Word: persian
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...questions would not go away. But every time a Reagan Administration official tried to clarify the U.S.'s role in the Persian Gulf last week, the issue only grew muddier. Finally Ronald Reagan appeared in the White House briefing room Friday afternoon to justify his policy in the wake of Iraq's accidental assault on the U.S.S. Stark. "Mark this point well," he said. "The use of the vital sea-lanes of the Persian Gulf will not be dictated by the Iranians. These lanes will not be allowed to come under the control of the Soviet Union. The Persian Gulf...
...want to spend sleepless nights worrying about the U.S. response. "What we're seeing down the road is the U.S. being sucked into this violent and savage war," predicted Democratic Senator James Sasser of Tennessee. Said Republican Senator Richard Lugar of Indiana: "The environment surrounding our Navy in the Persian Gulf is as dangerous as the exposure of our Marines in Beirut." Those fears were hardly allayed when Congress learned that U.S. ships had twice escorted Kuwaiti vessels, once in February and once last week. In both cases, Kuwaiti merchant ships delivered U.S.-manufactured M60 tanks and other military supplies...
...often true in the Persian Gulf, the seas were placid, and the sailors standing watch aboard the U.S.S. Stark could see an endless display of stars in the clear evening sky. The sleek vessel, 445 ft. long and 45 ft. at the beam, slipped quietly through the water at a mere four knots. Under the subdued lights of the combat information center inside the warship's superstructure, sonar operators watched their blue-green screens and listened with headphones for the pinging sounds that would indicate the presence of underwater mines...
While the U.S. has its own strategic interests to defend in the Persian Gulf | region, the West Europeans and Japan clearly have the most at stake in that dangerous area. Yet some U.S. officials complain that America's allies are not contributing enough to the gulf's defense, and Kenneth Timmerman, author of a recent study on arms sales to Iran and Iraq titled Fanning the Flames, agrees. Says Timmerman: "The Europeans are doing nothing to safeguard their own interests in the gulf...
...Americans struggle to understand how a senseless military mishap in the Persian Gulf cost the lives of 37 sailors, Congress is concerned that the U. S. will be drawn into the Iran- Iraq war. -- Analysts ponder why the Stark, with its array of electronic gadgetry, was unable to defend itself. -- Could the planned 600- ship Navy become a fleet of sitting ducks? See NATION...