Word: fears
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...necessary. The most important items are the fighters and 500 Phoenix missiles stored in igloos near by. If there was a clear danger that these missiles might fall into Soviet hands, Pentagon sources suggest, loyal Iranian pilots would fly the planes to safety, possibly Saudi Arabia. U.S. officials fear that any such plans, if carried out without consulting the Iranian government, would be construed, however, as an unwarranted interference in Iran's domestic affairs. Many Iranians were furious that the U.S. was sending emergency supplies of diesel oil to the country's military. The loan suggested to them that Washington...
...avoid more bloodshed, the Ayatullah may have to make some concessions. Says Massoud Behnoud, a Tehran lawyer: "If Khomeini reaches some kind of compromise with the Bakhtiar government, he can bring the country peaceably to a referendum on a new constitution. He doesn't even have to fear chaos too greatly. He already has 90% of the people with him. If he now begins to share his absolute power and allow other groups to speak out more, we will be on our way to liberty. Khomeini's real power will be that of the religious leader of Iran...
Washington's greatest fear now is a military coup, which would inevitably spark a civil war and adversely affect any U.S. presence for many years to come. Says a State Department official recently returned from Tehran: "There is no question that a military takeover would be most dangerous for U.S. interests. It would blow away the moderates and invite the majority to unite behind a radical faction...
Many Italians fear that calling elections would set the scene for even more terrorism. "This is a period when this country cannot afford to be without political leadership," said a Western diplomat in Rome last week. "The vacuum and confusion created by an electoral campaign could be extremely dangerous.' Predicted Socialist Leader Bettino Craxi: "Early elections would be a concession to the Red Brigades, who want destabilization and chaos in this country...
When he made that famous forecast in The American Challenge a decade ago, the French publisher and pop economist Jean-Jacques Servan-Schreiber voiced a familiar European fear: that U.S. industry, armed with a strong dollar and high technological and marketing prowess, was rapidly turning Western Europe into a sort of American commercial romper room. So much for that worry. What now seems to rouse European passions is not the threat of a Yankee invasion but the prospect of a disruptive retreat...