Word: pettiest
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...some places, Somalis who at first welcomed the Americans became resentful when they realized that the U.S. would not simply wipe out the warlords who were terrorizing them. At the same time, soldiers found themselves in mortal danger whenever they seemed to be taking sides in even the pettiest disputes among rival clans. Sergeant Kevin Anderson, a military-police officer, recalls sitting by in frustration as clan-vs.-clan arguments turned into free-for- alls. "Pretty soon," he says, "rocks would be flying back and forth from these David-and-Goliath slings they used. Then someone would...
...problem with all these figures is that they are useless in determining how many of the killings are political. In the climate of violence that has characterized El Salvador for decades, the pettiest disputes are settled permanently by gun or knife. In many cases the death squads have murdered people not for ideological reasons but for personal ones. In other cases, death squads have no role whatsoever. Rumors occasionally circulate about how this businessman or that official found with EM (for escuadron de la muerte) carved on his chest was actually killed by a jealous husband or business rival. Sometimes...
...Washington, Haig and the White House staff could at least avoid one another when they had no business to discuss. Thrown together on a tightly scheduled visit to Europe, they got into explosive quarrels over the pettiest matters. For example, Haig is said to have regarded it as an affront that the helicopter carrying him and his wife Patricia from Heathrow Airport outside London to Windsor Castle was far behind the Reagans' chopper. According to White House aides, he upbraided Clark and Baker on the lawn at Windsor Castle, while Queen Elizabeth II was welcoming Reagan. "He went crazy...
Douglas MacArthur is one of the major embarrassments of American history. On one hand he was, without quibble or question, a military genius of the rank of Alexander, Hannibal and Napoleon. On the other hand, as this flawed but fascinating biography makes clear, he could be one of the pettiest and most arrogant men ever to have worn the uniform of the U.S. Army...
...particular Augean stable that 9to5 organizers have taken on, the muck lies deep. Change is slow in coming. The winner of 9to5's "Pettiest Office Procedures Contest" last fall was a man who had his secretary sew up a rip in the seat of his pants while he was in them. ("Men's egos are bigger today," he later explained to The Boston Globe. "Men want that little bit of security that a good secretary provides.") Second prize went to a store manager who asked his clerks to dress up as bumble bees to attract customers into his store...