General Warns Kadafi: B-52s Could Be Used : NATO Leader Says U.S. Is Set ‘to Go After Him’

Citing “credible evidence” that Col. Moammar Kadafi is planning new terrorist attacks, the American commander in chief of allied forces in Europe said Friday that the Libyan leader “had better be damn careful” because “if he screws up again, we’re going to go after him.”

Gen. Bernard W. Rogers, who helped plan the April 15 bombing of the Libyan cities of Tripoli and Benghazi, specifically mentioned that U.S.-based B-52 bombers could be used to retaliate against Kadafi for any new wave of terrorism.

At a breakfast meeting with reporters, Rogers stressed repeatedly that he was giving personal opinions and not enunciating Administration policy. But his warning, the strongest on-the-record comments by a ranking military official in recent months, capped a week in which Kadafi re-emerged as a major topic of discussion inside and outside the Administration.

Mediterranean War Games

The attention on Kadafi has been heightened by joint U.S.-Egyptian maneuvers in the Mediterranean Sea and by fresh Administration efforts to isolate Libya economically. Vernon A. Walters, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, embarks today on a trip to eight North Atlantic Treaty Organization nations to coordinate allied strategy in dealing with Libya.

Some senior officials also acknowledged in interviews Friday that differing interpretations of intelligence data had led to a spate of sometimes conflicting news reports on the threat of renewed terrorist attacks.

With President Reagan on vacation in California and the White House staff operating on the two coasts, officials have given reporters varied assessments of the intelligence information, leading to an appearance of confusion among Administration officials.

Finally, White House spokesman Larry Speakes told reporters Wednesday in Los Angeles that journalists heeding the interpretations of officials in Washington were, in effect, “talking to the wrong White House.”

Other officials complained that some initial news accounts were “hyped” in unattributed reports. Earlier in the week, for example, some reports maintained that the White House was planning to wage a campaign aimed at scaring Kadafi into committing irrational acts--speculation that Speakes later discounted.

Rogers, who also is NATO’s supreme allied commander, gave no details of the “credible evidence” to which he referred but said, “I am sufficiently influenced by the information that’s been made available to me to make our people in Western Europe certainly cognizant that they have to be very prudent in their activities.”

Heavier Retaliation

The general said Kadafi should understand that U.S. retaliation for terrorist acts might be much more extensive than the April raids.

“He needs to understand he is not immune from being struck by any of the resources of the United States,” Rogers said. “By that, I’m not talking about landing the Marines on the shores of Tripoli, but I’m talking about the kinds of assets that we have that could reach targets within Libya. . . . “

He specifically mentioned, for example, “the B-52s in the United States,” the big eight-engine Strategic Air Command bombers that have an almost unlimited range with air tanker refueling.

“As far as old Bernie Rogers is concerned . . . we ought to keep that guy on the qui vive all the time,” he said, using a French phrase that translates roughly to “on his toes.”

‘He Should Be Worried’

“He should be concerned, he should be worried . . . so that he knows we’re out there and if he screws up again we’re going to go after him,” Rogers said of the Libyan leader.

He denied that the deployment of F-111 bombers to England this week or the maneuvers in the Mediterranean were related to developments in Libya. But, Rogers said, “if he (Kadafi) thinks it is related, so much the better.”

Some intelligence reports have raised questions about Kadafi’s emotional stability and his future control in Libya. When asked about these reports, Rogers replied: “My interpretation would be that if I were in his shoes, I would be concerned about whether or not I was going to remain in control of the country. I’d be concerned for two reasons: one, his own psychological status at the present time; and two, concerns about those who might be prepared to take the reins from him. And I think I had better leave it just like that.”

According to Administration officials with access to intelligence data, indications that gave rise to concerns that Kadafi may be contemplating renewed terrorist actions did not begin surfacing until last week. However, those reports were unconfirmed and, in the words of one official, the material “was coming in from people we don’t usually get that stuff from.”

A Misinterpretation

In addition, he said, “some people misinterpreted what they read.”

The intelligence reports, combined with attention paid to the long-planned joint U.S.-Egyptian naval maneuvers, contributed to the appearance of renewed tensions. This occurred even though the naval battle group, centered on the aircraft carrier Forrestal, was at no greater than half-strength and lacked some of the most sophisticated equipment that played a key role in the April bombing.

Times staff writer James Gerstenzang in Los Angeles contributed to this story.