The World - News from March 31, 1986

Administration officials acknowledged in television interviews that the U.S. Navy’s confrontation with Libya last week may not discourage Col. Moammar Kadafi from further support of terrorism. Under Secretary of State Michael H. Armacost said of Kadafi, “I would hesitate to make predictions about a guy who’s a kind of a screwball,” but the message behind the encounter is that “when our interests are engaged, we will protect them.” Assistant Secretary of State Richard W. Murphy said that “we very likely will see” a terrorist attack inspired by Kadafi, who is blamed by Washington for terror raids on the Rome and Vienna airports last December.