Sanctions Will Hurt--Us

President Reagan’s decision to strengthen existing American economic sanctions against Libya will in all probability neither much damage Libya nor much deter the terrorism that Libya encourages.

The economic sanctions employed against nations since the end of World War II have as a general rule not worked very well, and the U.S. sanctions already in place against Libya have scarcely worked at all. Libyan oil can get readily to market, whether or not U.S. companies are involved, and oil is an untraceable commodity.

Even if the Europeans supported the sanctions and adopted similar ones, their effect would be dubious--and the Europeans do not.

The President’s action has the effect of announcing stern American disapproval of Libya’s actions without actually running the many-sided risks, and they are considerable, of military action. As Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres prudently said, “We don’t have to declare war on Libya. It is enough that--at least at first--sanctions are adopted, political, commercial and legal.”

The President asserted that his decision to act was based on “irrefutable evidence” of Col. Moammar Kadafi’s role in various terrorist attacks; the case will gain credibility the more the evidence is made public.

The sanctions in fact are directed against Americans doing business in and with Libya; their weight will fall, as the President acknowledged, directly on Americans, not Libyans. His order circumscribing the travel and commercial activities of Americans abroad raises constitutional questions.

After calling on other nations to join the sanctions, the President said, menacingly, “If these steps do not end Kadafi’s terrorism, I promise you that further steps will be taken.” Those are strong words, better not uttered if there is no intention to act on them; if there is, one must wonder whether the President and his advisers have thought through the consequences of the acts that they may be contemplating.