Word: kuwaiti
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Since U.S. warships began escorting reflagged Kuwaiti oil tankers through the dangerous waters of the Persian Gulf, the Reagan Administration has adamantly refused to justify the policy to Congress under the requirements of the 1973 War Powers Resolution. The controversial law is a minefield of its own: if Congress refused to authorize the President's actions, U.S. forces would have to be withdrawn within 60 days. But the Administration argues that the escort operation does not involve a situation "where imminent involvement in hostilities is clearly indicated by the circumstances," so the language of the resolution does not apply...
...Gulf last week when Iraqi jets hit the Iranian island of Sirri, 80 miles northwest of Dubai. The strike, which set ablaze an Iranian tanker, threatened to heat up the tanker war, which has been quiet since early July. If Iran retaliates, a primary target may be the reflagged Kuwaiti tankers and their U.S. escorts...
Despite concern in Congress over the U.S. military presence in the Persian Gulf, Americans appear to be strongly in favor of that policy. In a poll taken for TIME last week by Yankelovich Clancy Shulman,* supporters of the use of U.S. military escorts for reflagged Kuwaiti oil tankers outnumbered opponents by almost 2 to 1. Some of those sentiments, however, are based on erroneous information: 85% said the escorts were important to "protect oil shipments going to the U.S." In fact, most of the petroleum products carried in the U.S.-escorted vessels are bound for Western Europe and Japan...
Elsewhere in the gulf the U.S. Navy was belatedly engaged in a similar operation, its first serious minesweeping attempt since the U.S. stepped up its military role in the area late last spring. After a convoy of three reflagged Kuwaiti oil tankers and three U.S. warships began to make its way north through the gulf to Kuwait, it was disclosed that the vessels were protected by the amphibious assault ship U.S.S. Guadalcanal and its RH-53 Sea Stallion minesweeping helicopters. The choppers, the same type used last week by Iran, flew ahead of the convoy, dragging mine-detecting sonar devices...
...other nations must again find a way to deal with that figure. For all the problems that Reagan's Kuwaiti escort service has encountered, the President seems determined to continue with the operation indefinitely. Says a senior Administration official: "He's committed to demonstrating support to our friends in the region." Still, the White House began muting its military role in the gulf last week. Senior officials insisted that the reflagging was first and foremost a display of solidarity toward the moderate Arabs, not a show of muscle...