Word: gaddafis
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...secret meeting in July, then National Security Adviser Robert McFarlane won agreement that diplomatic and economic pressures had not put a crimp in Gaddafi's style and that more potent measures were needed. Even Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger, who has a deep reluctance to take military actions unless the results are quick and clean, for once was in harmony with Secretary of State George Shultz, who has consistently advocated retribution against Gaddafi and anyone else connected with terrorist acts...
...wrote many contingency plans," a top CIA officer told TIME last week. Among them: a joint U.S.-Egyptian operation designed to topple Gaddafi, a plan to work with the French that included offensive actions from both the Mediterranean and Chad, and covert action involving other North African governments. McFarlane dispatched Poindexter, then his deputy, to confer with Egypt and other allies in the Middle East and Europe. "We even approached Israel," the intelligence official notes. But the response was discouraging; intelligence reports showed little chance of fomenting a coup within Libya, and none of the ideas jelled. "We learned...
...Gaddafi, who had been conspicuous by his public absence, emerged to inaugurate an international trade fair on Tuesday and stroll through a cheering, worshipful claque. The official government line was that three U.S. planes had been downed and there were no Libyan casualties. After the battle, Libyan radio exhorted its audience: "O, heroes of our Arab nation, let your / missiles and suicide cells pursue American terrorist embassies and interests wherever they may be!" Gaddafi, seemingly pumped up by the battle, was still on a high Friday, when he appeared on the balcony of his well-protected bunker in Tripoli...
...major risks had been the possibility of killing Soviet personnel, who were known to be present at Surt. But the U.S. had quietly informed Moscow of its intentions in advance. Says one Navy source, referring to the placement of Gaddafi's "line of death": "We told the Soviets explicitly what we intended to do, including transiting below the 32nd parallel. They didn't have to read between the lines." When the attacks were launched, the Soviets apparently were not around. "Maybe they were taking a coffee break," said one official wryly. The Soviets had one communication ship anchored at Surt...
...that U.S. bases would remain in Greece and Turkey, held a press conference in Ankara at which his usually stony face fairly beamed with satisfaction. He defended the exercise off Libya as a simple assertion of "traditional maritime rights," but later described the action as "blowing the whistle" on Gaddafi. Shultz was one of the first U.S. officials affected by a stepped-up alert against potential Libyan terrorist reprisals. When he left Ankara for Athens, his Boeing 707 was escorted by a team of Turkish, Greek and U.S. jets...