April 16, 2006
IT’S NICE TO SEE THEY’RE CELEBRATING TOO
Libya marks 20 years since US raids (Al Jazeera, April 15th, 2006)
Libya has commemorated the 20th anniversary of deadly US air raids on the country's two biggest cities.With Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's home as a backdrop, US singer Lionel Richie performed on Saturday in a concert on the anniversary of the raids that killed 40 in the North African country.
Earlier, at a conference on the attacks on Tripoli and Benghazi, a senior Libyan official damned the United States and said President George Bush was insane.
The United States "is a damned country, banished from divine mercy and deserving only of being cursed", deputy parliament speaker Ahmed Ibrahim said on Thursday.
You have to be a certain age to remember, after almost two decades of hand-wringing, negotiating, strategising, threatening, debating, pleading and overall cowering to terrorists, kidnappers and menacing thugs like Gaddafi , what a righteous and comforting relief it was when somebody finally showed the world that attacking America or Americans was an extremely dangerous thing to do. No one in the West, save Israel, had behaved that way in years. The left, of course, went absolutely ballistic.
Posted by Peter Burnet at April 16, 2006 7:13 PM"The left, of course, went absolutely ballistic." -- Yes, it was the icing on the cake.
i remember it clearly. qudaffi stained his caks over that one. too bad RMR didn't follow it up with more of the same. still, all in all, a good day in America.
Posted by: toe at April 16, 2006 8:43 PMHopefully Lionel sang "Louder Than Words," "Dancin' in the Ceiling," and "Just for You" for Muhammar.
Posted by: Kenny at April 16, 2006 8:53 PMI too remember it was a very well executed raid. Yes, Gaddafi got one very clear message right through his bedroom window.
We lost one Naval plane but the pilot survived uninjured, but captured. He was repatriated later.
Posted by: Tom Wall at April 16, 2006 9:59 PMWho can forget the Johnny Carson's monologue when he mentioned how France forbade the US planes to cross her airspace on the way to Libya.
Johnny commented that France had no objection to American planes traversing her airspace:
IN 1942-1945 ! ! !
Posted by: obc at April 16, 2006 10:47 PMDo I correctly remember that the French refused overflight rights for US bombers launched from Britan, and that the French Embassy in Tripoli was damaged (possibly by stray anti-aircraft missles, rather than bombs)?
Posted by: Mike Earl at April 16, 2006 10:52 PMMike: Yup. And American tourists boycotted Paris, as well. I remember a cartoon from the time, picturing a couple of bereted fellows gesticulating at each other, the caption reading: "Deprived of American tourists, Parisian waiters take to insulting each other."
Posted by: Ted Welter at April 17, 2006 12:21 AMF-111's from an airforce base in England.
Thank you, Mrs. Thatcher.
For what it’s worth the op was known as Eldarado Canyon. The main strike force consisted of F-111 F aircraft from the 48th Fighter Wing (The Liberty Wing) launching from RAF Lakenheath, Suffolk U.K. The Wing had to go the long way since the oh so helpful French denied overflight. In addition to the F-111 various Naval aircraft, mostly A-6 Intruders attacked coastal installations. While not knowing of any Naval losses the 48th did lose one F-111 from the 494th Fighter Squadron (The Panthers) with the loss of both the pilot and weapon system officer. Most of the video you see on Discover or the History channel is tape from the F-111’s Pave Tack pod. They usually show the attack on the airfield.
Posted by: billmil at April 18, 2006 10:21 AM