Some History From The 1980s -- Libya Was Warned By Italy Of An Impeding U.S. Attack In The 1980s

Libyan Leader Muammar Al Gaddafi

Italy Warned Libya of Bombing, Saved Qaddafi's Life
-- Bloomberg

Oct. 30 (Bloomberg) -- Former Italian Prime Minister Bettino Craxi warned Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi that the U.S. would bomb his country in 1986, saving the colonel's life, Libyan Foreign Minister Abdel Rahman Shalgam said today.

``Craxi sent a friend to warn that a raid would be coming in two days,'' Shalgam said both in a speech and again on the sidelines of a conference in Rome. ``I don't think this is any big secret.''

President Ronald Reagan ordered the bombing of Libya on April 14, 1986, to retaliate against the country's sponsorship of terrorist attacks against U.S. targets. Most of the U.S. bombs were dropped against Libyan military sites, though Qaddafi survived an attack on his compound at Bab al Aziziya.

Giulio Andreotti, who was Italy's foreign minister at the time, and Margherita Boniver, who was the foreign affairs chief of Craxi's Socialist Party, both confirmed Shalgam's comments, Ansa news agency reported.

The U.S. bombing of Tripoli and Benghazi in 1986 ``was an uncalled-for initiative, an error in international affairs,'' Andreotti told reporters, Ansa said.

Craxi, who died in Tunisia in 2000, denied U.S. aircraft permission to use Italian airspace, Boniver said, Ansa reported.

Read more ....

Update: How Gaddafi survived Operation "El Dorado Canyon" -- Counter Terrorism Blog

My Comment: Bottom line .... this tells us that in the 1980s Libya was (for Italy) more important as an ally than the U.S. I guess this explains why Italy was a basket case in the 1980s .... (Yes I know .... some can argue that it is still a basket case).

But there is one flaw in this argument. If the Libyans knew that the Americans were going to attack .... Libyan air defense would have had a field day while waiting for the planes to arrive. It did not happen. Hmmmmm .....