Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, March 8, 1990 TAG: 9003082013
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A/9 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
Marlin Fitzwater, chief spokesman for President Bush, said Wednesday that a plant at Rabta, about 60 miles south of Tripoli, apparently is producing poison gas.
U.S. officials said the plant was making limited quantities of mustard gas and nerve agents.
"Rabta is dangerous and becoming more so," Fitzwater said. "This points to the necessity for heightened international vigilance of Libyan procurement activities and for vigorous efforts to stop the operation of Rabta."
Fitzwater refused to exclude the possibility of a military strike to knock out the plant. "We don't rule out anything," he said.
However, Fitzwater also suggested the plant could be closed if foreign suppliers denied it the raw materials needed to produce chemical weapons.
"The international community should step up its efforts to deny Libya the ability to continue operating the plant," he said.
Chemical weapons are relatively cheap to produce and hard to detect. Libya is one of about two dozen countries considered capable of or actually producing poison gas.
The latest U.S. charges underscore the hostile relationship between the United States and Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi. Tensions reached a crisis point in 1986 when the Reagan administration ordered the bombing of Tripoli.
Fitzwater, asked what he meant by "vigorous action," said, "We aren't willing to speculate on what specific efforts, but nothing is ruled out."
He would not comment on the type or quantity of weapons being produced.
"Any amount is a major threat," he said.
Gadhafi's regime has "a history of terrorism activities and a history of erratic military behavior," Fitzwater said. "And therefore, that is the most immediate threat."
In 1988, the United States raised concerns about Rabta and persuaded West German companies and other foreign suppliers to stop providing technical assistance. U.S. officials said then that Libya had stopped work on Rabta before reaching full production but maintained an assembly line.
Fitzwater said production resumed recently, and West German politicians have said that Libya had produced enough gas for 1,000 artillery shells.
Fitzwater declined to discuss which countries were supplying chemicals to Libya.
"We certainly would urge all countries to survey their internal situation, inventory their chemical production facilities and to make their own judgments that they are not a source for any of these chemicals.
"We don't really know how the chemicals are getting there or where they are coming from," Fitzwater said.
by CNB