Word: recoils
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...unnerving that we know so little about the realities of this war. The partial news blackout, stage-managed by the U.S. military, seems a never-again overreaction to Vietnam. The longer the nation is safeguarded from the full truth, the more jarring will be the recoil when the inevitable bad news hits. Defense Secretary Dick Cheney warned, "A military operation of this intensity and complexity cannot be scored every evening like a college track meet or a basketball game." What other choice do we have but to tot up the bombing sorties, mourn the downed flyers and pray...
...that many Arabs harbor in regard to the oil sheiks. "People do not like the Kuwaitis," a Cairene named Mohammed Fawzy said last week. "The Kuwaitis are always in the nightclub and casino. All they think about is money. They think they can buy anything." The mass of Arabs recoil from the injustice of oil wealth that buys Scotch and an opulent life for the sheiks' Cairo holidays during Ramadan and leaves so many of their brothers in poverty and squalor. A Moroccan journalist remarks, "I don't care if he is a fascist. At least he doesn't gamble...
...short war, Saddam in Arab psychology might be dispensable -- a humiliated failure when the Arab cause needed a triumphant hero, not a martyr. But if the battle is prolonged, if Arab casualties mount, if television cameras show the bodies of Iraqi civilians blasted by American bombs, then Arabs will recoil in even greater anger from the U.S. and the others in the coalition. Even in defeat, Saddam could emerge stronger still...
...long-overdue merit system will probably take shape in New Kuwait. But many of those who supported such a move when it was only a theory may recoil when faced with it in reality. Many will also be upset by a shrinkage in the welfare state's blanket coverage. Modest steps were already in place before August. Budgetary constraints alone will justify further cutbacks -- and many would-be recipients will be furious...
Containment is possible, at least theoretically. If Saddam pulls out peacefully, the U.S. and its allies can continue the embargo on military shipments to Iraq and perhaps create a regional security structure. But the Saudis recoil at the prospect of an enduring foreign-troop presence on their soil, even for the purpose of defending their kingdom, and a new region-wide defense pact is easier to conjure than to craft. The Kuwaitis would welcome an American presence indefinitely, but even they would prefer to avoid the complications that would invariably attend an open-ended effort to keep Saddam at home...