U.S. Boosts Pressure for Libya Curbs : Envoy Walters Sent to Europe to Lobby Allies

With two naval battle groups providing a dramatic reminder of U.S. military power, President Reagan dispatched a veteran trouble-shooter to Europe on Saturday in an attempt to rally diplomatic support for U.S. action against Libya.

The State Department said that Vernon A. Walters, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and a retired army general and CIA official, had been sent to Britain, Italy, West Germany and France as “part of our continuing consultations on the threat of terrorism.”

Administration officials who asked not to be identified said Walters will try to persuade the allied governments to join in economic and political sanctions against Libya’s Col. Moammar Kadafi. The officials said that, as a minimum, Washington wants its friends to stop buying Libyan oil, to embargo exports to the Tripoli regime and to close down Libyan embassies.

In addition to Walters, Atty. Gen. Edwin Meese III and Rozanne L. Ridgway, assistant secretary of state for European affairs, are scheduled to visit Europe later this month. But unlike the Walters trip, which was arranged so quickly that he was already in London before it was announced, the Meese and Ridgway visits were in preparation before the latest Libyan crisis flared.

Meeting With Thatcher

In London, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s office said that she met for an hour with Walters, but no details of their discussion were made public. And in The Hague, a Dutch Foreign Ministry spokesman said that foreign ministers of the European Communities will hold an emergency meeting there Monday to discuss the U.S.-Libyan confrontation.

Presumably, if the European nations joined in imposing tough economic sanctions against Kadafi, the United States might forgo the use of force unless Libyan-backed terrorists were to strike again at U.S. citizens or installations. West Germany and Italy have both cautioned against U.S. military action, and they might be willing to consider political or economic moves in exchange for American restraint.

But a senior Administration official, who asked not to be named, said, “It’s more than just an either-or proposition. That’s too simplistic.”

Strike Still Possible

The official said that European sanctions against Libya “would be a major step forward” but that they would not necessarily be a substitute for U.S. military action.

U.S. officials have made it no secret that Washington’s ultimate objective is to overthrow Kadafi, preferably by sparking a rebellion within the Libyan armed forces. The officials reason that Libyan military officers eventually will conclude that Kadafi is more trouble than he is worth if economic or military actions imperil the interests of the army.

“There is unquestionable evidence of unhappiness with Kadafi in some quarters of the Libyan military,” a senior State Department official said. But he conceded that U.S. military pressure might actually bolster Kadafi’s position in the short run.

“It depends upon the time span you ask about,” the official said. “Over the long term, this hurts Kadafi, although in the short term there will be some rallying around the flag.”

Rhetorical Support

Italian officials, joined by some other Europeans, have been arguing for weeks that U.S. military action against Kadafi actually builds up the Libyan leader’s prestige and forces other Arab governments, including some which normally oppose him, to give him at least rhetorical support in the face of hostility from a non-Arab power.

The Italians, once the colonial power in Libya, maintain that in the tribal politics of the Middle East, there is a never ending action-reaction cycle in which all attacks must be avenged. Kadafi does not have the conventional military power to respond in kind to U.S. armed force, but he is able to dispatch terrorists to take revenge for him. Therefore, the Italians reason, U.S. military action against Libya will produce increased terrorism.

The Reagan Administration rejects that argument, maintaining that the only way to stop Kadafi from supporting terrorism is to make it too painful for him to continue.

Israel in Agreement

Israel has followed a similar strategy for years without eliminating the threat of terrorism, although Israeli security programs--such as two-hour-long luggage and body searches of airline passengers--have made it more difficult for terrorists to strike.

Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, offered a blanket endorsement Saturday of possible U.S. military moves.

In a Cable News Network interview, Netanyahu said, “You are dealing here with bullies. Kadafi is a bully. He is like all bullies, depending on the weakness and timidity of his victims.”

Administration policy for months has called for military retaliation against terrorism provided that three guidelines are met: Positive identification of the terrorists and determination of a suitable target; minimization of the risk to innocent civilians, and an acceptable ratio of U.S. military losses.

White House Chief of Staff Donald T. Regan said Friday that the Administration is “coming close” to a formal conclusion of Libyan responsibility in the April 5 bombing of a West Berlin discotheque that killed a U.S. soldier and a Turkish woman. If the White House determines that Kadafi is responsible, it is driven by the logic of its own guidelines to retaliate because Libyan targets are easily identifiable, civilian casualties could be kept down in the sparsely populated country, and the Pentagon believes an attack could be staged without major losses to U.S. forces.

“It is easier (to meet the guidelines) when it is a specific state than it is when it is a small group in an alleyway in Beirut,” a senior Administration official said Saturday.

If the President decides to take military action, the most likely force would be contained in the naval battle groups including the aircraft carriers Coral Sea and America. The Pentagon said that the ships are operating in the Mediterranean near Sicily, as they have been since early Friday. A Defense Department spokesman said that nothing changed Saturday.

However, Italy’s state-run television network said that the carriers have moved through the Strait of Sicily, between that island and Tunisia, and were only “a day’s sailing from the Gulf of Sidra.”