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Article: Engulfed. (United States policy on Persian Gulf) (editorial)
- Article from:
- The Nation
- Article date:
- June 6, 1987
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1987 The Nation Company L.P. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Engulfed
The defining public ceremony of the Reagan yearshas become the official memorial service for young Americans who have died in vain on foreign soil and distant seas. Marines in Lebanon, soldiers and advisers in El Salvador, troops in Grenada, disco-goers in Berlin, bombardiers over Libya and now sailors on the frigate Stark have caught the fire of a bootless imperial policy. They wound up dead in an airplane hangar somewhere, while loved ones wailed and a high-level government official--the President himself, if they were lucky--intoned self-serving eulogies and patriotic calls. The hundreds of lives were not spent for freedom, although that is the cry; ...