SHULTZ BLOCKED LIBYA INVASION, OFFICIALS SAY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000504130010-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 27, 2012
• Sequence Number: 10
• Publication Date: February 22, 1987
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/28: CIA-RDP90-00965R000504130010-1
ARTICLE APPEARED
AN PACE 1
Proposed byNSC
Shultz Blacked
Libya Invasion,
Officials Say
By NORM KEMPSTER
and DOYLE?_.--
Times Staff Writers
WASHINGTON-The National
Security Council staff proposed a
joint U.S.-Egyptian invasion of
Libya in 1985, but-Secretary of
State George P. Shultz, joined by
other State Department and De-
fense Department officials, blocked
the plan, Administration officials
said Friday.
The officials said the plan, on -
nall suggested to the NbL; by
Deputy CIA Director
called or 6gatian troops to in-
va e i a with U.S. air support to
to a Libyan leader : oammar
Kadafi.
The proposal was approved by
Robert McFarlane, White House
national security adviser at the
time; his deputy, Vice Adm. John
M. Poindexter, and Donald Fortier,
then the NSC's third-ranking offi-
cial, before Shultz was able to
derail it. Nicholas A. Veliotes, then
U.S. ambassador in Cairo, was
called home to help marshal argu-
ments against the plan.
Confirmation Issue
A State Department official said
Friday that a contingency plan for
an invasion of Libya remains in the
Administration's files, "but we
haven't given it any serious consid-
eration."
The report came at a particularly
emb rrrsing time for Gates Presi-
dent eagan's nominee to surreed
William I. Casey as CIA director.
Senate Majority Leader Robert C.
Byrd (D-W.Va.) said the enate
might c ela a confirmation vote for
as long as a month to see t any other problems come to the sur-
face.
'T is unfortunate that the Ad-
ministration has sought to nom
nate Mr. Gates," Byrd said. "I don't
have anything against Mr. Gates
personally_, but the fact that he was
LOS ANGELES TIMES
22 February 1987
the No. 2 man fat the CIA] and was
nominated almost immediately
ter the r signation of Mr. Casey
does not look well.
"Having to vote on the nomina-
tion before all of the facts are out
_puts me in a ver difficult posi-
tion." he said. "We're put in tie
position of voting for someone who,
as the facts unravel down the road,
may have been implicated to the
extent that we'll all be sorry."
However. Byrd said he did not
.believe that the nomination should
be held up much more than a
month because the CIA needs a
permanentdirector to start re-
building its credibility.
Gates was not available for com-
ment.
The Administration officials said
the Libya invasion plan, drafted
after the June, 1985, hijacking of
TWA Flight 847 by terrorists
thought to be backed by Kadafi,
was never presented to Reagan for
approval. They added that Egyp-
tian President Hosni Mubarak was
never asked to approve it either.
The plan was first revealed by
the Washington Post in its Friday
editions.
White House spokesman Marlin
Fitzwater sidestepped questions
about the report. Replying to ques-
tions at the daily press briefing, he
refused to talk about whether the
NSC staff had proposed such an
invasion. He limited himself to
denying that the President had
approved the plan or that it had
been carried out.
Fitzwater said there was no
decision directive on invading Lib-
ya. . . . There was no policy or
plan to do that that was put in
motion."
State Department spokeswoman
Phyllis Oakley said, "I have noth-
ng to add beyond what the White
House said this morning."
Gates suggested the U.S.-Egyn-
uan attack in a memo
July, 1985. Casey, then
tor, ordered a study of Libyan
military targets that might be hit in
the early days of such an attack.
Administration officials said
McFarlane, Poindexter and Fortier
ultimately devised a plan calling
for Egyptian troops to capture half
of Libya's territory, moving under
cover of U.S. close air support.
They said Shultz summoned Ve-
liotes back to Washington to ex-
plain Egypt's probable reaction to
such a proposal and to underline
the disadvantages of the approach.
Veliotes suggested replacing the
plan for immediate military action
against Libya with a contingency
plan that could be put into effect if
hostilities broke out later. It is that
plan which remains on the books.
one official said.
The officials said Reagan ap-
proved a visit to Cairo by Poindex-
ter and Fortier in the late summer
of 1985. However, they were in-
structed to discuss the issue only in
generalities with Mubarak. not to
suggest a joint military operation.
Mubarak made it clear that if
Egypt took military action against
Libya, it would be for Egyptian
reasons only, not because of U.S.
interests, the officials said.
The State Department objections
to the joint invasion were under-
lined by the Defense Department.
In addition, the Joint Chiefs of Staff
said such a plan could eventually
involve up to six U.S. combat
divisions, draining troops from Eu-
rope and other U.S. areas around
the globe.
Veliotes, now chief of the Assn.
of American Publishers, did not
return telephone calls Friday.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/28: CIA-RDP90-00965R000504130010-1