Word: gulfs
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1990-1999
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Even the environmental movement would sound a warning: air and water, the fundamentals of life, were in limited supply. Though that mood receded in the '80s, traces of it linger in the new skepticism about large government undertakings, whether that means health-care reform or unilateral action in the gulf...
American warplanes were practicing bombing runs from their carriers in the Persian Gulf. In Baghdad the long-suffering citizens of Iraq were resigning themselves to yet another aerial whacking. In Washington, Bill Clinton was staring at a pair of unpleasant options: bomb and be damned, or back down and be ridiculed. If ever there was a call for high diplomacy, this...
Saddam used the crisis with surprising skill to leap out of his isolation in the Arab world. Egypt and Qatar sent senior envoys to Baghdad to plead for peace, and Saddam boosted his standing with his gulf neighbors by seeming to choose diplomacy over adventurism. By letting in hordes of international journalists, he made sure they would show and tell the story of the Iraqi people suffering under U.N. sanctions...
Then what? The U.S. has 28 warships, 356 planes and 33,000 troops on alert in the Persian Gulf area, costing about $100 million a month more than the U.S. was already spending on forces in the region. Clinton and Albright argue that by going this extra mile with Saddam, the U.S. will have more support the next time it calls for using force. Maybe so, now that Annan has added his prestige to a deal, but only if the world feels deeply cheated and is ready to punish Saddam...
Last week he praised the U.S. show of strength in the gulf. "The best way to use force is to show force in order not to use it," he told TIME. But while Annan respects American power, he is not captive to it. In meetings with President Clinton or Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, he makes his bottom line clear by asserting, "This is very important to me." He told TIME that "if the U.S. had gone ahead, it would have divided not only the U.N. but the international community...a good leader must also be a good follower...