Word: sadat
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...world, as news of the attack rippled out. In Washington, President Ronald Reagan had just risen when Secretary of State Alexander Haig telephoned him at 7:20 a.m. local time to relay word from the U.S. embassy in Cairo that there had been a shooting incident involving Sadat. Reagan was relieved when he was told that the embassy believed Sadat was only slightly injured. Reagan immediately cabled a personal message to Sadat, offering his prayers and assurances that "we stand ready to assist in any way we can, including the provision of medical assistance to any of those wounded...
...Washington's optimism soon turned to gloom. Just after 9 a.m. Reagan received his first detailed briefing from National Security Adviser Richard Allen. As Allen described the attack, Reagan mumbled repeatedly, "Good Lord, good Lord." At 11:15 a.m. the White House Situation Room confirmed that Sadat was dead. On Capitol Hill, Vice President George Bush was informed of the tragic news in a phone call from his chief of staff. Bush promptly relayed word to Senate Majority Leader Howard Baker, who announced Sadat's passing to the Senate. The White House, however, quickly disowned the statement and refused...
Once the Prime Minister arrived at his house, he tuned in the Voice of Israel and fielded phone calls keeping him abreast of developments in Cairo. Jimmy Carter called from Plains to tell Begin that Sadat was only slightly injured. The two men expressed mutual hopes for his swift recovery. A short time later, the first reports appeared on U.S. television networks announcing Sadat's death. Begin at first refused to believe the news. "You heard ABC," he told an aide. "ABC didn't say he died." When the truth finally sank in, Begin slumped disconsolately in his library armchair...
...broke off. With martial music playing in the background, peaceful scenes of Egyptian villages flashed onto the screen. Finally an announcer told the viewers that the President had left the parade. By that time, the toll from the attack stood at five killed and 28 wounded, including four Americans. Sadat was in the hospital in a coma, blood gushing from his mouth. Bullets and shrapnel had ripped into the left side of his chest, his neck, knee and thigh. A later medical bulletin would reveal that death occurred at 2:40 p.m., two hours after the attack began, and that...
...nightmare had come true: the sudden, terrifying death of the beleaguered, valiant, seemingly indispensable Anwar Sadat. In a week of anger and disbelief, the assassinated Egyptian leader was hailed in the U.S., in Western Europe, in Israel and elsewhere as a man of courage and peace. In a few Arab capitals, where he had never been forgiven for signing a peace treaty with Israel, his death was greeted with cheers and celebration, a burst of joy that much of the rest of the world considered obscene. And throughout a week that culminated in a somber state funeral Saturday, there were...