Allies’ Concern on Libya Cited by Whitehead

Deputy Secretary of State John C. Whitehead, brushing aside a succession of public rebuffs from Western European nations, said Monday that he persuaded them that Libyan leader Moammar Kadafi is “at the heart” of international terrorism.

At a news conference, Whitehead conceded that he failed to shake the reluctance of U.S. allies in Europe to join the United States in imposing sanctions on the Tripoli regime.

“I think the results of my trip were good,” he said, despite the criticism of the U.S. action expressed by official spokesmen in almost every country he visited. “I think I did heighten the concern of our allies for terrorism. . . . I think I persuaded them that Libya was at the heart of the problem.”

Implicit Warning

He said he delivered an implicit warning to the allies that if peaceful measures fail to curb Kadafi’s support for terrorism, the United States “reserved the option” to take military action, a step that European countries made it clear they oppose.

Whitehead returned Friday from a nine-nation trip to Canada and Western Europe to enlist support for President Reagan’s effort to isolate Libya both economically and diplomatically.

Recounting the broad hostility to economic sanctions that he encountered, he said the allied leaders he met recited “a number of reasons in detail as to what history shows about the (lack of) success of economic sanctions.”

Nevertheless, he said, all nine of the nations he visited “have agreed that they will not undercut our measures, although all of them have not yet announced that.”

Sanctions Rejected

(In Brussels, the 12 nations of the European Communities met to discuss the issue and decided not to adopt the economic sanctions sought by Washington, according to news agencies. They did agree not to sell weapons to nations “clearly implicated” in supporting terrorism--a statement that did not name Libya although several officials said it was clearly directed at that country. However, the principal arms producers among them--Britain, France, Italy, the Netherlands and West Germany--already have such a policy.)

The United States holds Kadafi responsible for the Dec. 27 terrorist attacks at the Rome and Vienna airports because of Libyan support for the Abu Nidal organization, which is accused of committing the massacres.

Whitehead said Washington has information that the Libyan government knew of the attacks in advance.