The 1986 Bombing of Libya

How many nations have been attacked by the United States attacked, say, in the past 50 years alone? Should we count?! I think we shall see why they do that first. There're a number of reasons for that:

1) When the Second European War, which some like to call it the Second World War!, ended (We'll get to that in another post) in 1945, most of Europe had been turned to ruble. It was the US that assisted them with the Marshal Plan to rebuild their countries and make it back to Europe. The Marshall Plan was a sort of financial assistance which helped the devastated countries to get back on their feet. The US ,then, thought: Why don't we do more of this around the world?! We can make more money! We encourage the nations to fight each other. We not only sell, at times to both sides, weapons, but also will help them to rebuild their countries through long-term and tedious loans, after the war ends! 

2) Oliver Stone once said in one of its movies that war is an $B 80 industry in the US. It shall be ongoing to keep the wheels of the economy rolling. There're barely any other businesses in the US which could generate that much revenue. Perhaps it's correct to say there's none! Automobiles?! Except for Tesla which has made significant progress in the past few years, the other American automakers are doomed. Not to mention that Tesla's joy of sitting on the top seems to be ending soon when the flow of Chinese EVs is directed to North America and Europe. Aircraft. Not bad but Boeing had a major issue 

3) American society is a troubled one. More than many countries that you can imagine. Despite being known as the Land of Opportunities or the Land of Plenty, there are lots of issues in its fabric. Racial tensions, drugs, unemployment, homelessness, political division, you name it. It's not that other countries do not have these problems. War helps the governments to conceal the internal issues and distract the public. 

The Jeffry Epstein scandal has many worries that sooner or later they might get exposed and have to face the trail. The disgraced Royal Family is for sure one of them although this is not the first time they face humiliation and shame. The so-called Prices of Wales used to sleep with every Tom, Dick and Harry while she was married to the then Prince Charles! Now the son of the past Queen has been stripped of his title and shamed, although these animals are so filthy that they don't feel ashamed! It also seems that many other people were his associates and they're afraid that the truth will be told. What's better than a war with all American propaganda to make people forget about that?! 

The Plaque about the F-117's mission in the town of Tonopah in Nevada. I took this during my first visit 

With that said, we go back to 1986, almost 40 years ago because it was in April of that year when Ronald Reagan ordered Operation El Dorado Canyon after the Congress had been consulted and practices had taken place. This operation ordered American bombers fly from for missions over The Madman of Mediterranean's country, Libya! That was the nickname Reagan had given Qaddafi. The interesting thing is neither of the countries on the north side of the sea allowed American planes to use their air space! That resulted in extra fuel and longer mission time. The operation was in retaliation of the recent terrorist and terrorist supporting activities of Libya in Europe and everywhere else and was considered quite successful. The Americans lost only one plane which resulted in two casualties and despite the success, Qaddafi remained in power. This, as the date shows, was way before the operations in Iraq and the US did not have any plans to use ground forces.One of the interesting things about this operation was the fact that the US Air Force intended to use F-117 Stealth jets for the first time but the decision was changed and they did not appear in the skies until Operation Desert Storm (Or as the Iraqis called it at the time Operation Westerrn Bandits in Arabian Desert which was a stupid but funny name change!). The F-117s were stationed in Tonopah at the time and they were kept there secretly for another few years. Another proof that war is a big business in the US!

(Photo, top: An F-111 fighter bomber in a base in Britain before the mission. The plane was officially retired 10 years after this)