Word: sa
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...rebels were not known to have the heat-seeking SA-7s until they fired one at a Salvadoran jet last week. The shoulder-held SA-7 is a Soviet-designed cousin of the more advanced U.S. Stinger rocket that significantly boosted the power of the mujahedin in the Afghan war. "These missiles could really make a difference," says a key U.S. Senate staffer. The insurgents offered to sheathe the weapon if the air force stopped bombing and strafing ground targets, but Cristiani is unlikely to accept the deal...
...Although SA-7s can be obtained in arms bazaars around the world, there was little doubt that the weapons were shipped from Nicaragua. Costa Rican President Oscar Arias Sanchez firmly backed Cristiani in blaming Ortega, who did not even bother to deny the charge. Instead, Ortega noted the many flights that originated from San Salvador's Ilopango airport to ferry weapons to the contras fighting his government. "So what's the scandal?" he asked...
...they have changed over time. Some Washington officials believe Managua's military aid to the F.M.L.N. was fairly modest from the early 1980s until mid-1988, when plans were first laid for the current offensive and arms shipments were cranked up. If Ortega is indeed the purveyor of SA-7s to the F.M.L.N., why did he choose to send them now? One plausible hypothesis assumes that a demand for the rockets was created by the current rebel offensive. Another is that both Ortega and Castro are rushing to help the F.M.L.N. before Gorbachev pressures them to cut off the rebels...
...Brinkley's journalistic devotion to detail comes out in the military scenes, which comprise some of the weaker parts of the novel. The exact effects of SA-7's, Deadeyes, Redeyes, etc., etc., are unnecessary additions to an otherwise compelling plot...
Actually, this passage did not spring from Rushdie's imagination: similar accounts of Muhammad's temptation were recorded a millennium ago by Ibn Sa'd, al-Tabari and other authoritative Muslim historians. Today's Islamic scholars, however, do not consider the story authentic. Like the section dealing with the scribe Salman, this episode is seen by Rushdie's critics as a blatant attempt to undermine the Koran as the word...