A Tangled Exchange of Threats

When reporters at last week's press conference repeatedly questioned him about recent U.S. maneuvers in the Middle East, President Reagan stood firm. He denied "naval movement of any kind" and insisted that four AWACS radar planes had flown to Egypt only for routine "training exercises." But Administration officials had earlier leaked two disclosures: the planes were sent in response to anxiety about a Libyan military threat, and the U.S.S. Nimitz aircraft carrier, chaperoned by three escort vessels, had sailed away from Lebanon and toward Egypt. This was the same Nimitz from which, in...

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