Shadowboxing with Gaddafi

As F-14 fighters provided cover, 20 American attack planes roared off the deck of the U.S.S. Forrestal, heading southward across the Mediterranean. The A-6 Intruders and A-7 Corsairs closed quickly on the North African coast and zeroed in on their target: a desert airstrip encircled by tanks and protected by surface-to-air missiles.

Another U.S. air strike against Libya? Not quite. This time the bombs fell on a mock target near Wadi Natrun, some 50 miles northwest of Cairo, during U.S.-Egyptian military exercises last week. But the explosions that jarred the desert floor helped set off diplomatic reverberations in Libya and around the world.

Four months after the U.S. bombing raid against Tripoli and Benghazi on April 15, attention was suddenly focused again on Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's regime. The Forrestal, during maneuvers with Egyptian warships, canceled a planned rest stop in Israel without explanation. Eighteen U.S. Air Force F-111 fighter-bombers flew into Britain, from where identical planes had bombed Tripoli last spring. Intelligence sources reported that Gaddafi has resumed plans to terrorize American citizens in Europe, and U.S. officials warned that he would be punished anew by air strikes if he did so.

Diplomatic moves were afoot as well. The White House confirmed that Vernon Walters, shifting from his role as U.S. Ambassador to the U.N., will travel to Europe this week to explore the effectiveness of present economic sanctions against Libya and possibly urge that stronger measures be taken. Syria's President Hafez Assad turned up in Benghazi to meet publicly with Gaddafi and declared that Syria "stands with all its potential by the side of Libya . . . to face the threats of America."

To some, the shadowboxing smacked of psychological warfare on the part of the Reagan Administration to keep Gaddafi off balance. The timing of the U.S. maneuvers was a coincidence. The "Sea Wind" exercises with Egypt had been scheduled for two years, and the F-111s had flown into Britain for a previously planned NATO exercise. Speculation about U.S. intentions began with a Wall Street Journal report that the U.S. had evidence Gaddafi was plotting new terrorist acts and that it was ready to retaliate against him. In response, White House Spokesman Larry Speakes said the obvious: "We certainly have reason to believe that the Libyan state . . . has not forsaken its desire to create terrorist activities worldwide, and the capability is still there to do so." He also declared, "We will employ all appropriate measures to cause Libya to cease its terrorist policies."

The statement was less a signal to Libya of imminent U.S. action than a reaffirmation of continuing policy toward Gaddafi. Although Western intelligence agencies believe they have detected new Libyan terrorist plots, the evidence is too sketchy to warrant military retaliation. Nevertheless, the President's advisers took the opportunity to remind the public, and Gaddafi, that contingency plans for Libya are always at hand.

Still, as the rumors spread, even some Pentagon officials were puzzled about the Administration's intentions. Complained one senior Navy officer about White House aides: "If they'd just get their act in shape, we'd know better what they expect of us. It's like being on a yo-yo." Gaddafi might have experienced similar feelings last week. If so, the same officer could have cleared up any confusion in the colonel's mind about the Navy's preference. Said he: "Give us an excuse, and we'll clobber him, but good."