bottom_david@baxta.DEC (DAVE BOTTOM ASO/4AC 271-6935) (03/27/86)
Keywords: About goddamn time!!!! The recent clashes with Lybia are long overdue warnings to this country. I know from personal experience that during the Carter administration Lybian warplanes were firing at US Navy aircraft. The official "Carter" position was to outrun them (since the F-14 is much faster than the Lybian aircraft). The incidents that I am familiar with occurred outside the Gulf of Sidra and also outside the Lybian territorial waters (spell that ***WELL*** outside). Also, in 1978 a good friend of mine was intercepted 100+ miles offshore of Lybia while on a routine patrol in a Navy P-3C aircraft, without the support of fighter aircraft sent to their aid by the local aircraft carrier they would have been forced to land in Lybia to face god knows what. They had already begun the disposal of classified electronic equipment and codes when Navy fighters arrived on the scene and the Lybians fled. Since US Navy ships have operated in this area approximately 18 times since the last highly publicised incident (the shooting down of two Lybain jets), without incident, I submit that the Reagan administration did NOT and could NOT have anticipated exactly what happened this week. Furthurmore since the US Navy aircraft were operating LEGALLY outside the 12 mile limit (and then some) the 6th Fleet reaction was proper. Please not that I do not feel that Lybia is the root of all terrorism or anything as simple as that, but that I feel that the US can no longer tolerate hostile actions on the part of this unfriendly nation. It is unfortunate that Lybia will probably continue to advocate terrorist attacks on the US and it's interests. Eventually, if this does not come to an end, the Lybian people will suffer from the effects of this poor leadership, probably by having to fight us for real. I also find the timing of the recent events to be interesting, a little distraction the middle of the Contra aid debate........I'm sure congress will not want to fight a two front war. Seems like the communist interest is served very well by this latest US/Lybia confrontation. Dave Bottom DEC Augusta Maine ****General discalimer (make up your own, but leave DEC out of it)****