I wish to recognize the assistance and support of several individuals and groups who aided me in the preparation of this work. I am particularly grateful to four accomplished historians, valued colleagues, and dear friends: Professor Craig L. Symonds of the Department of History at the U.S. Naval Academy, whose invaluable lessons on researching and writing history (which I learned as a midshipman) greatly influenced this endeavor; Dr. Edward J. Marolda, senior historian at the Naval Historical Center, who entrusted me with writing an illustrated history of the confrontation between the United States and Libya and provided valuable advice and direction during the preparation of that work (which is titled “Swift and Effective Retribution”: The U.S. Sixth Fleet and the Confrontation with Qaddafi); Lt. Comdr. Thomas J. Cutler, USN (Ret.), my former colleague at the U.S. Naval Academy and Walbrook Maritime Academy, who encouraged me to follow up the earlier work with a book-length history; and Professor Earnest S. Tucker of the Department of History at the U.S. Naval Academy, who greatly enhanced my knowledge and understanding of the history of the Middle East and who on several occasions has graciously allowed me to share my work on Libya with his midshipmen.
I owe a special debt of gratitude to several friends and colleagues who reviewed the manuscript and offered constructive criticism and helpful suggestions. They include Professors David F. Appleby, Thomas E. Brennan, Nancy W. Ellenberger, John G. Kolp, David P. Peeler, Thomas Sanders, Brian VanDeMark, Lt. Kylan Jones-Hoffman, USN, and Capt. Chris Morton, USMC, all of the Department of History at the U.S. Naval Academy; Ms. Barbara M. Manville of the Nimitz Library, U.S. Naval Academy; Comdr. Richard J. Cassara, USN (Ret.) and Mr. John Morrow, both of Walbrook High School-Uniform Services Academy; Professor James C. Bradford of the Department of History, Texas A&M University; Mr. Roy A. Grossnick and Comdr. Michael S. Lipari, USN (Ret.), both of the Aviation History Branch at the Naval Historical Center; and Dr. William Armstrong of the Naval Air Systems Command.
Since I began studying U.S. military operations against Libya, the dedicated professionals at the Naval Historical Center have provided me with a steady supply of information, materials, and support. These individuals include Dr. Dean C. Allard and Dr. William S. Dudley, successive directors of naval history; Dr. Robert J. Schneller, Mr. Robert J. Cressman, and Mr. Curtis A. Utz of the Contemporary History Branch; Mr. Todd Baker, Mr. Steven D. Hill, Ms. Gwendolyn J. Rich, and Ms. Judith A. Walters of the Aviation History Branch; Comdr. Diana Cangelosi, USN, Ms. Sandra Russell, Mr. Morgan I. Wilbur, Ms. Wendy Leland, Mr. Charles C. Cooney, and JO1 Eric S. Sesit, USN, of the Naval Aviation News Branch; Mr. Bernard F. Cavalcante, Ms. Kathy Lloyd, Ms. Judith Short, Mr. John Hodges, Ms. Regina T. Akers, and Ms. Ariana A. Jacob of the Operational Archives Branch; OSCS Rashad W. Shakir, USNR, FOIA coordinator; Ms. Ella W. Nargele, information security specialist; Mr. John C. Reilly and Mr. Ray Mann of the Ships’ History Branch; and Ms. Tonya Montgomery of the Navy Department Library.
The following individuals and organizations furnished important information and materials: Adm. Frank B. Kelso II, USN (Ret.); Ms. Cate Sewell of the Ronald Reagan Library; the information and privacy coordinator at the Central Intelligence Agency; the Archives Section of the Marine Corps Historical Center; headquarters, U.S. Air Forces in Europe; the Nimitz Library at the U.S. Naval Academy; the Albin O. Kuhn Library at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County; the McKeldin Library at the University of Maryland, College Park; Mr. Bob Lawson of the Tailhook Photo Service; Mr. Hill Good-speed of the National Museum of Naval Aviation; the Photo Archives Department at the U.S. Naval Institute; the Department of Defense Still Media Records Center; the Still News Photo Division at the Navy Office of Information; and the National Archives Still Pictures Branch.
Most important I wish to thank my wife, Julie, and sons, Michael and William. Without their encouragement, patience, love, and support I could not have completed this significant undertaking.
Libya
Central Intelligence Agency
Prologue: The Air Battle Near Tobruk
“Bogeys have jinked back at me for the fifth time. They’re on my nose now, inside of twenty miles.”1
“Master arm on. Master arm on. Centering up on the T.”
“Bogeys have jinked back into me again. Sixteen miles. Centering the dot.”2
“Fourteen miles. ‘Fox one’! Fox one!”3
“Aw, Jesus!”
“Ten miles. He’s back on my nose! Fox one again!”
“Six miles. Six miles.”
“‘Talley two’! Talley two! Eleven o’clock high. They’re turning into me!”4
“Five miles. Four miles.”
“Okay . . . Got a missile off.”
“Good hit! Good hit on one!”
“Roger that. Good kill! Good kill!”
“I’ve got the other one.”
“Select ‘Fox two’! Select Fox two!”5
“All right, Fox two!” . . .
“Shoot him!”
“I don’t got a tone!”6
“Lock him up! Lock him up!”
“Shoot him! Fox two!”
“I can’t! I don’t have a fucking tone!”
“Good kill! Good kill!”
“Good kill!”
“Pilot ejected.”
“Okay. Let’s head north. Head north.”
“Let’s go down low, on the deck. Unload, five hundred knots. Let’s get out of here!”
“We’re showing two good chutes in the air here.”
“Roger that. Two Floggers. Two Floggers splashed.”7
THIS FRENETIC DIALOGUE between American airmen was captured by the recording equipment in their fighter aircraft. It describes vividly the air battle that took place between two U.S. Navy F-14 Tomcats and a pair of Libyan MiG-23 Floggers on 4 January 1989 in the noonday sky over the central Mediterranean Sea. The entire engagement—from the moment the Floggers left their base in Libya until the Tomcats shot them down—lasted about seven and a half minutes. The combat occurred just sixteen days before the end of Ronald Reagan’s presidency.
At the start of the new year 1989, Ronald Reagan and Muammar al-Qaddafi were engaged in a process that had become all too familiar during the previous eight years. Typically it involved the following progression: first an underlying controversy, then an escalating war of words, and finally a demonstration of American military power. On three previous occasions the process had culminated in hostilities. There were important differences between this confrontation and those of 1981 and 1986, however. This time the controversy did not involve an illegal territorial claim, subversion, or terrorism.8 It concerned the likelihood that Libya was developing the capacity to produce chemical weapons. This time the military action did