Amb. Quinn describes how he travels with U.N. officials to northern Lebanon passing first through Syrian military lines, then to the militia and warlord-controlled city of Tripoli and finally to the PLO base-area, where Yasser Arafat was re-constituting his military force. Escorted into the PLO controlled refugee camps, Amb. Quinn is able to gather significant military and political information, without anyone discerning that he is affiliated with the U.S. Government. On the way out of the PLO area, however, his identity is revealed to their PLO escort. As they approach the last checkpoint, it is a situation similar to that heart-stopping moment in the movie “Argo,” in which Americans being smuggled out of Iran may be about to be identified at the airport. With his heart racing, the Ambassador faces the decisive moment whether he will be taken prisoner and left to an uncertain fate.
THE ARCHIVE OF AMBASSADOR KENNETH M. QUINN
FROM THE MISSISSIPPI TO THE MEKONG