Word: retreatant
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...settle for. For the U.S., the choice was between defusing the immediate crisis -- either by waiting for the sanctions to work or by accepting some kind of a settlement -- or getting rid of the menace in Baghdad once and for all. For Saddam, the question was whether to retreat now with some face-saving concession and live to fight another day, or to stand his ground in Kuwait at the risk of military confrontation...
...military front, there was no retreat. According to the Pentagon, Iraq last week reinforced its troops in and around Kuwait to 265,000. These moves were probably defensive; virtually no American official believes Iraq will push farther south now that the Saudis are backed by 50,000 American troops and the muscular arms of the U.S. Air Force and Navy. Still, Baghdad asserted that if war broke out, it would attack not only Saudi Arabia but Israel too. That would provoke a roaring conflagration in the region, with the Israelis and their American allies retaliating in force but with...
...days of the Republic. In 1796 George Washington warned against the dangers of entangling alliances: "The great rule of conduct for us in regard to foreign nations is, in extending our commercial relations, to have with them as little political connection as possible." Over the centuries, the desire to retreat from a global role has ebbed and flowed, and in the 1930s Congress even passed neutrality laws in the hope of preventing the U.S. from being dragged into World...
...good. Since the morning Saddam Hussein sent Iraqi troops storming into Kuwait, the Soviet Union has been cooperating with the West in opposing him. Moscow voted yes four times in the United Nations to condemn Iraq and impose stiff sanctions. Soviet diplomats have repeatedly urged Iraq to retreat and to free all hostages, while rebuffing pleas to ease their support for the international opposition. When the U.N. was debating the crucial fifth vote authorizing force to back up the sanctions, Gorbachev publicly told Saddam to withdraw from Kuwait or face further action from the U.N. Only a few hours later...
...decision to send a large force into Saudi Arabia. The Soviets are concerned the military buildup could increase the chances of an armed conflict in a region already bristling with weapons. They particularly fear what a besieged Saddam might do if left without any face-saving form of retreat. For this reason, Moscow favors combining U.N. diplomacy with regional peace efforts, particularly Arab-led initiatives. Shevardnadze reminded Arab foreign ministers last week that their "ability to unite largely determines whether or not a war in the Middle East can be averted...