Word: terrorist
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...question prompted by an assassination attempt, say some, is more a moral issue than a political one. Critics of the Administration suggest that the Government's actions have undermined American claims of moral superiority, reducing the U.S. to the same level as the terrorists it condemns. If the Administration did intend to get Gaddafi, notes former Carter Legal Adviser Lloyd Cutler, it would be "the equivalent of a terrorist attack on a foreign leader...
Even for an Administration accustomed to making its moves with television coverage firmly in mind, the timing of the 7 o'clock strike was extraordinary. Ronald Reagan could hardly have written a more gripping script to dramatize his determination to strike out militarily at terrorist regimes. By the time Reagan took to the airwaves to explain and justify the raids, they had already been discussed--and generally applauded--at dinner tables across the land...
Plans for a strike of some sort against Libya began late in March when U.S. intelligence learned of Libyan intentions to conduct future terrorist acts like the West Berlin disco bombing on April 4. At a National Security Council meeting on April 7, the President clearly decided that the time for action had arrived. His command: "Try to make the world smaller for the terrorists...
Next on the hit list was the military section of the Tripoli International Airport, base of Libya's fleet of nine Il-76s, which have been used in terrorist operations for supply and transport. A third target was the Benghazi army barracks, which Gaddafi uses as an alternative command post. Then came barracks at the naval port of Sidi Bilal, near Tripoli, a commando training facility. Finally, security officials recommended a strike at the Benina airfield, where Libya's MiG-23 interceptors are based, as a precaution against counterattack...
...harbor, killing several civilians, destroying homes and damaging other buildings, including the French embassy and the Swiss Ambassador's residence. It seems highly coincidental, to say the least, that the bomb exploded only a few blocks from Libya's internal- security headquarters, reputedly a onetime haunt of the notorious terrorist Abu Nidal. U.S. officials insist, however, that the security facility was not a U.S. target...