Word: sidra
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1980-1989
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Early action reports from the Gulf of Sidra claimed that half a dozen of Libya's Soviet-made SA-5 missiles had fallen harmlessly into the sea, while the Navy's harm missiles had knocked out a radar station on land. Yet the Libyans were able to replace their radar within a few hours, and there remained some uncertainty whether all four harm (cost: $283,000 each) had actually struck home...
Professor Ronald W. Reagan here. He takes off his Gulf of Sidra admiral's hat, his Nicaragua freedom fighter's cap, his space-shuttle captain's helmet, his tax-and-budget reformer's Homburg, his Philippine democracy cockade--and puts on a mortarboard...
This much was certain: under President Reagan the U.S. is determined to back words with symbolic displays of force, to carry a big stick as well as speak loudly. To be sure, the battle of Sidra will be, at most, a footnote in the annals of naval engagements. Trafalgar or Midway it was not. And the helicopters whirring toward the battle zone in Honduras were not transporting American troops. Even the symbolism was curiously muted by partial pretexts --about concern for freedom of the seas and Honduran sovereignty--that served to blur the true aims of the actions. Nevertheless...
...difficult to tell how seriously the targets of Reagan's bellicosity took it. On the night the Sixth Fleet sailed from the Gulf of Sidra, a fireworks display in Tripoli commemorating the 16th anniversary of the departure of the British military from Libya turned into a celebration of Gaddafi's latest skirmish with the U.S. In Nicaragua citizens enjoyed Holy Week by going to the beach, apparently unconcerned about the battle raging along the Honduran border. Nor did the President of Honduras, Jose Azcona Hoyo, seem overly concerned that his country was being invaded. He too went to the seashore...
American ambivalence about its superpower mantle is illustrated by the fact that congressional doves, many of them fearful of being labeled "soft" because of their opposition to contra aid, rushed last week to applaud Reagan's easy victory in the Gulf of Sidra. Yet they shy away from the tougher issue: how to apply steady and vigilant force as part of a policy for dealing with Nicaragua. Smacking Gaddafi may be cathartic and quick. But if the U.S. is truly going to face its responsibilities as a superpower, it will have to find a way to grapple with threats that...