Word: wheelus
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...million in U.S. aid has poured into Libya in the past eight years to help the young nation to its feet. There is a special reason for U.S. generosity: Libya's government, headed by its near-absolute monarch, King Idris I, permits the U.S. Air Force to operate Wheelus field outside Tripoli, the largest U.S. airbase outside the U.S., where 12,000 Americans are stationed, and 2,500 Libyans employed...
...support of Egypt, and required British forces to remain at their bases, Colonel Sadek proclaimed that it was the "servant of imperialism." In the first few days after the assault, his "Front" managed to blow up one section of the pipeline carrying oil from Tripoli's port to Wheelus Field, had bombs thrown at Barclays Bank and a small Jewish store. The Prime Minister himself protested to the Egyptian embassy. The colonel responded by smuggling 28 cases of automatic arms into the embassy, and (said a Libyan government communique later) "incited some persons to throw bombs inside Tripoli...
...allowed the British to maintain a major air base near Tobruk, and when Premier Nasser forced the British out of the Suez Canal, the British also moved in an armored division. So far, the U.S. has contributed $12 million in Point Four aid and for maintenance of the huge Wheelus Field air base near Tripoli. Wheelus Field, with its long runways, its 11,000 officers and men, is a key airfield in SAC's ring around Moscow...
...promptly dashed off a "night action" (most urgent) cable to Washington, pointing out that here was a real chance for the U.S. to make friends in the Arab world. Something of a miracle then happened: the State Department got the point. At Rhein-Main airport in Wiesbaden, Germany, at Wheelus Field in Tripoli, at Orly Field in Paris, U.S. airmen were suddenly alerted for special duty. Three days later, the first of 13 huge U.S. C-54s landed at Beirut's airport. Next morning Operation Hajj was under...
Libya's attraction for the U.S., Britain and France is chiefly strategic. Britain and France will be allowed to keep garrisons in Libya, and the U.S. its big Wheelus Field bomber base near Tripoli. But Libya's new leaders have shown that they do not want to be bottle-fed forever. "So far, they have made encouraging progress because they've asked for advice as well as aid," says a Western diplomat...