Friday, April 25, 1986
Nation/World
University Daily Kansan
11
Failed mission in Iran helped U.S.
United Press International
WASHINGTON — From the ashes of Desert One, a mission that buried hopes for a hostage rescue in Iran six years ago, has risen a combat force with capabilities and experience that threatens the United States and back up presidential threats.
Libya can attest to that, although the 11-minute air-strick against it resulted in U.S. losses and a loss of $30 million.
Any direct comparison between the attempt to
Analysis
Still, the Libyan raid came five years after President Reagan's victory ever Jimmy Carter and his subsequent promise of retribution for hostilities against the United States.
rescue 53 U.S. hostages six years ago and the air strike against five Libyan targets earlier this month would be misleading and implausible.
But the years between the failure of Desert One on April 25, 1980, and the success in Libya provided the Pentagon not only with the time it needed to correct mistakes but with $1.5 trillion to rebuild its
Pentagon officials think that improvements in force readiness and espionage, the use of more power than necessary to provide for unforeseen contingencies and Washington's willingness to let the on-scene commander run the operation made the difference between Iran and Libya.
Now the Soviet Union, the United States' allies and the U.S. public have changed their perception of the U.S. military troop to support the U.S. to retrain reded. Ren, Edward Meyer, Army chief of staff from 1979 to 1983.
Viewed separately, the Oct. 25, 1963, invasion of Grenada with 7,000 soldiers and Marines, the interception in October of an airliner hiding suspected terrorists, the shooting up of two Libyan missile boats and a radar installation in March and April against Libya are not spectacular achievements.
Together, those actions give the impression that a better prepared, trained and coordinated U.S. military meant business.
The Reagan administration likes to point to its military successes as improvements over the Carter years, but Reagan has had his own defeats — namely the disaster in Beirut in October 1983 when a terrorist bombing killed 241 U.S. servicemen sleeping in a Marine barracks.
The explosion disarmed a United States whose impotence also had been symbolized by the Dec. 4, 1984, Syrian missile downing of two Navy attack planes and the inability later that month of the 18-inch guns aboard the newly recommissioned battleship New Jersey to hit their Lebanon militia targets.
The mission was planned for more than five months. If it had been successful, it would have raised Carter's political stock. But it was risky.
Under Carter, the military was not ready for the Iranian rescue attempt.
The goal was to ferry 90 commandos to the spot dubbed Desert One, a desert site 200 miles from Teheran, Iran, where the 53 hostages were being held in the U.S. Embassy.
From there, the commanders were to be taken by helicopter into the mountains 50 miles from Tehanan, travel by truck into the heart of the city, and then take the choppers landing in a stadium across the street.
The trouble began even before the team made it
to Iran.
Two of the eight helicopters had to turn back. Those remaining met C-130 transports carrying the 90 commandes, fuel and equipment at Desert One.
But a hydraulic pump on a third helicopter failed and it could not be repaired in the desert. That left only five choppers for the mission when a minimum of six were needed.
Adding to the humiliation, one of the helicopters collided with a C-130 on takeoff from Desert One. Both aircraft were engulfed in flames. Eight men died and five were injured.
The lesson was learned
Thousands of troops were sent into Grenada to fight 600 Cubans and Grenadians, three aircraft carriers with 270 planes among them were sent to waters off Libya for flight operations. The Air Force and Navy attack planes left for the air strike against Libya when only 25 of them did the bombing.
The action in Grenada, called a rescue mission, was so hastily taken in the 48 hours before 1,000 medical students were freed that troops initially were forced to use tourist manned ships to evacuate them. SEALs who drowned on the way to the island, and Navy jets mistakenly bombed a mental hospital.
While control of the Iranian rescue mission was ideal at the upper end of the chain of command, too many cooks stirred the brew, according to a Pentagon panel that reviewed the mission.
Unlike Desert One, one man — Vice Adm. Frank Kelso, the 6th Fleet commander — coordinated the Libyan attack without Washington looking over his shoulder.
Good job keeps U.S. citizen in Libya
United Press International
TRIPOLL, Libya — He is on friendly terms with Vice President George Bush. He was a Texas delegate to the 1800 Republican Convention in Detroit and he gets a Christmas card. He is also the reagan Reagan. And he works in Libya.
His reasoning is as all-American as the black cowboy boots that stand in the corner of his office at an oil service company in Tripoli.
He explained why yesterday who stayed in Liuya despite an order from Reagan to leave and the U.S. to attend a little more than a week ago.
"I couldn't buy a job back in the states," he said. "I work in oil fields. I've worked in them all my life and I'm not going to do anything else. If I want a job, I have to go to the oil fields."
He is in his 50s and from Houston. A
supervisor at an oil service company that employs about 70 U.S. citizens in Libya, he asked that his name not be used because he faces prosecution in the U.S. Court against Reagan's order that U.S. citizens and U.S. firms leave Libya by Feb. 1.
He has no intention of leaving. Interviews with others in the 1,000-member U.S. community in Libya found that few of them do.
"If they want to arrest me when I go home, I have only one request," the oil executive said. "Put me in front of 12 of my peers, and I'll say 'I was in Libya to make a living for my family.'
"I don't think they'll send me to jail."
Other foreigners appear to be staying as well. A spot check of western embassies yesterday — the Belgian, which represents U.S. interests, the Italian, the Canadian, the West German and the British — revealed no
mass exodus.
"People are obviously nervous because of the bombing but they are not leaving," said one senior west European diplomat.
They face little hostility from Libyans.
Except for special cases, such as when U.S. citizens are married to Libyans, most are here for only one thing—the high salaries that can be earned working in Libya's oil industry. The oil executive estimated he made three times more in Libya than he would in the United States.
"Libyans think of us as outlaws, the oil executive said, laughing. "To them we're political dissidents because we have stayed."
There are few other reasons to be in the country. There are almost no restaurants in Tripoli, for example. Perhaps three are open on any single night. They are small, adorned with posters of Libyan leader Mammar
On a recent night, a Moroccan waiter came up to a table of Westerners to anologize for the food.
Khadafy and have no menus because usually only one dish is served.
"We are very sorry," he said. "This is all we can cane. There is nothing else we can get. This is Libya."
The only social life for expatriate is home parties where they serve the Libyan version of gin, called "flash." The entire country is dry. Khadfa strictly interprets the Koran and prohibits liquor.
The executive spends two weeks a month in Tripoli and two weeks visiting oil camps in the desert, where most of the U.S. citizens live,
He said, "Out in the oil fields, it's business as usual. We got people calls from people wanting to know what's up, but that's it."
The University of Kansas Theatre
Announce
Auditions for
Kansas Summer Theatre '86
Saturday & Sunday, April 26 & 27, 1986
Murphy Hall
1950 Summer Season includes:
The Golden Fleece by A. R. Gurrey
The Harmfulness of Tobacco by Anton Chekhov
The 1940's Radio Hour by Walton Jones
Acting Company Auditions:
1:00-4:30 p.m., Saturday, April 26, 209
Murphy Hall
Prepared material required: 4-minutes total time for two contrasting pieces and one song.
Acting company members must enroll in summer school
BOOKS:
7:00-10:30 p.m., Sunday, April 27
209 Murphy (Radio Hour); 235 Murphy
(Fleecer/Tobacco)
Community Cast Auditions:
1:30,40 p.m., Sunday, April 27, 209
Murphy Hall
Either prepared material or read cold:
2-minutes total.
Open to all interested persons; roles for adult ages; no children's roles available.
Callbacks:
Summer rehearsals begin Friday, May 30
Rehearsals held in the evenings throughout
June & July
Performances:
Fleece/Tobacco: June 26-28
Radio Hour: July 11-13 & 18-19
For information about employment and crewing for the summer, contact the University Theatre, 317 Murphy Hall, 864-3381
For additional information about auditions, contact Jack Wright, 864-3893
Kansas Summer Theatre'86
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