REAGAN WEIGHS ECONOMIC STEPS AGAINST LIBYANS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000505410098-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 10, 2010
• Sequence Number: 98
• Publication Date: December 8, 1981
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/10: CIA-RDP90-00552R000505410098-1
STAT
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Reagan Weighs
tees
Economic
y~!~i9~f ~f ~+.gait dstLibyans
By BERNARD GWERTZMAN
WASHINGTON, Dec. 7 -- President
Reagan and his top national security ad-i
visers met today to discuss possible
punitive economic and political meas.
ures against Libya that could include an
embargo on the import of Libyan oil and
a ban on travel by Americans to Libya.
White House and State Department
officials stressed. however, that the
policy review by the Administration had
been under way since the summer, well
before the Administration's latest con-
cern over reports that Cola Muammar
el-Qaddaf, the Libyan leader, had sent
agents to this country to try to assassi-
nate Mr. Reagan or other prominent of-
ficials.
No Decision Reached
A State Department official who de.
clined to be named said after this after-
noon's National Security Council meet-1
ing on, Libya that no decisions had been
taken and he could not predict when any!
would be. Dean Fischer, a State Depart-
ment spokesman? said earlier that deci-;
sloes relating to future American eco-, ,
nomic and political relations with Libya
were expected "in the near future."
The policy review, Mr. Fischer said,
was started several months ago in re- I
sponse to the Administration's oft.
stated concern over Libya's activities in
support of radical groups in other coun.
tries and what Secretary of State Alex.
ander M. Haig Jr. has called Colonel
Qaddafi's backing for "international
terrorism."
The reports about the assassins.
squads, which have been given official
credence by the State Department, were
viewed b y depart t officials a s i n -
c r e a s i n g the h ei od that the Admin.
NEW YORK TII S
8 DECEMBER 1981
istration would announce some punitive
Colonel Qaddafi, in an interview on
American television on Sunday, denied
having anything to do with such assassi.
nation plots. But the State Department,
i
u
id
h
l
n an un
sua
statement sa
at while
t
, have dropped to about 600,000 bar-
it hoped Colonel Qaddafi s statement i ports meant he would abandon "the use of ter. ; rnIn October, former President Richard
rorism and assassination" in his foreign . M. Nixon proposed an economic boycott
policy, "we have strong evidence that' of Libya. but, when Mr. Reagan was
Qaddafii has been planning the murder I asked about it on Oct. 13, he said "it
of American officials both here andi wouldhavetobeworldwide.
1 `Plentyof Other Customers' Seen
The talk about assassination threats ?"No one country could affect them by
has become a major topic in Washing-
#_ i having a boycott," the President said.
wherever officials like Mr. Reagan or
Mr. Haig go, leading Mrs. Reagan to say;
today, "It's very difficult to go to church'
because you feel self-conscious about
beingX.rayed and soon." Shesaid to re-
porters, however, "I'm very happy to
have it."
Mr. Reagan, chatting with reporters
at the White House, was asked about
Colonel Qaddafl's charge that the Ad-
mini tration was inventing the aspssi..
nation story.
"I wouldn't believe a word he says if I
wereyou." the President replied.
?WeHavethe Evidence'
When told that Colonel Qaddafi had
dared the United States to make its evi.
dence public, Mr. Reagan said, "We
havethe evidence and he knows it."
Reporters at the White House and
State Department pressed spokesmen to
make the evidence public, but both
Larry Speaker, the deputy White House
press secretary. and Mr. Fischer de-
c:inedtodoso.
There have been reports in the press
that much of the information has come
from a foreigner who was in Libya and
said be heard Colonel Qaddaft issue the
orders. The foreigner, said to have been
inw training assassination
?ag ii , is e to burr thecustody
oi-a -Intelligence Agency and
ve been p vigorous" de-
senior officials of the Federal Bureau of
Investigation, are said to be very skepti-
cal about the information, even though
agreeing that prudence dictates the ex-
treme measures now being taken to pro-
tect keyotfidals:
EmbargoonOlllmportsWeighed
State Department officials said that
among the punitive measures being
.studied are the imposition of :an em.
bargo against imports of oil from Libya
and a ban on Americans' living in or
traveling tothatcountry.
. Presently, some 1,500 American. al-
most all of them in the oil industry. are
employed In Libya. Euon $lready has
announced plans to bring i s personnel
hoen4 and Mobil is said to be following
suit. , . ;
buying Libyan oil. there would be
"plentyof other customers."
On Nov. 14, however, Secretary Hai.-
signaled a different view. He said there
had been an extensive study of a possi-
ble oil embargo to see whether "we are
not in fact shooting ourselves in the
foot."
-
"I do not think that applies in this
particular case on oil." he said, strongly
suggesting that -he favored a ban on
Libyan oil.
But he said then that any decision had
been deferred because Libya was carry-
ing out a withdrawal of its troops from
Chad, where it had intervened earlier in
the year, and the United States did not
want to do anything that might stop the
pd out; which has since been complet-
ed.
Diplomats Expelled -
Following the expulsion of all Libyan
diplomats from the United States last
May, the United States urged Ameri-
cans to leave Libya, but there was no ef-
fort to make it compulsory. During the crisis over the American
hostages in Iran, -the United States;
banned the import of Iranian oil, froze'
Iran's assets in this country, broke dip.
lomatic relations and forbade most'
Americans to travel to Iran.
Officially, the United States still has
diplomatic relations with Libya, but all
American diplomats left Tripoli, the
capital, in 1980 aftera mob burned down
the American Embassy.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/10: CIA-RDP90-00552R000505410098-1