Misplaced Pages

Revision as of 01:27, 5 November 2006

Operation El Dorado Canyon (Cold War)
A 48th Tactical Fighter Wing F-111F aircraft takes off to participate in an air strike on Libya.
Date April 15, 1986 Location Libya Result U.S. victory
Belligerents
United States	Libya
Commanders and leaders
Unknown	Muammar al-Qadhafi
Casualties and losses
1 F-111 2 pilots KIA	Unknown
15 Libyan civilians

The United States bombing of Libya (code-named Operation El Dorado Canyon) comprised the joint United States Air Force and Navy air-strikes against Libya on April 15, 1986.

Origins

The bombing raid was the conclusion of a period of escalating reciprocal actions by the United States and Libya. After years of occasional skirmishes with Libya over Libyan territorial claims to the Gulf of Sidra, a water body extending far into international waters, and years of vulnerability to Libyan-supported terrorism, especially the Abu Nidal group behind the Rome and Vienna airport attacks of December 27, 1985, the United States decided to push the issue in the Spring of 1986, contemplating a military attack in order to send a message about support for international terrorism. In March 1986, the United States, asserting the 12 nautical mile (22 km) limit to territorial waters recognized by the international community, sent a carrier task force to the region. Libya responded with aggressive counter-maneuvers on March 24 that led to the destruction of Libyan radar systems and missile attack boats. Less than two weeks later on April 5, a bomb exploded in a West Berlin, Germany, disco, La Belle, killing two American servicemen and a Turkish woman and wounding 200 others. The United States claimed to have obtained cable transcripts from Libyan agents in East Germany involved in the attack.

The Attack

After several days of diplomatic talks with European and Arab partners, President Ronald Reagan ordered the strike on Libya on April 14. F-111 aircraft flying from 48th Tactical Fighter Wing, RAF Lakenheath and 20th Tactical Fighter Wing, RAF Upper Heyford in England, along with A-6, A-7, and F/A-18 planes from the aircraft carriers USS America and USS Coral Sea, struck five targets at 02:00 on April 15, in the hope that their destruction would send a message and reduce Libya's ability to support and train terrorists. The United States was denied overflight rights by France and Spain as well as the use of European continental bases, forcing the operation to be flown around France and through the Straits of Gibraltar, adding 1,300 miles (2,100 km) each way and requiring multiple aerial refuelings. The attack lasted about ten minutes. Several targets were hit and destroyed, but some civilian and diplomatic sites in Tripoli were struck as well, notably the French embassy, when a number of bombs missed their intended targets.

US forces and targets

Libyan air defenses

The Libyan air defense network was extensive including:

• 4 Long range SA-5 Vega anti-aircraft missile units with a total of 24 launchers.
• 86 SA-2 Volchov and Neva anti-aircraft missile units with a total of 276 launchers.

Covering Tripoli alone were:

• 7 SA-2 Volchov anti-aircraft missile units with 6 missiles launchers per unit giving a total of 42 launchers.
• 12 SA-3 Neva anti-aircraft missile units with 4 missiles launchers per unit giving a total of 48 launchers.
• 3 SA-6 Kub anti-aircraft missile units with a total of 48 launchers.
• 1 SA-8 Osa-AK anti-aircraft regiment with 16 launch vehicles.
• 2 Crotale II anti-aircraft units 60 launch pads

Cold War International History Project

Casualties

A 15-month-old girl said to have been Libyan leader Colonel Gaddafi's adopted daughter, Hanna, was killed and two of his sons were injured. Gaddafi himself was thought to have been the main target but, although a bomb exploded near his tent and other bombs destroyed his house in the capital, he was not harmed. In all, at least 15 civilians died in the attacks, together with an unknown number of Libyan military personnel.

Two USAF captains — Fernando L. Ribas-Dominicci and Paul F. Lorence — were killed when their F-111 was shot down over the Gulf of Sidra, possibly by an SA-5 missile.

On December 25, 1988, Gaddafi offered to release the body of Lorence to his family through Pope John Paul II. Though Ribas-Dominicci's body was returned in 1989, Lorence's remains are believed to be still in Libyan hands.

In 2001 Theodore D. Karantsalis, a reference librarian at Miami-Dade College, enlisted the aid of Congressman Wally Herger's office to urge Libya to return Lorence's remains on behalf of his family and friends. Karantsalis also created the following website and invited visitors to sign a petition to Congressman Lincoln Diaz-Balart seeking the return of Paul's remains.

On January 27, 2005, Karantsalis filed a federal lawsuit under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) against the Department of Defense and the Department of the Air Force seeking "to know where Captain Paul Lorence's remains are located."

Karantsalis hoped to locate Lorence before the 20th anniversary of his death. He has spent more than 10 years collecting information on the whereabouts of his friend through FOIA requests, interviews, and countless hours of research at the library.Captain Paul Lorence: An American Patriot Left Behind

Retaliation

There was some retaliation. Libya responded by firing several Scud missiles at US Coast Guard stations on the Italian island of Lampedusa which exploded harmlessly in the nearby sea. In Beirut, Lebanon, two British hostages held by the Abu Nidal Organisation, Alec Collett and Leigh Douglas, along with an American named Philip Padfield were hanged in revenge. In addition, journalist John McCarthy was kidnapped and tourist Paul Appleby was murdered in Jerusalem.

Gaddafi quashed an internal revolt, the organization of which he blamed on the United States. Although Gaddafi appeared to have left the public sphere for a while in 1986/87, it later emerged that he had significantly increased Libyan arms shipments to terrorist groups in this period – especially to the Provisional IRA. Then came the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 on December 21, 1988. Iran was initially thought to have been responsible for the Lockerbie bombing but a Libyan was charged in 1991 and convicted for the crime on January 31, 2001. The Libyan Government formally accepted responsibility for the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing on May 29, 2002, and offered $2.7 billion to compensate the families of the 270 victims.

Aftermath

Many nations condemned the attack, including all Arab states, France, and the Soviet Union. The US received support from the United Kingdom, Australia, Israel, and a few others. Its doctrine of declaring a "War on Terror" was not repeated until 1998, when President Clinton ordered strikes on six terrorist camps in Afghanistan. Margaret Thatcher's approval of the use of RAF bases led to substantial criticism, including an unprecedented story in The Sunday Times suggesting the Queen was upset by an "uncaring" Prime Minister.

The overall European reaction to the United States’ bombing of Libya was extremely negative. Nearly every European government opposed the American attack. Public opinion in almost every state was overwhelmingly against the action. While the United Kingdom permitted the United States to use its bases to launch the attack, both France and Spain denied fly-over rights, giving rise to much anti-French sentiment in the United States. The West German government, although officially opposed to the attack, was a bit more ambivalent and understanding in post-attack statements by Helmut Kohl. Interestingly, only in France, which had a history of conflict with Libya over Chad, was public opinion supportive of the US action, with initially about 60% approving.

Although the Soviet Union was ostensibly in cooperation with Libya, it had, by the time of the Libya bombing, made its increasing ambivalence toward Libya apparent in public communications. Gaddafi had a history of verbally attacking the policy agendas and ideology of the Soviet Union, and he often engaged in various international interventions and meddlings that conflicted with Soviet goals in a variety of spheres. During a period where the Soviet Union was apparently attempting to lead a subtle diplomatic effort that could impact its global status, close association with the whims of Gaddafi became a liability.

In the entire crisis, the Soviet Union explicitly announced that it would not provide additional help to Libya beyond resupplying basic armaments and munitions. It made no attempt to militarily intimidate the United States, despite the ongoing American operations in the Gulf of Sidra and its previous knowledge that the United States might launch an attack. However, the Soviet Union also did not completely ignore the propaganda gift and it issued a standard denunciation of this 'wild' and 'barbaric' act by the United States.

After the raid, Moscow did cancel a planned visit to the United States by foreign affairs minister Eduard Shevardnadze. At the same time, it clearly signaled that it did not want this action to affect negotiations about the upcoming summer summit between the United States and the Soviet Union and its plans for new arms control agreements.

20th anniversary

Early on April 15, 2006 – to mark the 20th anniversary of the bombing raid – a concert involving US singer Lionel Richie and Spanish tenor José Carreras was held in front of Gaddafi's bombed house in Tripoli. Diplomats, businessmen and politicians were among the audience of what Libya dubbed the "concert for peace". The BBC reported Lionel Richie as telling the audience:

"Hanna will be honored tonight because of the fact that you've attached peace to her name."

See also

• Second Battle of Sirte, World War II naval battle between Regia Marina and Royal Navy.
• Gulf of Sidra incident (1981), US-Libyan air engagement over territorial claim, two Libyan jets shot down
• Gulf of Sidra incident (1989), US-Libyan air engagement over territorial claim, two Libyan jets shot down
• Operation Attain Document in 1986, was a series of Freedom of Navigation operations by US Naval Forces.

Further reading

• Stanik, Joseph T. El Dorado Canyon: Reagan's Undeclared War With Qaddafi. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 2003. ISBN 1-55750-983-2

External links

• Operation El Dorado Canyon at globalsecurity.org
• Operation El Dorado Canyon from Air Force Association magazine
• Petition for the return of the remains of Paul Lorence

• 1986
• History of Libya
• Battles of the United States
• Pan Am Flight 103