Word: habib
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...Libyans, including 30 diplomats. It also closed Libyan consulates and cultural centers in Tunis and the seaport city of Sfax. As tension between the two countries grew, the Tunisian news agency reported that three Libyan aircraft had flown 30 miles into Tunisia. The pro-Western government of President Habib Bourguiba, which has already put its army on the alert, fired off a protest to Gaddafi over the violation of Tunisian air space. Tunisian Foreign Minister Beji Caid Essebsi gave a somber assessment of the situation, describing it as "a grave and direct threat to peace in the region...
...other. But until now Lewis has avoided public criticism of Sharon, currently Minister of Industry and Trade in Israel's coalition government. As he prepared to leave for home last week after eight years as ambassador, Lewis recalled for Israeli television a December 1981 meeting between Sharon and Philip Habib, then the U.S. special envoy in the Middle East. The session was held six months before the Israeli invasion of Lebanon. Sharon, said Lewis, outlined plans for invading Lebanon and taking Beirut, leaving Habib and other Americans present "rather dumbfounded." According to Lewis, Habib told Sharon that the idea...
...angrily labeled the ambassador's account "a gross lie." Speaking on Israeli television, he described Lewis as "a cornerstone of the American failure in Lebanon and the Middle East" because his reports, as well as those of other U.S. officials, "misled the (U.S.) President." Sharon characterized his meeting with Habib as "part of my efforts to prevent war." Ambassador Lewis, whose account was backed by the State Department, was later asked why he had raised the issue at this time. Said he: "I was asked the question, and I don't dodge questions...
...that the President really meant to delay for two days, inasmuch as the point at issue involved a war that was daily claiming hundreds of lives. Clark assured me that this was, hi fact, the President's decision. Astonished, I phoned Reagan at Camp David and explained that Habib was already en route to Damascus to keep an appointment with Syrian President Assad; he simply could not wait. When Reagan responded, I detected a note of puzzlement in his voice. He knew nothing about the instructions to Habib, and I gained the impression that he had not even received...
...instructions, I reiterated, that departed substantively from the positions prepared for him while we were in Europe. Reagan remained detached, friendly and still clearly a bit puzzled by my call. "That's all right, Al, don't worry," he said at last. I hung up and sent Habib his instructions without the President's formal approval. I tried to call Clark to inform him but was informed that he had retired for the night...