air-conditioned drafts of the place. Eagleburger got on the phone and with exaggerated profanity, and in tones of mock irritation and impatience that were his trademark, summoned Charlie Hill, a foreign service officer who apparently was good at writing things down. The appearance of this hollow-eyed figure in a sawed-off sweatshirt, who had obviously been at it all night, and his sidebar briefing of Eagleburger on what was happening at this moment in Beirut underscored that I had walked into a hands-on operational outfit in the midst of a crisis. The contrast between the peaceful summer day, with tourists strolling outside the State Department, and the tense situation within could not have been more stark.

I could quickly see that the State Department’s operations center was on full alert.Through cables, tickers, television, and telephones—secure and open—State Department officers were maintaining instantaneous contact with a dangerous situation in war-racked Beirut and, at the same time, were engaged in intensive diplomatic efforts to deal with it in Jerusalem, Riyadh, Tunis, Damascus, Paris, New York, and who knew where else. From our ambassador’s residence in Yarzé on a hill overlooking Beirut, Phil Habib, presidential envoy to the Middle East, was conducting negotiations to try to evacuate leaders and fighters of the PLO from the city and, simultaneously, to hold back the Israelis from demolishing this capital of an Arab country with air and artillery bombardment. Such an act could incite political upheaval all across the Middle East and fuel terrorist retaliation that would threaten American lives and America’s interests.

•