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- <text id=89TT2369>
- <title>
- Sep. 11, 1989: Grapevine
- </title>
- <history>
- TIME--The Weekly Newsmagazine--1989
- Sep. 11, 1989 The Lonely War:Drugs
- </history>
- <article>
- <source>Time Magazine</source>
- <hdr>
- NATION, Page 27
- Grapevine
- </hdr><body>
- <p> RISKY READING. When the vacationing George Bush was not
- busy not catching fish (his staff refers to his futile outings
- as "boating trips"), he was sailing through Tom Clancy's
- techno-thriller, Clear and Present Danger. The President
- recommended the novel -- about a covert U.S. operation against
- the Colombian drug lords -- to White House staffers. Since the
- villain turns out to be the National Security Adviser,
- colleagues joked to Brent Scowcroft that "maybe the President
- is trying to tell us something."
- </p>
- <p> BEIRUT BUNKER. State Department veterans are appalled by
- Secretary James Baker's refusal to withdraw two dozen diplomats
- from Beirut, where they spend much time in underground shelters
- avoiding shells. Some officials want the Americans relocated to
- Cyprus, but Baker sees this as a retreat. Complains one
- diplomat: "We seem to be waiting for a sacrificial lamb. If one
- of our people dies, the rest will be taken out immediately."
- </p>
- <p> TAPS FOR MIA'S. Officially, 2,338 U.S. servicemen are still
- missing in Southeast Asia, but retired General John Vessey, who
- has completed an investigation, is not optimistic. Hanoi has
- returned the remains of 227 Americans since 1987, and, despite
- numerous purported "live sightings," Vessey believes there is
- no credible evidence that any MIA is still alive.
- </p>
-
- </body></article>
- </text>
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