From: utzoo!decvax!pur-ee!uiucdcs!ray
Newsgroups: net.misc
Title: Reagan,Libya,G.Sidra,insanity - (nf)
Article-I.D.: uiucdcs.307
Posted: Mon Aug  2 12:28:10 1982
Received: Tue Aug  3 01:47:30 1982

#N:uiucdcs:10600005:000:2463
uiucdcs!ray    Aug  2 12:13:00 1982

>From McGeer/JTR's is Reagan insane discussion and related replies...
I don't think the Gulf of Sidra incident was avoidable.  If the US fleet
kept out of all areas claimed by all two-bit dictators like Kaddaffi, I expect
they would soon only be able to operate in Lake Michigan.  There are laws,
customs, treaties, etc. governing the oceans recognized by most nations in the
U.N.  I say again, Kaddaffi has no more right to claim the Gulf of Sidra as
territorial waters than we would to try and claim the Gulf of Mexico.  They are
international waters.  I know NEWSWEEK said the week before that we were
sending ships into the area as a provocation.  Fortunately, NEWSWEEK does not
speak for the American Government.  Why then, did we send ships into the area?
That question was raised in Congressional circles following the incident.
One of the answers given was: the same reason the USSR sends ships into the
Gulf of Mexico - precisely to make the point that these ARE international
waters, free and open to all.  If someone wishes to take another country's
legal and free actions as a provocative incident, then perhaps that is a
problem with the second country's perspective, not the first's.  For those of
you who disagree - do you really think the US should shoot at Soviet planes
in international airspace over the Gulf of Mexico, or sink Soviet subs off the
coast of Florida during space launches, or destroy Soviet "fishing trawlers"
watching deep sea manevuers (spelling?) of new US Naval vessels, or etc. etc.
etc.  No, we all have to live in this world together, and the only way we can
do this is to respect each other's rights and freedoms - something that
paranoid Kaddaffi has a problem with.  One final note: you may recall another
similar incident involving Kaddaffi.  While Carter was still in office (you
can't blame this one on Reagan), a US AWACS was operating out over the
Mediteranian off the coast of Libya (again, in international airspace).
Kaddaffi, obviously annoyed at the AWACS' ability to electronically "see"
across his border, scrambled some jets with orders to attack the AWACS.  This
was intercepted by the AWACS which (as the wire services described it):
"flipped a switch, causing the Libyan fighters to see more than a dozen AWACS
on their radar screens.  Meanwhile, the real plane made its escape."  Face it,
the current dictator of Libya has a problem.  Don't try and blame that on us.
A. Ray Miller    pur-ee!uiucdcs!ray