Word: groupings
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Although the kidnaping was a success, two days later the larger plan appeared to be backfiring. Recognizing that the U.S. could be more easily pressured than Israel by threats against its hostages, a Hizballah front group calling itself the Organization of the Oppressed on Earth vowed to kill Colonel Higgins unless Obeid was released. Israeli Cabinet officials convened an emergency meeting to formulate a counteroffer. Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin proposed an exchange of Obeid and the estimated 150 Lebanese Shi'ites held in Israeli prisons for the release of the three Israeli soldiers and all the Western hostages...
There is little support in the Pentagon for a military response this time. "What are we supposed to hit?" an admiral asked last week. For the most part, the group has no major command centers outside heavily populated districts, where an American strike would be sure to result in many civilian casualties...
...urging Israel and the Palestinians to negotiate a peaceful settlement concerning the occupation of the West Bank. Such action would also play directly into the hands of Israeli hard-liners. On Friday P.L.O. leader Yasser Arafat opened a congress in Tunis of Al Fatah, the P.L.O.'s chief guerrilla group, the first such meeting since 1980. The discussions may prove critical because Arafat's public declarations calling for negotiations with Israel have brought him under increasing pressure from more extreme elements in the P.L.O...
...hopeful trends do little to help the remaining hostages. Some Administration officials are pessimistic about the prospects for a deal as long as one of Hizballah's priorities remains the release of 15 members of a closely affiliated Shi'ite fundamentalist group called Al Dawa (the Call). The 15 are imprisoned in Kuwait for a series of 1983 bomb attacks on the U.S. and French embassies there. Kuwait has stoutly refused Al Dawa's demands for the release of the prisoners, some of whom are relatives of Hizballah leaders. Said a close Bush adviser: "There's a family tie there...
...softens. Touted as one of the hottest financial plays of the go-go 1980s, LBOs zoomed in annual volume from about $250 million in 1980 to nearly $45 billion last year. The buyouts included household names like R.H. Macy, Beatrice, TWA and Safeway Stores. In such deals an investor group, often headed by a company's own executives, uses bank loans and high-interest junk bonds to buy a firm and take it private. Almost without exception, the group immediately slashes costs, lays off workers and sells divisions to reduce debt; the managers may eventually reap huge profits by selling...