“
ANNOUNCER: We interrupt our regular scheduled programming to bring you this special NBC News Report - Libya Invasion Morning Report.
BROKAW: Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, I’m Tom Brokaw, NBC News in New York and here’s the latest situation as we now know it on the North African nation of Libya. As you know, it has been the site of American military counter-strikes against Libyan naval forces and defenses and, just this morning, at around 1:30 a.m., was invaded by a ‘multi-national force,’ as it has been described, the large bulk of that force being over ten thousand American troops: that includes marines, and apparently airborne troops as well, and about 350 troops from the United Kingdom, France, West Germany and Italy.
The forces were sent there by President Bush from numerous bases around the Mediterranean, including military installations in Spain, in Sicily and Cyprus. Libya is a North African nation on the Mediterranean coast that has been in the control of a socialist dictatorship under military leader Muammar Gaddafi ever since 1969, where he deposed the king in a military coup.
At this time, we do not know if there are any casualties on either side; there have been
reports of casualties, however, both from the Pentagon and from Cuba; the Cuban government is now saying that a team of Cuban surveyors working on the refurbishment of an airport were attacked by, and I quote: “yankee invaders,” and apparently several of the Cubans and Libyan construction workers at the scene were killed.
Just earlier, at around 6:30 a.m. Eastern Time, President Bush came into the briefing room of the White House to announce the US action against Libya, and he also explained the reasons for it. Let’s listen to some of what he had to say:
BUSH: We have taken this decisive action for three specific reasons. The first, and most overriding reason is to protect our interests, and the interests of the free world, in the Mediterranean region. Secondly, to snuff out further chaos in the region, and third, to assist in the restoration of conditions of liberty, law and order, and of proper government institution to the Libyan state, where a group of violent Leftist thugs under the iron fist of Premier Gaddafi support violence and terror by groups such as the Irish Republican Army, the Red Brigades in Italy, who just two years ago murdered the Italian Prime Minister, and the Palestinian Liberation Organization.
BROKAW: We are going to John Palmer, our Washington Correspondent, live from the White House for some more information on the ongoing Libya situation.”
-NBC News Special Report: Libya Invasion Morning Report, broadcast 30 October, 1981
"Saddam Hussein, although supported by the US in his war against Iran, was outraged that a fellow Pan-Arabist comrade, one strongly influenced by the ideals of Arab Socialism and Ba'athism, was invaded by the United States and western world. Although he continued receiving United States aid in his war against the Iranian government, Saddam vented his furor in private, and many members of his cabinet and family began looking into retribution."
-Excerpt from ‘91: The Year That Changed The World, recipient of the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature, 2001
“An anti-war protest outside the White House begun this morning… when it started it had approximately 60 men, women and children in attendance, criticizing the United States’ military excursion in Libya. Six hours later… the number of those participating outside the gates of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is closer to 10,000. Other protests have been reported in the cities of New York, Chicago and San Francisco.”
-CBS Evening News, 31 October, 1981
“THE ONLY BUSH I TRUST IS MY OWN!”
-Sign held by a drunken Jello Biafra at a San Francisco peace protest, 31 October, 1981
“
SHOULD BORK BE OUR GOVERNOR?
He was once a hard-line socialist, before, in his words, he “grew a brain.” He was once Solicitor General, and it turned out he was a crook, firing Archibald Cox after Elliot Richardson and William Ruckelshaus refused to. His views on anti-trust laws in his seminal 1978 thesis
The Antitrust Paradox was reportedly even supported and shared by the late President Reagan. But does any of that experience qualify him to govern the great state of Pennsylvania?
There’s no question that Bork can attract a crowd. His Reagan-esque campaign boomed out of his calls for an election after former Governor Thornburgh resigned after allegations of bribery and corruption (published in this very paper) and since then, he has never looked back, with his special brand of pugnacious conservatism extremely popular in the state sent reeling from the assassination of President Reagan and his current approval ratings neck-and-neck with that of his Democratic challenger, the former Auditor General Bob Casey.
Many papers and journalists all around America have decried Bork’s campaign, mostly pointing out his controversial (albeit reluctant) role in the “Saturday Night Massacre.” Indeed, Casey has spent the last two months running on an anti-Bork platform, and little else. Many a Pittsburgher has seen the constant attack ads on television portraying Bork as an axe murderer, as have we. Such portrayal mildly bemuses the Judge; “I get a little tired of it being portrayed as the only thing I ever did,” Judge Bork once said to journalists for the Post-Gazette about the role he held during a critical moment in the Watergate scandals.
However, to choose the high ground, a place this publication always prefers to be, let us judge Robert Bork on is virtues. As stated earlier, his works as a scholar on antitrust arguing that consumers benefit from corporate mergers and that antitrust law should focus on consumer welfare rather than on ensuring competition, has been believed to have shifted many members (and prospective members) of the Supreme Court’s approach to antitrust law. His role in the firing of Archibald Cox, although wrong, was done reluctantly, and an action he did only out of trust and a wish for unity with the President.
It is important for the next Governor to not only have administrative experience, but to also have the mature judgment and discretion to administer those responsibilities in a fashion that will serve the citizens of the Keystone State, from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia. Robert Bork, love him or hate him, has repeatedly demonstrated that he does have those qualities. After all, he is as deserving as anyone of forgiveness for his past transgressions.
Which is why, with only two days until the election and counting, this publication, the journalists, editors, but above all; the people of Pittsburgh - after a tenacious turnover of all of his traits and talents - have decided that Robert Bork should be our Governor.”
-Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Front Page Editorial, 1 November, 1981
“DARRELL WALTRIP BEATS HARRY GANT BY .91 SECONDS, GAINS 10TH WIN AT THE AMERICAN 500”
-NASCAR on CBS, 1 November, 1981
“INDEPENDENCE!: 349 YEARS OF IMPERIAL RULE TO AN END”
-Outlet, 1 November 1981
“MARINES LAND IN SIRTE, REBEL LIBYAN FORCES TAKE TOBRUK”
-CNN news ticker, 2 November, 1981
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
United States gubernatorial elections were held on November 3, 1981 in the states of
New Jersey,
Pennsylvania and
Virginia, and in the territory of the
Northern Mariana Islands. All seats were open, and all seats resulted in zero net change for both parties.
Of special note in the election cycle was the
Pennsylvania special gubernatorial election, 1981, which was open after the resignation of sitting Governor
Dick Thornburgh in light of the
Abscam Scandal. It was held between between Republican former
Attorney-General Robert Bork and Democratic former
Auditor General Bob Casey. The campaign was given somewhat large attention by media, especially about the controversial campaign of Bork, who had previously been a key figure in the
Saturday Night Massacre.
Despite a fierce campaign against him, Bork closely managed to defeat Casey in a close election, attributed to Bork’s very narrow victory in
Allegheny County. The election would kickstart
Bork’s political career, and have his voice heard and well-known in congress as a
Reaganite Conservative.
(
Accessed from Nupedia, the Online Encyclopedia, 2018)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“GOV. THORNBURGH FOUND “NOT GUILTY” ON ALL BUT TWO CHARGES, GIVEN TWO YEARS’ SENTENCE IN BIZARRE COURT CASE”
-New York Post, 5 November, 1981
“Well Shane, why do you think he got such little time?
-Pardon?
Why do you think he got such little time, you know, in th-
-Uh… I’m not sure. I mean, I’m pretty sure he was really popular… with, you know, the people, and they were unwilling to sentence him for much longer.
Yeah… because it said the jury deliberated for, what? 6 hours?
-Yeah, 6 hours...
So it very obviously wasn’t concise, there was plenty of dissent.
-Heh. Dissent. Love that word.
Yeah, don’t we all?”
-Excerpt from FaceSmash Politics (Episode: “Episode Six: SCANDAL!!!”), released September 30, 2017
“SOVIET SUB RETURNED AFTER RUNNING AGROUND IN SWEDISH WATERS”
-The Washington Post, 5 November, 1981
“Fucking pinko bastards! This is why we don’t trust the fucking squareheads!”
-Overheard statement by Secretary of State Alexander Haig, 6 November, 1981
“REBEL/US RAIDS ON TRIPOLIS, BENGHAZI, TOBRUK, MISRATA, SABHA”
-CNN, 7 November, 1981
“EYSKENS OUSTED, CHRISTIAN DEMOCRATS FORM WEAK COALITION”
-Het Laatste Nieuws, 8 November, 1981
“None of us really understands what's going on with all these numbers”
-Director of the Office of Management and Budget David Stockman (R-MI-4), quoted in The Atlantic, 10 November, 1981
“...Yes, Dave. I read your article in The Atlantic.
-What did you think?
Well, to be completely honest, I think you’re right. I don’t like to speak ill of the dead, nor of their beliefs and wishes… [beat] but I agree with a majority your opinions in that j’accuse you gave.
-Y-yeah, we’re simply deferring massive taxes unfairly and we could be putting huge debt burdens on future generations.
Right. Right you are.”
-Conversation between President George Bush and Director of the Office of Management and Budget David Stockman, 11 November, 1981
“COLUMBIA RETURNS TO SPACE”
-The New York Times, 12 November, 1981
“GADDAFI CALLS FOR RESISTANCE, MÉDECINS SANS FRONTIÈRES EXPRESS CONCERNS OVER CIVILIAN CASUALTIES, REPORTED HIGH, US AIR FORCE DENIES”
-Le Monde, 13 November, 1981
“We are just getting in reports that Northern Irish MP Robert Bradford has been shot while at a political event in Belfast…”
-BBC Radio 4, 14 November, 1981
“These goddamned filthy papists are literally murdering the people of Ulster! If we do not act now with the means necessary the taigs will surely murder us all.”
-Overheard statement by Member of the European Parliament Ian Paisley to a masked Third Force member, 15 November, 1981
“This is surely a year of terror… a year of assassinations and lead.”
-Quotation from Pope Gregory XVII, 15 November, 1981
“In the name of Allah, the beneficent, the merciful…
Citizens, surely this will be the last opportunity for me to address you. The cowboy Air Force has bombed the majority of the radio towers. For twelve years, or was it longer, I can’t remember… I did all I could to give people houses, hospitals, schools, and when they were hungry, I gave them food. I even made Benghazi into farmland from the desert.
I did all I could to help people understand the concept of real democracy, where people’s committees ran our country. But that was never enough, as some told me, even people who had 10 room homes, new suits and furniture, were never satisfied, as selfish as they were they wanted more.
They told Americans and other visitors, that they needed “democracy” and “freedom,” never realizing it was a cut-throat system where “the biggest dog eats the rest,” but they were enchanted with those words, never realizing that in America, there was no free medicine, no free hospitals, no free housing, no free education and no free food, except when people had to beg or go to long lines to get soup.
No matter what I did, it was never enough for some, but for others, they knew I was the son of Gamal Abdel Nasser, the only true Arab and Muslim leader we’ve had since Salah-al-Deen, when he claimed the Suez Canal for his people, as I claimed Libya, for my people, it was his footsteps I tried to follow, to keep my people free from colonial domination – from thieves who would steal from us.
[sigh]
My words do not have bitterness but disappointment. Given these facts, the only thing left for me is to say to workers: I am not going to resign.
Placed in a historic transition, I will pay for loyalty to the people with my life. And I say to them that I am certain that the seed which we have planted in the good conscience of thousands and thousands of Libyans will not be shriveled forever.
Workers of my country: I want to thank you for the loyalty that you always had, the confidence that you deposited in a man who was only an interpreter of great yearnings for justice, who gave his word that he would respect the law of nature and the law of Allah, and did just that. So, there is no alternative for me, I must make my stand, and if Allah wishes, I shall die by following His path, the path that has made our country rich with farmland, with food and health, and even allowed us to help our African and Arab brothers and sisters.
The people must defend themselves, but they must not sacrifice themselves. The people must not let themselves be destroyed or riddled with bullets, but they cannot be humiliated either.
Workers of my country, I have faith in the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya and its destiny. Other men will overcome this dark and bitter moment when treason under the two-faced
djinn that is Comrade El-Hariri seeks to prevail. Go forward knowing that, sooner rather than later, the great palm-lined avenues of Tripoli will open again where free men will walk to build a better society.
Long live the Great Socialist People’s Libyan Arab Jamahiriya! Long live the Arabic and African people! Long live the workers of Libya!
These are my last words, and I am certain that my sacrifice will not be in vain, I am certain that, at the very least, it will be a moral lesson that will punish felony, cowardice, and treason.”
-Muammar Gaddafi’s final address to the Libyan people, broadcast 16th November, 1981
...
