We Broke It: Khadafy’s Secret Ties with U.S.

NewsMax.com ^ | December 21, 2003 | News Max Staff

[yoe]

When Libya went public this week that it was cooperating with the U.S., and planning to destroy its weapons of mass destruction, this should have come as no surprise to NewsMax.com’s Insider Report subscribers.

That’s because NewsMax had the story first.

In our September 27, 2003 edition of Insider Report we revealed the following:

“The U.S. is making up with Libya's Khadafy after he agreed to pay $2.7 billion for blowing up Pan Am 103.

“Typically, money can't make restitution for an act of war. But one of our moles says that since the mid-'90s, Khadafy has been assisting the U.S. and working with the CIA to fight Muslim terror. Khadafy, no fundamentalist, fears the Islamacists as well.”

Already, press reports indicate that Libya’s new attitude toward WMDs did not take place suddenly, saying the contacts on this issue began right after the U.S. led invasion of Iraq earlier this year.

But the secret relationship between the U.S. and Libya goes back to the mid-90s.

We owe some gratitude on this “coup” to former President Ronald Reagan, who was the first world leader to stand up to Khadafy when he sent a fleet of B-52s over Tripoli to teach the Colonel a lesson.

Nor should we forget that our “allies” the French opposed Reagan’s bombing.

[yoe]

If anything, News Max is a fighter for the truth......

[somemoreequalthanothers]

It's a good conservative site. Usually I just browse the hot topics a few times a week and skip the rest.

[Hugin]

B52s? I thought it was F111s and A6s? Oh well, the point was taken by Mohamar in any case.

[al baby]

We owe some gratitude on this “coup” to former President Ronald Reagan, who was the first world leader to stand up to Khadafy when he sent a fleet of B-52s over Tripoli to teach the Colonel a lesson.

I thought it consisted of fb111 out of england

[Burkeman1]

Our cooperation, on many levels, with Libya has been going on since Clinton and was about as "secret" as his sex life.

[HardStarboard]

Well if their fighting for the truth, they need to fight harder.....

We owe some gratitude on this “coup” to former President Ronald Reagan, who was the first world leader to stand up to Khadafy when he sent a fleet of B-52s over Tripoli .....

They were F-111 fighter/bombers and I believe some EA6-B's to jam radar.

[FormerlyAnotherLurker]

The size of the strike force’s final configuration was immense and complex. Approximately 100 aircraft were launched in direct support of the raid:

Air Force
28 KC-10 and KC-135 tankers

5 EF-111 Raven ECM (Electronic Countermeasure) aircraft

24 FB-111 Strike aircraft (six of these were airborne spares, and returned to base after the initial refueling)

Navy
14 A-6E strike aircraft

12 A-7E and F/A-18 Electronic warfare and jamming aircraft which undertook air defense suppression for the mission

Several F-14 Tomcats which took up the long range Combat Air Patrol (CAP) responsibilities

4 E-2C Hawkeye airborne command and control and warning aircraft

In addition to the above, several helicopters were deployed for possible search and rescue operations, and "50-80 more aircraft were airborne in the vicinity of the carriers some 150-200 miles off shore." In fact, the total size of the force was criticized as excessive from various sources. All combined, the whole operation involved (to some degree) "more aircraft and combat ships than Britain employed during its entire campaign in the Falklands."

The first aircraft to launch were the 28 tankers from Britain followed closely by the F/EF-111s. Four refuelings and several hours later, these planes rounded the tip of Tunisia and were integrated into the Navy’s airborne armada by an Air Force officer aboard a KC-10 tanker which had been modified to function also as an airborne command coordination center.

Although joint in nature, the actual execution of the strike was operationally and geographically divided between the Navy and Air Force. Navy A-6s were assigned the target in the Benghazi area, and the Air Force F-111s hit the other three targets in the vicinity of Tripoli. This division of responsibility was done largely to simplify and deconflict command and control of the operational aspects of the raid. The modified KC-10 tanker was given charge of the Air Force resources while the carrier America controlled the Navy aircraft. The airborne E-2C Hawkeyes provided early warning, air control vectors, and operations.

The actual combat commenced at 0200 (local Libyan time), lasted less than 12 minutes, and dropped 60 tons of munitions. Resistance outside the immediate area of attack was nonexistent, and Libyan air defense aircraft never launched. One FB-111 strike aircraft was lost during the strike. The entire armada remained in the vicinity for over an hour trying to account for all aircraft.


FROM: http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/ops/el_dorado_canyon.htm

[Paleo Conservative]

We owe some gratitude on this ?coup? to former President Ronald Reagan, who was the first world leader to stand up to Khadafy when he sent a fleet of B-52s over Tripoli to teach the Colonel a lesson.

Typical Newsmax story. They get just enough facts wrong to blow their credibility.

[OldFriend]

NewMax goes for the headline. Credibility is secondary.

They often put their own spin sentences mixed in with quotes so it's impossible to tell where fact and spin diverge.

[Dan Evans]

Note to Newsmax:

Run your stories through Free Republic for fact-checking first before posting on line.

[Ole Okie]

Run your stories through Free Republic for fact-checking first before posting on line.

---

That, Dan, is an excellent idea. This is a glaring error which does severely affect credibility.

[Quix]

YEA NEWS MAX.

I think I get their emails--whether direct or via someone, I don't recall.

Worth reading.

[TankerKC]

We owe some gratitude on this “coup” to former President Ronald Reagan, who was the first world leader to stand up to Khadafy when he sent a fleet of B-52s over Tripoli to teach the Colonel a lesson.

More NewsMax accuracy.

[TankerKC]

I was with the KC-10s out of Fairford that evening.

[pattycake]

At least spell the guy's name right!!!!

[Mad Dawgg]

"I thought it consisted of fb111 out of england"

Yes and if memory serves the French refused to allow them to fly over France on that very mission.

[HardStarboard]

Thanks for the fully verified facts of Operation El Dorado.

We have got an awful bunch of folks in the USA rewriting history and I think its important to call them on it when we see it. I'm sure NewsMax had no malicious intent in their mistake - but plenty of others do, and we need to knock down the disinformation artists of the left at every chance!

Good get!

[hummingbird]

Yes and if memory serves the French refused to allow them to fly over France on that very mission.

I have the same recollection, MD.

[TankerKC]

Yes and if memory serves the French refused to allow them to fly over France on that very mission.

One less publicized detail (and one I'm don't completely understand) is that Spain wasn’t playing along either. Prior to El Dorado Canyon, I was with the European Tanker Task Force at Zaragoza Air Base Spain. We couldn’t fly from there for the mission, so we had to move to England. The route from England to Libya went around BOTH Spain and France. I’m not sure what all the details were that led to that, but France always gets the (well deserved) bad rap.

[yoe]

Excellent advice. Read #7.