Word: lebanon
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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When Marine Lieut. Colonel William Higgins became the top-ranking American officer in the United Nations' observer group in Lebanon in June 1987, he had just completed a two-year stint as one of two military assistants to Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger. He had been able to see almost every classified document that crossed Weinberger's desk. U.S. officials think Higgins was kidnaped simply because he was an American and not because of his background. But the fact that he had so recently served in a sensitive Pentagon job clearly increased the danger to Higgins once he fell into unfriendly...
...when the posting in Lebanon opened, Higgins was anxious to get back to the field. No rule barred an officer with Higgins' top clearances from taking the job. But eight months after his arrival in Lebanon, he was kidnaped by Hizballah gunmen near the port city of Tyre. His captors, who quickly found out that he had worked for Weinberger, charged him with being a spy. In a videotape released a week after the kidnaping, Higgins appeared to have been physically abused...
...flyswatter. The fact is, these "mosquito bites" amount to more than a minor irritation. They are costing the United States the lives of its citizens, most recently perhaps that of U.S. Marine Lt. Col. William R. Higgins, who, ironically, was a member of the United Nations peacekeeping forces in Lebanon...
Jerusalem cited ample military reasons for wanting Obeid out of action, claiming he has instigated dozens of attacks against Israel and the so-called security zone it maintains in Lebanon. But kidnaping is not the usual method of the Israelis. They may actually have wanted to acquire bait for a hostage swap. Two affiliate groups of Hizballah are believed to be holding three Israeli prisoners of war captured in 1986, two of them soldiers taken in the security zone and the third an air force navigator. Americans wonder if U.S. Lieut. Colonel William Higgins, head of the United Nations peacekeeping...
...White House said yesterday that President Bush has made no decision on whether to use military retaliation if terrorists kill a second American hostage in Lebanon, but a spokesperson said the "foundation planning" has been done for every scenario...