NOTE: I will be posting
either a soldiers’ quote or soldiers’ article once a month.
On
this date, 14 April 1986, the late President Ronald Reagan gave an address to
the Nation on the United States Air Strike against Libya. I chose this as the
soldiers’ article of the month, to remember that we should continue to fight
and defeat terrorism.
Address to the Nation on the
United States Air Strike Against Libya
April 14, 1986
My fellow
Americans:
At 7 o'clock this evening eastern time air and
naval forces of the United States launched a series of strikes against the
headquarters, terrorist facilities, and military assets that support Mu`ammar
Qadhafi's subversive activities. The attacks were concentrated and carefully
targeted to minimize casualties among the Libyan people with whom we have no
quarrel. From initial reports, our forces have succeeded in their mission.
Several weeks ago in New Orleans, I warned Colonel
Qadhafi we would hold his regime accountable for any new terrorist attacks
launched against American citizens. More recently I made it clear we would
respond as soon as we determined conclusively who was responsible for such
attacks. On April 5th in West Berlin a terrorist bomb exploded in a nightclub
frequented by American servicemen. Sergeant Kenneth Ford and a young Turkish
woman were killed and 230 others were wounded, among them some 50 American
military personnel. This monstrous brutality is but the latest act in Colonel
Qadhafi's reign of terror. The evidence is now conclusive that the terrorist
bombing of La Belle discotheque was planned and executed under the direct
orders of the Libyan regime. On March 25th, more than a week before the attack,
orders were sent from Tripoli to the Libyan People's Bureau in East Berlin to
conduct a terrorist attack against Americans to cause maximum and
indiscriminate casualties. Libya's agents then planted the bomb. On April 4th
the People's Bureau alerted Tripoli that the attack would be carried out the
following morning. The next day they reported back to Tripoli on the great
success of their mission.
Our evidence is direct; it is precise; it is
irrefutable. We have solid evidence about other attacks Qadhafi has planned
against the United States installations and diplomats and even American
tourists. Thanks to close cooperation with our friends, some of these have been
prevented. With the help of French authorities, we recently aborted one such
attack: a planned massacre, using grenades and small arms, of civilians waiting
in line for visas at an American Embassy.
Colonel Qadhafi is not only an enemy of the United
States. His record of subversion and aggression against the neighboring States
in Africa is well documented and well known. He has ordered the murder of
fellow Libyans in countless countries. He has sanctioned acts of terror in
Africa, Europe, and the Middle East, as well as the Western Hemisphere. Today
we have done what we had to do. If necessary, we shall do it again. It gives me
no pleasure to say that, and I wish it were otherwise. Before Qadhafi seized
power in 1969, the people of Libya had been friends of the United States. And
I'm sure that today most Libyans are ashamed and disgusted that this man has
made their country a synonym for barbarism around the world. The Libyan people
are a decent people caught in the grip of a tyrant.
To our friends and allies in Europe who cooperated
in today's mission, I would only say you have the permanent gratitude of the
American people. Europeans who remember history understand better than most
that there is no security, no safety, in the appeasement of evil. It must be
the core of Western policy that there be no sanctuary for terror. And to
sustain such a policy, free men and free nations must unite and work together.
Sometimes it is said that by imposing sanctions against Colonel Qadhafi or by
striking at his terrorist installations we only magnify the man's importance,
that the proper way to deal with him is to ignore him. I do not agree.
Long before I came into this office, Colonel
Qadhafi had engaged in acts of international terror, acts that put him outside
the company of civilized men. For years, however, he suffered no economic or
political or military sanction; and the atrocities mounted in number, as did
the innocent dead and wounded. And for us to ignore by inaction the slaughter
of American civilians and American soldiers, whether in nightclubs or airline
terminals, is simply not in the American tradition. When our citizens are
abused or attacked anywhere in the world on the direct orders of a hostile
regime, we will respond so long as I'm in this Oval Office. Self-defense is not
only our right, it is our duty. It is the purpose behind the mission undertaken
tonight, a mission fully consistent with Article 51 of the United Nations
Charter.
We believe that this preemptive action against his
terrorist installations will not only diminish Colonel Qadhafi's capacity to
export terror, it will provide him with incentives and reasons to alter his
criminal behavior. I have no illusion that tonight's action will ring down the
curtain on Qadhafi's reign of terror. But this mission, violent though it was,
can bring closer a safer and more secure world for decent men and women. We
will persevere. This afternoon we consulted with the leaders of Congress
regarding what we were about to do and why. Tonight I salute the skill and
professionalism of the men and women of our Armed Forces who carried out this
mission. It's an honor to be your Commander in Chief.
We Americans are slow to anger. We always seek
peaceful avenues before resorting to the use of force -- and we did. We tried
quiet diplomacy, public condemnation, economic sanctions, and demonstrations of
military force. None succeeded. Despite our repeated warnings, Qadhafi
continued his reckless policy of intimidation, his relentless pursuit of
terror. He counted on America to be passive. He counted wrong. I warned that
there should be no place on Earth where terrorists can rest and train and
practice their deadly skills. I meant it. I said that we would act with others,
if possible, and alone if necessary to ensure that terrorists have no sanctuary
anywhere. Tonight, we have.
Thank you, and God bless you.
Note: The President spoke at 9 p.m. from the Oval
Office at the White House. The address was broadcast live on nationwide radio
and television.
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