No Attack if Libya Relents, U.S. Says : Kadafi Must Reject Terrorism, Call Off Strikes, State Dept. Aide Declares

WASHINGTON — A ranking Administration official said Sunday that the United States would cancel its widely reported threat of a military strike against Libya if that country’s erratic leader, Col. Moammar Kadafi, called off his plans for new attacks against Americans and took other steps to end his support for terrorism.

At the same time, Deputy Secretary of State John C. Whitehead, who has access to intelligence reports, said Kadafi has picked out specific targets and assigned individual terrorists for dozens of planned attacks on Americans and others around the world.

Interviewed on the CBS-TV program “Face the Nation,” Whitehead outlined Washington’s conditions for withdrawing its threat of military action in retaliation for bomb attacks earlier this month on a Trans World Airlines jetliner and a West Berlin discotheque. Five Americans died in the two attacks, which the Administration blames on Kadafi.

Message for Europeans

Whitehead toured Western Europe in January in a largely unsuccessful effort to persuade allied governments to join the United States in imposing economic and political sanctions against Kadafi, and his message Sunday seemed to be directed as much to the Europeans as to Kadafi.

Asked if American use of force is inevitable, Whitehead said: “Not if he (Kadafi) changes his conduct. Not if he stops training terrorists, financing terrorists, supplying them with arms, supplying them with documents. As soon as he stops those actions, then we would certainly back away from our actions.”

But the United States refuses to talk to Kadafi, and U.S. officials have said they consider him a liar and place no credence in anything he says. So how, Whitehead was asked, could Kadafi let Washington know he accepted the conditions?

“Simply by calling off the actions that he is now planning,” Whitehead said.

Whitehead said the U.S. government has obtained information about Kadafi’s “future plans for literally dozens of other terrorist actions around the world. . . . The plans are all specific. They are specifically aimed at particular targets with people that have been enlisted to carry out the plans.”

He declined to reveal any additional information, although he implied that Americans are the primary targets. He said the Administration must react to Kadafi’s plans “to protect the lives of Americans which are in danger.”

Administration officials, speaking on the understanding that they would not be named, told many news organizations, including The Times, last week that military action was almost certain against Libya in retaliation for the TWA bombing April 2 and the April 4 bombing of a West Berlin disco popular with off-duty U.S. service personnel. But by Sunday, there had been no U.S. attacks, and officials were saying the situation remained fluid.

Carriers Out of Range

Two powerful naval battle groups, led by the aircraft carriers America and Coral Sea, which last month engaged Libyan forces in the disputed Gulf of Sidra, were put on alert last week, and by Friday they had taken up positions less than two days’ steaming time from the Libyan coast. But they have not yet been ordered to move into fighter-bomber range of Libya.

“The ships are still where they were,” Maj. Larry Icenogle, a Pentagon spokesman, said Sunday.

President Reagan’s hesitation in issuing the ultimate order raises the possibility that the Administration may be looking for a peaceful way out of the crisis. Several U.S. allies in Europe have warned that military force would only provoke more acts of terrorism.

Vice President George Bush, asked about the European concerns on NBC-TV’s “Meet the Press,” replied, “I don’t think we can be intimidated by a view like that.”

Trouble-Shooter on Tour

Nevertheless, veteran diplomatic trouble-shooter Vernon A. Walters, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, was in Bonn and Paris on Sunday, trying to ease the concerns of West German and French officials. He talked with British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher on Saturday and was due in Rome today for talks with Prime Minister Bettino Craxi.

Although there were unconfirmed media reports from London that Thatcher endorsed a retaliatory strike, West German and Italian officials publicly have counseled restraint.

Meanwhile, the Administration was coming under increasing criticism, including objections from some of its traditional supporters, for telegraphing a punch that it has not thrown.

Geoffrey Kemp, former Middle East specialist for Reagan’s National Security Council, said “this constant debating (of) every nuance of our policy in the newspapers . . . and then doing very little” is eroding U.S. credibility in Europe and the Arab world.

‘Certain War of Nerves’

Harold Brown, defense secretary in the Carter Administration, said it was “probably a mistake” to talk about possible military action, then added: “It does seem to me that there may be a certain war of nerves being carried on here. I hope it’s been thought through.”

Although Administration officials spoke freely last week about planned attacks, by the weekend some were blaming the press for creating expectations of imminent military action.

“I think the press is just getting out ahead of itself,” one senior Administration official said. “Everybody went through an orgy of speculation.”

Brown, asked on ABC-TV’s “This Week With David Brinkley” how the Carter Administration would have responded to a similar crisis, said, “I would hope that there would have been a lower level of rhetoric . . . but in the end, I think that the Carter Administration, like any administration, would have to respond to specific acts of terrorism.”

Bush said one purpose of U.S. military pressure on Libya is to show the Libyan people “what kind of ruinous image this (support of terrorism) is giving their country around the world.” Asked if the purpose of U.S. action was to encourage a Libyan insurgency against Kadafi, the vice president said, “I’d love to have that be the result.”

Meanwhile, Kadafi reiterated to journalists in Tripoli a report that he has moved foreign workers, including Americans, into facilities that he considers targets for U.S. air raids. But Whitehead scoffed at the report.

“I don’t think there’s any truth to the story,” Whitehead said. “It’s just another one of his claims. . . . I believe it would not affect the (U.S.) plans.”