FLEET OF SHIPS - MEDITERRANEAN BUTTRESSED

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000302450019-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 4, 2012
• Sequence Number: 19
• Publication Date: November 5, 1983
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

AIM
WIN Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/10/04: CIA-RDP90-00965R000302450019-1 STAT
ARTICLE
ON PAGE
Fleet of Ships
Mediterranean Buttressed
By Fred Hiatt and John M. Goshko
Washiturton Post Staff Writers
The U.S. Navy yesterday was assembling an unusually
large fleet of warships in the Mediterranean as govern-
ment officials increasingly speculated about possible mil-
itary action in retaliation for the terrorist bombing that
killed at least 230 U.S. servicemen or to preempt another
attack.
The carrier USS Eisenhower and the battleship USS
New Jersey headed a fleet of a dozen ships already near
Lebanon. while the carriers USS Independence and USS
John F. Kennedy were reported headed in that direction
with their battle groups. Altogether, at least 29 Navy
ships with about 300 aircraft could be in the area within
a few days, administration officials said.
The dozen ships near Lebanon, meanwhile, were tak-
WASHINGTON POST
5 November 1983
while Lebanese leaders are holding
national reconciliation talks in Ge-
neva.,
? Although State Department offi-
cials have talked about "the deter- \
rent effect" of retaliatory action, the
department is understood to believe
that a military reprisal could have
effects harmful to long-range goals in
Lebanon. .
Specifically, the department's ob-
jections involve fears that an attack
against Syrian-controlled portions of
Lebanon could trigger a U.S.-Syrian
confrontation and make even more
difficult the task of getting Syria's .
cooperation for the withdrawal of all
foreign forces from Lebanon.
In addition, the department is
concerned that military action might
draw a hostile reaction from British,
French and Italian allies that would
hamper the effectiveness of the mul-
tinational peace-keeping force.
There also is concern that retalia,
tory moves would increase the ten-
dency of the Moslem factions in the
Lebanese civil war to regard the
United States as their enemy and
add to anti-American sentiment
throughout the Moslem world.
The Soviet news agency Tess yes-
terday warned that the United
States was preparing to attack "na-
tional patriotic forces" in Lebanon.
The Soviets have supplied Syria
with sophisticated military equip-
ment and several thousand military
advisers since Israel invaded Leba-
non more than a year ago.
Pentagon spokesmen, who at-
tempted to squelch speculation
about military action in Grenada
shortly before the US. invasion
there,. declined to rule out possible
action in Lebanon. At the same time,
several spokesmen said the large
fleet assembling in the Mediterra-
nean does not necessarily reflect any
unusual plans.
The aircraft carrier USS Indepen-
dence, having aided in the Oct. 25
invasion of Grenada with its five ac-
companying ships, is to replace the
Eisenhower, which is due to return
home.
ing unusual precautions in the wake of intelligence re-
ports df increasing danger from Syrian missiles, terrorist
frogmen or other sources, officials said. The ships are
staying farther offshore while moving constantly and
keeping their hest-armed combatants closest to the coast.
An administration source also said the United States
has learned that what he described as members .of a rad-
ical Moslem group recently carried rockets through east
Beirut to positions from which they could reach U.S. Ma-
rines on land.. He suggested that a commando raid, air
strike or other military action might be taken as a pre-
emptive move to forestall another terrorist attack.
A suicide car-bomb attack destroyed an Israeli mili-
tary intelligence headquarters in southern Lebanon yes-
terday. killing at least 29 soldiers and 10 Arabs. Admin-
istration sources said they believe that the same "radical
Shiite Moslem group" was responsible for yesterday's
attack and the -suicide truck-bomb attacks against
French and U.S. military headquarters on Oct. 23.
Other administratibh sources said they know who
planned the attack on the Marine
peace-keeping force in Beirut and
where the culprits can be found. Of-
ficials continued to discuss the pos-
sibility of retaliating for that attack,
which killed more US. servicemen
? than had died in a single day since
the Tet offensive of the Vietnam
war.
' Some administration officials,
however, were said to be concerned
about the diplomatic repercussions
of any military action, particularly
A five-ship amphibious task force
carrying 1,800 Marines also is on its
_way to Lebanon after service in Gre-
nada. The 22nd Marine Amphibious
Unit is scheduled to replace the
24th, now in Beirut, later this
month.
Both the Independence battle
group and the Marine task force are
not expected in the Mediterranean
for three or four days, having left the
Caribbean in midweek.
The carrier Kennedy, meanwhile,
is -steaming in the central Mediter-
ranean with a cruiser, two frigates, a
destroyer and A supply ship. The
Kennedy was to take part in an ex-
ercise with Spanish forme called
Crisex 83 before moving into the
Indian Ocean.
Each carrier carries dozens of '
fighters and light bombers, but only
a few E2C Hawkeye and EA6B
Prowler _intelligence planes, which
scan the horizon for hostile intruders
and can help manage air traffic. For
that reason, having more than one
carrier in the region can have mil-
itary value, experts said yesterday.
Administration officials have
talked openly of retaliation since the
terrorist attacks almost two weeks
ago that killed nearly 300 U.S. and
French troops. Secretary of State
George P. Shultz said recently that
taking action against the perpe-
trators would have "a preventive ef-
fect" since the "people who did that
might like to do it again."
Administration officials were par-
ticularly concerned about a possible
threat to U.S. ships near, Lebanon.
The amphibious ships where the
Marines live when not ashore have
moved .farther from the coast, forc-
ing more ferrying by helicopter rath-
er than by small boats, and warships
with close-in antimissile weapons
have been positioned between Leb-
anon and the less well-defended ves-
sels.
Meanwhile, administration offi-
cials said Lebanese President Amin
Gemayel almost certainly will not
visit the United States soon, despite
the adjournment of the Lebanese
national reconciliation conference in
Geneva until Nov. 14.
trOVIEV/ZED
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/10/04: CIA-RDP90-00965R000302450019-1