Word: attacks
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1980-1989
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Western Europe jittery American allies wondered whether Reagan was once again indulging himself by kicking his favorite terrorist -- and what the cost would be. Military bases went on alert in Italy, where Lampedusa Island was the target of an amateurish Libyan missile attack after the U.S. bombing of Tripoli in 1986. Britain supported the U.S. assertion that Rabta is intended for weapons production, but the Thatcher government urged Washington not to attack it. The French, who are host to the chemical-weapons conference at UNESCO headquarters, were irritated. The sharpest criticism came from the leftist Paris daily Liberation: "Gaddafi...
...announcement two weeks ago that the carrier Theodore Roosevelt had left Norfolk, Va., to join the Kennedy in the Mediterranean inspired fresh rumors of an impending U.S. attack on the Rabta plant. In that heated atmosphere, the Libyans could well have succumbed to nervousness and overreacted to the presence of the Kennedy off their coast...
...Wednesday. The carrier was near Crete, more than 600 miles away from the Rabta plant and 120 miles off recognized Libyan territorial waters, when the unexpected combat situation arose. Even the Libyans had to know that the F-14s were fighters on routine patrol, not bombers carrying out an attack...
...this reckless attack, then, really intended to fail? "We suspect -- mostly on the basis of the two Libyan pilots parachuting from their MiGs -- that they intentionally provoked the incident," said an Italian government official. Besides being concerned about the chemical plant, added a West German diplomat, Gaddafi "has been outraged by the P.L.O.'s concessions to the U.S. for direct contacts, and he could have seen a chance here to try to sabotage...
...unpredictable nature of the Libyan attack and the trouble it has caused for the U.S. indicate that even after eight years of American pressure, Muammar Gaddafi retains his power to bedevil Washington. As Ronald Reagan departs from the White House, he leaves behind his Libyan nemesis as one more problem for George Bush to grapple with...