Word: ite
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...most extreme version, the operation would begin with covert CIA stimulation of a new revolt by Saddam's Kurdish and Shi'ite opponents and proceed to very overt bombing of the forces the Iraqi dictator sent to smash the rebellion. That, goes the plan, would so weaken the regime that either the rebels or Saddam's military commanders, or both, would get rid of him. In another version, the U.S. would covertly incite a military coup by Saddam's lieutenants, in part by letting them know Washington stood ready to back them up with air power, if need...
...officers and troops remaining may be more afraid of the Iraqi masses -- and the Kurdish and Shi'ite dissidents -- than they are of Saddam. An Arab diplomat relates a conversation that occurred when the Iraqi dictator visited his capital well before the invasion of Kuwait. Saddam, says the diplomat, told his hosts that he had no illusions: if he ever fell from power, the mobs would so shred his body that not a piece of him larger than a fingertip would survive. But, he added, he had warned his subordinates that exactly the same thing would happen to them...
That turned out to be the right, or at least the successful, policy. But it is difficult to see that any U.S. initiatives on the hostages' behalf actually forced their release. In the end, the faceless Shi'ite kidnappers under the Hizballah umbrella in Lebanon were simply overtaken by events. The world around them changed so dramatically that Iran and Syria, their main supporters, no longer found them or their captives useful. Some of the lessons gleaned from years of terrorism and hostage taking...
...forces at play were beyond American control. The surge of Islamic fundamentalism that carried the Ayatullah Ruhollah Khomeini to power struck a resonant chord with Shi'ite organizations in Lebanon. So did the Iranian mobs that stormed into the American embassy in Tehran and held 52 hostages for 444 days...
Israel's invasion and subsequent occupation of the self-proclaimed security zone nine miles deep into Lebanese territory uprooted Shi'ite towns and sparked the creation of Hizballah, the radical Party of God, built up with Iranian advisers and money. Its proclaimed mission: to drive the Israelis and their Lebanese auxiliaries of the South Lebanon Army out of the country. The U.S. became a target when it moved Marines into Lebanon to support the Israeli-backed Christian government in Beirut, reinforcing Hizballah's belief that Israel's strength came from the aid and political support the Jewish state got from...