Word: combatting
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...succeed. Perhaps O'Rourke's troubled childhood or his mother's death in 1973 helps explain this unfettered ambition, which, along with his right-wing politics, is about the worst trait anyone pins on him. He made some enemies when he took over National Lampoon. "He went from combat boots to two-tones over a weekend," says former Lampooner Sean Kelly, who calls him a chameleon. But even Kelly concedes a grudging respect for O'Rourke's success. Although Koreans are still smarting from his essay that described them as "hardheaded, hard-drinking, tough little bastards, 'the Irish of Asia...
General Norman Schwarzkopf privately has been harshly critical of the military performance of America's Arab allies. Using U.S. soldiers as the standard, he told Washington officials that only the Egyptian and Syrian armies displayed an adequate level of combat competence. But the general asserts that even the best Arab divisions were only about half as good as his own troops, who evidently rated a 10. The Soviet-trained Egyptian army, for example, was unable to adapt rapidly to fast-paced ground warfare. On one occasion Schwarzkopf had to request Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to order his troops into battle...
...they did, it is now clearly off. Iran has claimed the airplanes, whose value is estimated at $2.5 billion, as partial payment of the $900 billion in reparations it seeks for damage done in the eight-year Iran-Iraq war. In theory, the roughly 122 combat planes in the group would increase the Iranian air force fleet by some 66%. But in reality, the Soviet- and French-made craft are of little use. Because its own planes are American-made -- a legacy of the U.S.-backed Shah, who fell from power in 1979 -- Iran has neither spare parts nor properly...
...dithering annoyed many of Japan's friends. "No one expected Japan to send combat troops," said a senior British diplomat in London. "But they abysmally failed to grasp helpful alternatives." In the U.S., an ABC News/ Washington Post poll showed that 30% of Americans lost respect for Japan during the gulf crisis. In this case, admits a Japanese diplomat, "we projected the image of someone who sat back on the sofa without undertaking the duties expected of an important nation...
...fiery death from an enemy hit. The $3.2 million M1A1 Abrams tank was criticized as an overpriced gas-guzzler prone to mechanical breakdowns. The $11.7 million Apache was depicted as difficult to maintain in a desert. The Patriot was just another overpriced antiaircraft weapon never tested against missiles in combat. But now, says Gordon Adams, director of the independent Defense Budget Project, "defense contractors all say the war proved their weapon is ironclad, gold-plated and a surefire winner...