HOW THE U.S. BECAME A 'DEMON'

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP87T00573R000600800004-6
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: March 18, 2011
• Sequence Number: 4
• Publication Date: April 17, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Approved For Release 2011/03/18: CIA-RDP87T00573R000600800004-6
THE NEW YORK TIMES, ;THURSDAY, APRIL 17, 1986 .
How'' the U.S. Became a `Demon'
We should see the military strike
against Libya for what It Is: a re-
prisal for a specific act of terror, and
an invitation to the Libyan ruler to re-
think his ways. We should also refrain
from expecting great results.
if the Administration were to do so,
Americans would find themselves
with no alternative to yet anotherdos-
age of military power. The sad truth
is that the terror will continue - and
r continue to test the patience of an,
America that Insists on Its innocence.
and its distance from the feuds and
passions of the Middle East.
A0110AD Ali`
gan's foreign p.
oil Libya. But it is II
critics to see differen?
am decisive different.
Libyan action and, fo.
Reagan policy on Nie.
Ends. In Nicaragie
driven by ideology iu..
ideological target: the .
Marxist-oriented Govt
hemisphere. The objet:
action is not an Ideolo.
but an undoubted ev,
scared terrorism.
Means. In Nicarnp,u
Administration, eschs
diplomacy, covertly c.
Lary force that murder.
carries out other acts
The military action fit I
was inevitable. The Administration r N. matic efforts.
Zeal, facts The
had cornered itself. The bomb
planted in the discotheque in West President has
Berlin provided a "smoking gun." . ? produced no con.
With the evidence in hand, American vincing evidence
or to support some of
officials waited for the Europeans
t: i
?
,
~; = '
_ his main charges
for Muammar el-Qaddafi himself, to =
--
'? ;.let them off the hook. A stern set of I against the Nica.
"' ~-- -
---- ___--? .-? iwrro w"..gi
;?' European economic and diplomatic raguan Govern
sion against its
have sonic indication from Mr. r d- angels and demons, the distant super.' cess" and Is left trying to take on I so In the case of a democrats Central American
daft that he was willing to relent and
c
i terrible times that their world is ? ?c cacu,puues a sensibility President's speeches on I
for the region. America seemed out to being torn asunder. mat cares nothing for American judg- Just a month ago, In his It.
reorder Middle Eastern political life.
e
theocrats in Iran and Shiite Lebanon, of a large civilization to say that the a uck of the Administration woo Those differences wen
the war of I;182 was that it would bring America stood for cultural defile terror springs from the impasse be avt~ IT. and American foreign policy could take credit for the full of fie raid ono Triery annum.
to .
teIca trror reat to e cadn the end. But place Ina rough Americans wa
see a I i the of frenzied terror. Amer- meet, and it stopped them from over. tween Israeli. and Palestinian. It yet another dictator. The Administraf is televised sppoli. The h waO
Ylived running their rivals in the region. And springs from that, but only partly so. tlon would have succeeded where Mr. he tone careful end di
. for the Syrians, there America was, More broadly, it springs fro m deeperpresQaddaft's domestic and Arab oppo- showed a sense of prrpwrt
and it struck back. cutting deals that excluded them - social, economic and political -
Whether Americans liked it or not, with the Lebanese,, the Palestinians sores within Middle Eastern society, rents haMr. d failed. the threat he saw without
the shadow of their power lay over the and the Jordanians - and sustaining from the traumas of dislocated, But and Qaddafi has been both cue- lion.
region. And for a while, in the after- newt urbanized prit and metaphor for the wider pie- Haw far it was from the math of the 1982 war, the United y youth, from the
g
ry o
ar
e i
fu~
o
n
e
anon in 18132til
m
peatetMr., Lebanon - America stood between those bent upon eradicating Its pres. dell ma raon aeanst him.
remark. oft violence is., claimed America and Americans as y yet tall. If so, the remark.
them and a Palestinian state. For the ante In the region. It Is a false reading bl I act of self-defense.
its principal targets. The. promise of
Power neighbors. But no one cu
power was turned into a demon. A - political problems through military with qualms, a
sets
change his ways. But when both dec8de of oil wealth and promise in means. In reality, to talk of a peace store y by morality of its tforei ninth Colonel Qaddafi has spun
hopes failed to materialize, the Rea- the Moslem world was ending In fall- process that would end this wave of , terventions. g Ism. targeting ed and ai,
' gan men had to make good on their are and defeat. When the Inevitable' -terror is naive. If Americans can be ' and has Invaded and s+
rhetoric. What does America do ex_t2 The neighbors.
rhettoirony has been evident for scapegoating came, America was the ' sure of anything, they can be sure of hgN Is that It will be spared yet an- Lnw. In the case of Ni
best kind of scapegoat because it had . this: Nothing would Inflame the pas- other vent ern I ya lhe
some time now: Under an Adminis? -~_ Reagan Administration 1.
oration that vowed toughness against become part of the region's land-' alone of the extremists In the region r e measure on Mr, from the law, petulantly
po pe, its feuds and calculations of ? more than a major American diplo-addafi's deeds must temper the
terrorism, it record number of Amer- s
Icons have been victims of attacks , A ? matic Initiative. of the World Court- In tl
ttc onmesJu std odor as sccess-. Libya it relied on a leg.-, new wave of terror, begun the A For the Palestinians'- seeking re- No American diplomatic scheme ,
verge, stripped of their s:iructuary in would spare America the fu
thatce a
ter
ut h..f t he w
ainst th
i
f
T'
L
b
ns an morality. Most Americans peal for aid to the "con,
And then again, the terror springs
impose a new Political order in Lebo
non, come tip with some formula of - from another source. Some of it is feel good about the raid, but they ought Reagan used blood-curdii; sorts for ure Palestinians, tip the hatched by merciless men for whom to remember that the culprit is still on to parade horribles with i
the loose. Even were we to be rid of basis In fact. His own ape.
scales in favor of pro-Western forces ~ terror is a profession that pays, and
to its lilti him, there is a larger enemy out there, missed his claim that the
lilting against an aggrieved
a
I
t11
n
mpasse with othe dl i d
Ilid
.eweensrae an Pales solar tor men, a rageeanrugs.
b
nativist-Isl:unic movement. But pretend that it would solve a problem born of an encounter between sprang- There was a strong sense
America did not have enough power much larger than their conflict. In- erswhotrafficwithoneanotheronlyto In Mr. Reagan's words ab,
to prevail. What political and cultural
make a demon of each other. ^ another crucial. point. --t-- ow
presence it had in the region was deed, if Americans are to embark
sortment of enemies - Mr. Qaddafi, - ' ' ? --v "' ac? raxc toe p antics must nave no illusions about it: Their
of the fertile crescent. This amor- enemies In the region will go on a
rejectionist Palestinians, radical Shi- phous world took America on the only rampage precisely to convince them
lies, the Syrian regime, and, further way It could - with terror. of the futility of such an endeavor.
east, the pied piper of the embittered For their part, Americans had to If the belief that a peace process
and the aggrieved, Ayatollah Ruhol- give terror a name, had to organize it, would spare us terror Is flawed, so,
huh Khunretui in Iran. assi
n If. ret
dd
g
urn a
ress hold some too I thil blif
,..se smpeee in military
A terrible wind was now blowing one responsible. "Terror," they de-' muse a Its a to conver m itary
throughout the realm of Islam. Amer- ?~
Glared, thy name Is Muammar." b owe Into political victories, all the
scans were coughs -there at a time Tutus last Jan
A
uary
mericans Im mor i thih
,,e sone regon were those at
when a large fight was breaking out posed economic sanctions against ? the receiving end of American power
- a fight for the soul and historic di- Libya. But. the sanctions were have vast reservoirs of cultural sym-
rection of that society. The middle doomed. Washington couldn't car * path ground in much of the Moslem world the Europeans along. Then it set out think oand r. Qaddafi as an isolated,
was caving under, caught between to challenge Mr. Qaddafi's "Line of hated figure in his region, and he is.
(frightened) privilege on the one side Death" in the Gulf of Sidra. It picked But Americans underestimate
and (militant) wrath on the other. a fight with Mr. Qaddafi. Americans tent tow is e acts out the anti,
Arid America .was inevitably on the presumed, or wanted to believe, that astern resentments of more ordi
side of privilege. this would give them a reprieve from nary mainstream opinion and the
That is why, in a political world of terror., But Mr. Qaddafi knew no way his world
other wa cushions him aealnst
Y. the attacks of a foreign power. !'
l"ouad Ajurui is professor of Middle One Interpretation of the "terror- There Is comet ng an c mottle :1
Eastern studies at the Johns Ism roble " h Id
Noplains School of Advanced Inferno- at this point beca. s 1. at use it has pot ris a ns about military power. Once It Is de
tiuncd Studies- cored an Arab-Israeli "peace pro- learn f its limits This is particularly
FOREIGN AFFAIRS I 'Flora Lewis
The Concern Is Results.
BLOOMINGTON, Ind.
here are many more doubts
about the wisdom of the U.S. at-
tack on l..ibyu? here at Indiana
What will
the air raid
moves will be decided "case by
case."
The overriding purpose of the
American President has to- be to pro-
tect the lives of American citizens.
The "success" of the attack has to be
measured In chn.n (,.r...a