Word: sidra
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...White House Chief of Staff Donald Regan recalls thinking early Monday morning after he heard that Libya had fired two errant SA-5 missiles at U.S. planes flying off the Libyan coast. For 36 hours, Regan and other top aides had been waiting for news from the Gulf of Sidra, where three U.S. carrier groups were skirting Muammar Gaddafi's "line of death." Vice Admiral Frank Kelso, commander of the Sixth Fleet, had orders to fire if fired upon, but he had yet to make his move. "It was frustrating," Regan says. "Like watching a baseball game through a knothole...
...accused Libya of being the most prominent sponsor of international terrorism, and Reagan talked ominously about Libyan hit squads sent out to assassinate U.S. officials. That same year, F-14 fighter jets shot down two Soviet-built Libyan fighters after a sudden dogfight over the Gulf of Sidra. Last June, when TWA Flight 847 was hijacked and 39 Americans were held hostage, the Administration saw Gaddafi's shadow and decided that he had to be taught a lesson...
...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. "We will impose our sovereignty on the Gulf of Sidra with our blood!" he proclaimed, declaring that he had vanquished the Sixth Fleet...
...battle of Sidra left a few smoking Libyan boats and one large question mark: Will America's slap at Gaddafi deter or stimulate further terrorism? The Administration believes that its response will induce Gaddafi to be cautious. "If people know they are likely to get clobbered if they act up, they are likely to think twice about it," said Brent Scowcroft, National Security Adviser under Gerald Ford. But Gaddafi was hardly clobbered this time around. He has vowed, and there is no reason to disbelieve him, that he will continue his war against the U.S. in an arena in which...
...Orleans, Reagan pledged that the U.S. "would hold Mr. Gaddafi responsible for his actions." The Sidra skirmish showed that the U.S. would indeed strike back in a carefully calibrated way when given a clean and easy target. But such occasional shootouts, when accompanied by alarmist rhetoric but no sustained diplomatic initiatives, in the Middle East or elsewhere, are hardly a foundation for an effective policy, especially against terrorism. Nor does the battle of Sidra provide much of a guide for retaliation when the source of the threat is not as easy to identify as a speeding patrol boat...