Tripoli and Benghazi Bombing

Following the deadly 1986 bombing of a Berlin nightclub, President Ronald Reagan accused Libya of planning the attack and ordered a “counterterrorist” military mission. In a controversial operation, U.S. planes bombed Libya, hitting the cities of Tripoli and Benghazi. It was the first time the United States had bombed another country to, as Reagan officials announced, preempt terrorist acts.

Relations between the United States and Libya had been strained long before the air strike. In March 1986, U.S. Navy bombers destroyed two Libyan patrol boats in the Gulf of Sidra in a brief exchange of fire. Less than a month later, a knapsack packed with nails and explosives detonated in the crowded West Berlin discotheque La Belle, a popular nightspot for American soldiers. The April 5 blast killed two U.S. soldiers and a Turkish woman and injured more than 200 people—62 Americans among them.

Reagan announced in a televised news conference on April 9 that the United States suspected Libyan participation in the bombing and that the U.S. military was prepared to attack if evidence directly linking Libya to the attack was found. Reagan also called Libyan president Muammar el Qaddafi the “mad dog of the Middle East.” On April 14, Reagan announced both that the U.S. government had irrefutable evidence that the Libyan government had been behind the La Belle attack and that he had ordered a massive bombing raid on Tripoli and Benghazi.

American planes flew from aircraft carriers and U.S. bases in Great Britain to attack their targets, hitting Qaddafi's home and headquarters, a naval academy, and air bases in Benghazi. The planes, reportedly by accident, also hit a residential neighborhood in Tripoli and a row of houses in Benghazi. At least 15 people were killed in the raid, including Qaddafi's infant daughter. Several Tripoli farms were also mistakenly hit, and farmers lost a great deal of livestock. One Libyan farmer told The New York Times, “Tell Reagan thank you very much for killing all my chickens.”

During the attack, Libyan forces shot down one U.S. F-111 bomber, killing the two crewmen on board. All Arab nations condemned the U.S. strike, as did many western European countries. The U.S. planes were forced to fly a circuitous route because France refused to allow the bombers into its airspace.

Well over a decade later, a German court convicted a former Libyan diplomat and three accomplices for their roles in the La Belle bombing. Prosecutors in the 2000 trial also revealed the evidence that had led the Reagan administration to attack Libya, presenting incriminating radio messages sent between Tripoli and the Libyan embassy in East Berlin. A message sent on the night of the La Belle bombing read, “Expect the result tomorrow morning. It is God's will.” Another, sent hours after the bombing, reported, “at 1:30 am, [Page 587]one of the acts was carried out with success, without leaving a trace.”