Word: shying
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...hijacking?" asked the Wall Street Journal. "We should give him the incentive to do so" -- by bombing Syrian military targets. Nonetheless, the degree of control exercised by Iran and Syria is a matter of dispute in intelligence circles. Some experts feel that both countries have lately sought to restrain Shi'ite fanatics. This impression is reinforced by Assad's apparent cooperation last week and Iran's refusal to support the TWA hijackers, much less allow them to land in Tehran...
Lashing out at a target, almost any target, would serve at least one purpose. It would be cathartic. For a nation seemingly humiliated, for a people fed up with too much talk and too little action, dropping a bomb on Baalbek or shooting a few Shi'ite fanatics would be grimly satisfying. Yet for policymakers the ultimate goal must be not simply to avenge terrorism but to stop it. Doing nothing, it seems certain, invites more atrocities. Yet force often begets force. For Ronald Reagan, the hard question is whether retaliating against terrorists will deter terrorism -- or only provoke more...
...East Beirut, where a single Christian militia maintains a surprising degree of control, life seems relatively calm. But in Muslim-controlled West Beirut -- across the barricaded "green line," a swath of no-man's-land that divides the city between east and west -- gunmen from various Shi'ite and Sunni factions rule the streets. Neighborhoods in this area, where the American hostages are presumably being held, often change hands from week to week in the endless fighting among factions...
...pair of stylish Italian-made shoes, $4 for a bottle of Scotch). Main reason: the government has been unable to collect customs duties for many months. Even some liquor stores are operating, though they keep their stocks hidden for fear of attracting the attention of fanatic Shi'ite militiamen who roam about looking for violations of the Islamic stricture against alcohol. Shortages of staples are rare; only severe and prolonged shelling interrupts the flow of imported goods. Housewives rush out to do their shopping early in the morning, when an unofficial cease-fire reigns; the shelling usually does not start...
...does all that make Berri, leader of the Shi'ite Amal militia, the ideal man to negotiate release of the American hostages? Not by a long shot. President Reagan declared last week, with a snap of his fingers, that Berri "could be the solution that quickly." Berri, however, seemed closer to the mark when he told CBS's Dan Rather that he was in "a very delicate situation." He seems, indeed, to be a man riding a tiger, a leader scrambling to talk and act as radically as his followers...