Word: cutoffs
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1980-1989
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...victory for Reagan, if only because it reversed one of the most embarrassing foreign policy setbacks of his presidency. Last week's vote sent a message of U.S. resolve not only to the contras, who have suffered some supply shortages but have managed to remain largely intact during the cutoff (see box). The congressional turnabout also reassured other governments in the region, notably those of Honduras and Costa Rica, from whose territory the rebels stage their forays into Nicaragua. Finally, the showdown over the contras vindicated Reagan's strategy of legislative persistence, a political trademark sometimes dismissed by his critics...
...yearlong cutoff of U.S. aid did not hamper the contras' recruiting efforts. Indeed, the FDN claims to have grown from 6,000 to more than 14,000 men. Though the contras suffer from occasional equipment shortages, about $10 million in private donations from conservative groups in the U.S., Taiwan and South Korea have largely made up for the lost...
Democratic fears of U.S. military involvement have been fueled by ominous warnings from Administration officials concerned about the cutoff of contra aid. Secretary of State George Shultz, for example, told the American Bar Association last month that if Congressmen continued to withhold assistance "they are hastening the day when the threat will grow and we will be faced with an agonizing choice about the use of American combat troops." The New York Times printed a pair of articles last week speculating that the Administration was moving closer to the invasion option. "That's foolish," charged White House Spokesman Larry Speakes...
Among the bitterest reactions was that of Secretary of State George Shultz. At a ceremony marking the tenth anniversary of the fall of Saigon, Shultz said the contra cutoff had dire implications: "Broken promises. Communist dictatorship. Refugees. Widened Soviet influence, this time near our very border." Then he added angrily: "Here is your parallel between Viet Nam and Central America...
...charge stick. Consider Nicaragua. As no less a democrat than Arturo Cruz, leader of the (nonviolent) opposition, writes, the contras--"the revolt of Nicaraguans against oppression by other Nicaraguans"--now represent an authentic "social movement." Indeed, they are more than 12,000 strong and growing, even after the cutoff of American...