Word: iranian
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...Iraq has supplied frontline troops to three Arab-Israeli wars and provided shelter and support for terrorists such as Abu Nidal and Abul Abbas. A continued stalemate would be best of all: it simultaneously weakens the frontline Arab states, deflects Arab attention from Israel and checks the expansion of Iranian-inspired Islamic fanaticism. But an outright Iranian victory could prove a mixed blessing. Moreover, just as the Tehran arms deal has backfired on the Reagan Administration, it might also turn out to be detrimental to Israel, for some of the weapons could be channeled to Shi'ite Muslim soldiers fighting...
...Administration aides scrambled last week to deflect blame for the Iranian arms fiasco away from themselves, a good number of fingers were pointed directly at Ronald Reagan's increasingly visible and often imperious chief of staff. More than ever Donald Regan, 67, seems to be out front these days, projecting an aura that at times makes him seem both commanding and condescending. With a self-confidence burnished by nine years as the chief of Merrill Lynch, he has set up a hierarchical structure that puts him alone atop the upward flow of information. Combined with Reagan's inclination to rely...
...strong stand against terrorism -- Reagan and his aides last week seemed only to be erecting a Tower of Babel abuzz with conflicting and contradictory voices. Presidential confidants past and present got into a public squabble: former National Security Adviser Robert McFarlane, one of the architects of the President's Iranian policy, called the arms transfers a "mistake," and was promptly accused by Chief of Staff Donald Regan of giving "lousy advice." The President and his Secretary of State, George Shultz, apparently unwilling to settle anything face to face, took to exchanging messages by way of television...
Once the cameras rolled, the President's demeanor was appropriately somber. Though he claimed that all the aides who knew about the secret diplomatic contacts with Iranian officials approved of them, he acknowledged in his opening statement that "several top advisers opposed the sale of even a modest shipment of defensive weapons and spare parts to Iran." He had weighed their advice and rejected it, said Reagan. "The responsibility for the decision and the operation is mine and mine alone . . . I was convinced then and I am convinced now that while the risks were great, so too was the potential...
...Reagan, "he has made it plain that he will stay as long as I want him -- and I want him." Most probably Shultz never did make an explicit threat to resign -- but then he did not have to. The President could ill afford to have it said that his Iranian policy had driven his highly respected Secretary of State out of the Administration...