Word: proof
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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From the 1983 bombing of the Marine barracks in Beirut to the mine blast that ripped the hull of the U.S.-reflagged tanker Bridgeton in the Persian Gulf last July, the U.S. has been humiliated by acts of violence that were almost certainly plotted by Iran. But persuasive proof remained frustratingly elusive. Ronald Reagan's threats of retaliation against any terrorists found with American blood on their hands carried a hollow ring on the all-too- frequent occasions when no evidence could be produced. But last week a carefully coordinated military operation in the gulf swiftly altered the image...
...that America has found impossible either to tolerate or prevent. Admitting this, however, is difficult. Easier to dismiss it all as the work of crazy states. Reagan was certainly right that these countries are "united by their fanatical hatred of the United States." But that in itself is not proof of derangement. Hatred is a common, often useful, phenomenon in international relations. And fanaticism is a measure of passion, not irrationality...
Using declassified documents filed by a U.S. team sent to Southeast Asia to investigate the allegations, the article says that experts were unable to find proof of biochemical warfare. Alleged witnesses recanted reports of the yellow rain, and the team found that the supposed symptoms caused by the toxin -- vomiting, skin irritation and dizziness -- were more likely the effects of smoke inhalation and battle fatigue. Moreover, the authors say, private examination of the yellowish substance on leaf samples determined the "poison" was composed almost entirely of pollen. The suspected source of the yellow rain: swarms of honeybees that dropped...
Despite the abundance of worthy series, one proof that writers are wise to resist them is that the two best current entries in any category are one-offs. Both are from British writers better noted for their series featuring pairs of mismatched policemen. Reginald Hill, whose stories of the cops Dalziel and Pascoe verge on instant classics, writes Death of a Dormouse (Mysterious Press; 281 pages; $15.95) under the pseudonym Patrick Ruell. He discerningly depicts the slow emergence from submission to self-respect of a woman who discovers after her husband's death how little she has known...
Well, yes and no. There is always room for a really fine museum, and the proof is in Houston. The Menil Collection, which opened in June, houses the works assembled over the past 45 years by Dominique de Menil and her late husband John, who was chairman of Schlumberger, the giant oil-field services company. Through the '70s, as American museum and collecting habits became encysted with hoopla, glitz and architectural manipulation, Dominique de Menil remained absolutely committed to the ideal of art as art, of a museum whose discretion and neutrality would release the eloquence of the work...