned to Iraqi officers in Saddam's inner circle who might topple him. That ended in an embarrassing debacle for the agency when Saddam uncovered the plots and crushed them. The CIA is trying...