Word: taif
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...that U.S. contingency planners had minimized before the war began. When Iraqi troops began pumping oil into the Persian Gulf from Sea Island, an offshore loading facility near Al-Ahmadi last week, Baghdad's motives were instantly clear to Saudi Arabia and to the Kuwaiti government-in-exile. In Taif, Saudi Arabia, where the Kuwaiti administration has settled for the time being, experts plotted the prevailing currents in the gulf and concluded that in only a few days the giant spill could reach Jubail, Saudi Arabia. That is where a mammoth desalinization plant provides much of the potable water consumed...
...Stanford University when Saddam's forces moved into Kuwait. Within 48 hours Salem was back home in Kuwait City. Today, with his wife and three children safe in Cairo, he coordinates food distribution in the city, keeps tabs on foreigners still hiding there and funnels intelligence reports to Taif...
Without a country to govern, many in Taif have little to do but worry. They dial around the world in search of news, play countless rounds of hand, the 14-card Kuwaiti version of gin rummy, and recall receiving Iraqi television transmissions at home in Kuwait. "Saddam was on all the time," says a Kuwaiti minister. "On any given day you could see him instructing women on how to make tomato paste, or children on how to brush their teeth. It was some of the best comedy around...
...everyone in Taif is idle, of course. With critical chores to perform, the Finance Ministry, for one, churns almost around the clock. The Finance Minister, Sheik Ali al-Khalifa al-Sabah, 45, known to all as Abu Khalifa -- and to a few close friends as Ali Cash -- is highly regarded among both Kuwaitis and foreigners. "He can sell you the shirt off your back while you're wearing it," says a friend, affectionately. "He is absolutely one of the smartest, shrewdest people I have ever...
There is at least a chance that it may do that. The routing of Aoun eliminated the greatest obstacle to implementation of the Taif peace agreement, a plan approved by Lebanon's National Assembly a year ago that would give the country's Muslim majority an equal share of power with the long-dominant Christians. Aoun, who escaped during the fighting to the French embassy, where he remained holed up last week, had revolted against the accord because it provided no timetable for the withdrawal of Syrian forces in Lebanon, who number 40,000. France has granted Aoun asylum...