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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Libya
Index
In the 1980s, Qadhafi came to regard the United States as the
leader of Western imperialism and capitalism. He vigorously
condemned several United States policies--including military and
economic support for Israel and support for a political settlement
in the Middle East; resistance to the establishment of a new world
economic order between resource producers and consumers; and
support for relatively conservative, Western-oriented countries of
the Third World, particularly Arab and African states. Since the
Revolution, United States-Libyan relations have been limited to
relatively modest commercial and trade agreements
(see Foreign Trade
, ch. 3).
Libya has attempted to influence the United States through
American oil companies operating within Libyan boundaries. Constant
pressure on the companies concerning pricing and government
participation eventually resulted in the Libyan state's assumption
of a controlling interest in some firms and nationalizing others.
The United States was the primary target of the oil boycott that
Libya and other Arab states invoked after the October 1973 ArabIsraeli War.
In addition to conflicts caused by Libyan oil policies, the
United States and Libya have disagreements over Libyan claims to
territorial waters. Since 1973 Libya has considered the Gulf of
Sidra as territorial waters. Beyond that, Libya claimed another
twelve nautical miles (approximately twenty kilometers) of
territorial waters. The United States refused to recognize Libya's
claim, and this refusal became a recurrent cause for contention
between the two countries. Under President Jimmy Carter, the United
States armed forces were ordered not to challenge Libyan claims by
penetrating into the claimed territory, even though relations
deteriorated when, on December 2, 1979, the United States embassy
in Tripoli was burned by demonstrators apparently influenced by the
takeover of the United States embassy in Tehran. President Ronald
Reagan's administration, however, was determined to assert the
principle of free passage in international waters.
In 1981 President Reagan began taking action against Libya. On
May 6, 1981, the Reagan administration ordered the closing of the
Libyan People's Bureau in Washington, and twenty-seven Libyan
diplomats were expelled from the United States for supporting
international terrorism. Then, on August 19, 1981, two Libyan SU-22
fighters were shot down by United States F-14 jets during naval
maneuvers in the Gulf of Sidra. In December President Reagan called
on the approximately 1,500 American citizens still living in Libya
to leave or face legal action. In March 1982, oil imports from
Libya were embargoed and technology transfer banned. In January
1986, Libyan assets in the United States were frozen as part of a
series of economic sanctions against Libya.
United States-Libyan tensions erupted in April 1986. On April
5, Libyan agents planted a bomb in a Berlin nightclub frequented by
United States service personnel. The explosion killed 2 people, 1
an American serviceman, and injured 204 others. In retaliation, on
April 15, the United States launched air strikes on Tripoli and
Benghazi. As a result, a number of Libyan civilians, including
Qadhafi's adopted infant daughter, were killed. Observers
speculated that the attack was intended to kill the Libyan leader
himself
(see Encounters with the United States
, ch. 5).
The air strikes were certainly intended to encourage the Libyan
military to overthrow Qadhafi. However, the air strikes were
opposed by virtually all segments of the population, who rallied
behind their leader. Moreover, not only did Qadhafi thrive on the
public attention but his determination to stand up to a superpower
threat appeared to have enhanced his stature. Even the major
opposition group abroad, the LNSF, denounced the use of force by
foreign powers in dealing with Libya, as did the London-based
Libyan Constitutional Union. In 1987, a year after the raid, it was
still unclear whether the raids had succeeded in countering
terrorism. Observers were not certain whether Libya had actually
adopted a new policy with regard to supporting terrorism, which
seemed to have diminished considerably, or merely learned how to
avoid leaving fingerprints.
Data as of 1987
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