An excerpt from the London Telegraph, Jan. 2, 1998:
ITALIAN troops were saved from attack in Beirut in 1983 because
Syria's defence minister had a crush on the Italian actress Gina
Lollobrigida.
Gen Mustafa Tlass said in an interview published yesterday: "During
Israel's invasion of Lebanon, and after the deployment of the
Multinational Force, I gathered the Lebanese resistance leaders
together and told them: do whatever you want with the US, British
and other forces, but I do not want a single Italian soldier to be
hurt." He said the reason was "because I do not want a single tear
falling from the eyes of Gina Lollobrigida." ITALIAN troops were
saved from attack in Beirut in 1983 because Syria's defence minister
had a crush on the Italian actress Gina Lollobrigida.
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I know this isn't exactly Rush-related, but this sounded so
bizzare that I had to share a paragraph with you.  Recall that this
did happen during Ronald Reagan's presidency.  If true, it shows you
the warped mentality of the enemies that Reagan had to deal with.
--- QScan/PCB v1.19b / 01-0232
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