Word: gaddafis
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...unlikely combination of Ronald Reagan and Muammar Gaddafi resembles nitroglycerin: it can produce an explosion at the slightest jolt. Last week, for the fourth time since 1981, just such a blowup took place in the Mediterranean skies off Tobruk, where a shootout that could have been taken right from the movie Top Gun ended in the downing of two Libyan jets by American pilots...
...eruption came as the Reagan Administration was applying calculated pressure on Gaddafi, and on U.S. allies, to prevent the production in Libya of poisonous gases that could be used in chemical warfare. The U.S. insists that a huge chemical plant at Rabta, 50 miles southwest of Tripoli and ringed with antiaircraft batteries, is primarily intended to produce mustard gas and chemical nerve agents. In a pre-Christmas TV interview, Reagan refused to rule out the possibility of a military strike against the plant. On background, Pentagon experts even suggested that Tomahawk cruise missiles, which can be launched by surface ships...
...clash that followed -- perhaps intended by Gaddafi -- threw the focus back on Washington's seeming eagerness to swing a big stick at easy targets. Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze noted that the dogfight had "poisoned the atmosphere" as 142 nations opened a five-day conference in Paris over the weekend on ways to stop the increasing spread of chemical weapons. "Gaddafi must be pleased over the incident," said an Italian official last week. "It gives him a chance to play the victim...
...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 has lost two planes, but Reagan hasn't necessarily won out. These two were made to detest each other . . . One can understand that their farewells would be agonizing...
Moreover, the State Department disclosed that it has been quietly exchanging messages with Gaddafi for several weeks and that it sent the Libyan government a detailed explanation of last week's shooting incident. Still, Libya's U.N. Deputy Ambassador, Ali Sunni Muntasser, charged that the Navy had attacked two unarmed reconnaissance planes. U.S. Ambassador Vernon Walters responded by presenting the Security Council with blowups of two photos showing air-to-air missiles under the wings and fuselage of one of the Libyan MiGs. Charged Pentagon spokesman Dan Howard: "The Libyan Ambassador to the U.N. is a liar." At week...