Word: habib
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...Middle East plan fizzled. Then Clark, with hardly a word to the State Department, decided to fire Arms Control Director Eugene Rostow and replace him with Kenneth Adelman, a young hard-liner whose slender credentials caused an uproar on Capitol Hill. Two weeks ago, State Department Loyalist Philip Habib was replaced as Middle East envoy by Robert McFarlane, Clark's deputy at the National Security Council. Although he will report to Shultz, McFarlane, in a convoluted arrangement, will remain an assistant to Clark. In both cases, the White House acted out of a sense of impatience over the State...
...greatest danger of de facto partition is that a prolonged Israeli-Syrian face-off in Lebanon will eventually deteriorate into all-out war. That is reason enough for the U.S. to send Special Envoy McFarlane to Syria this week to pursue a goal that both his predecessor Philip Habib and Secretary of State Shultz have failed to achieve: the mutual withdrawal of Israeli and Syrian troops. A rookie in Middle East affairs, McFarlane might want to ponder the wisdom of the sign that hangs in the office of the United Nations peace-keeping force in the Lebanese town of Naqura...
...absence of fresh ideas, Reagan opted for fresh faces. With Gemayel standing beside him, the President announced that Special Envoy Philip Habib, who has been the Administration's principal troubleshooter in the Middle East, would be replaced by Robert C. McFarlane, Deputy National Security Adviser. Habib, 63, was described as leaving to pursue "private commitments," but in reality he had outlived his usefulness. The Israelis distrusted him and, more important, the Syrians flatly refused to see him. McFarlane, 46, has little expertise in the region, but the former Marine colonel has won bipartisan praise for his work...
...Shultz mission was hastily hatched. When the Secretary of State embarked on a twelve-day swing through Asia three weeks ago, he dispatched Special Envoy Philip Habib to judge whether a Middle East side trip by Habib's boss would be worthwhile. By the time Shultz reached Pakistan, his last stop in Asia, senior White House aides decided that he should visit the region. They reasoned that Shultz had little to lose-and much to gain if, miraculously, his presence spurred some progress. Said an Administration official: "No one thought we had to score on this or else...
...issue is that they have been giving mixed diplomatic signals for some time. Syrian President Hafez Assad has consistently denounced the Lebanese-Israeli agreement, but at the same time he has hinted to Washington that he would welcome talks with U.S. negotiators, though not with U.S. Special Envoy Philip Habib. He would probably like to meet directly with Secretary of State George Shultz, who believes that preliminary discussions should be conducted by lower-ranking officials. Some U.S. experts on the Middle East feel that if the Syrians are really ready to talk now, Shultz should move quickly to take advantage...