Lebanon: The Siege of Beirut: Week Six

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Even as the siege developed into a grim routine for residents of West Beirut, the hostilities apparently claimed yet another innocent victim: David S. Dodge, 58, acting president of the American University of Beirut. He was kidnaped by four gunmen as he walked from his office to his campus home. Dodge was a rarity in Lebanon's tangled political web: an American with long ties to the country, who was respected and liked by all factions. Hours later, Arafat expressed his concern and ordered his aides to launch a search for the scholar. At week's end Dodge was still missing. —By Marguerite Johnson.

Reported by David Aikman/Jerusalem and Roberto Suro/Beirut