Libyan-American Relations, 1951-1959: the Decade of Weakness
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LIBYAN-AMERICAN RELATIONS, 1951-1959: THE DECADE OF WEAKNESS by Hasan Karayam A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Public History Middle Tennessee State University December 2018 Dissertation Committee: Dr. Amy L. Sayward, Chair Dr. C. Brendan Martin Dr. Rebecca Conard Dr. Moses Tesi To the spirit of my pure mother who died while waiting for this moment. ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This study would not been possible without the support of my family, Sirte University, professors, Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU), and other institutions. First of all, I would like to express my deep gratitude to my parents for their unlimited support at all levels: to my mother, who died while encouraging and waiting on me for this moment, and to my father, who gave support to me to help me achieve my goals. Special thanks to my wife, who stood with me in every detail in this journey, who supported and encouraged me emotionally and psychologically. I must thank my university, Sirte University, which gave me a great opportunity by nominating me for a scholarship for a doctoral degree abroad so that I could return to enrich the university. Unfortunately, the events following the Arab Spring derailed our original plans, but my gratitude remains. My great gratitude goes to my dissertation committee members. I am in debt of acknowledgment to Dr. Amy Sayward for her invaluable support in every detail of my journey since the first meeting with her in May 2010 until this moment; thank you for your guidance, teaching, advice, full kindness, and sympathizing. I thank Dr. Rebecca Conard for her advice, guidance, and teaching, and my thanks go to Dr. Brenden Martin for his teaching, his listening, and his insightful comments. I also owe my thanks to Dr. Moses Tesi for his teaching, concern, and advice. My thankfulness also goes to all faculty and staff in the History and Political Science departments at Middle Tennessee State University throughout my presence at iii MTSU for guidance, consultation, administrative procedures, and financial support. My thanks extend to MTSU as an institution, including the James Walker Library staff, Albert Gore Sr. Research Center staff, and the staff in the College of Graduate Studies. I also wish to express my gratitude to the Libyan Center for Archives and Historical Studies (CALS) for hosting me as student in its Oral Division during my professional residency year—especially Dr. Taher Ahmed, director of CALS; Ismael Kharza, Director of the Oral Division; and Lily Abu Argyba, Director of Records—for their help in facilitating my work at CALS. My thanks go also to the National Archive staff in College Park, Maryland, and to the Dwight D. Eisenhower Library and Museum staff, especially Kevin Bailey, for their collaboration with me throughout fifteen days there. I am grateful to people both here and in Libya with whom I conducted interviews. I thank them for their testimony as witnesses to the period of this study, including veterans, politicians, and students. Finally, I would thank everyone, even if you only shared nice words or a smile with me during my journey. iv ABSTRACT This dissertation examines Libyan-American relations from 1951 until 1969, the period from independence until the rise of the regime of Muammar Qaddafi. It draws on research in archival collections at the U.S. National Archives in College Park, Maryland, and at the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library in Abilene, Kansas, in addition to oral histories conducted specifically for this study. Using these collections as well as secondary sources in both English and Arabic, the dissertation examines a time period that has been purposefully ignored in Libya and a subject that has received little academic attention. It argues that as Libya emerged from colonial rule under Italy, it faced great difficulties in attaining its diplomatic goals of attaining independence and improving the lives of its citizens. Ultimately, under the overall leadership of King Idris Sanusi, Libya did gain its independence, but that independence required advance concessions to both the United States and the United Kingdom to maintain military bases in the country that had been established during the Second World War. Once independent, Libya continued to struggle to define itself and its place in the world. As negotiations about permanent base agreements dragged in the early independence period, Libyan Prime Minister Mahmoud Muntasir skillfully used concerns about national sovereignty voiced by the Libyan parliament to delay and improve the base deal. He, and his successor—Mustafa Bin Halim—also sought to play British and American interests off one another as well as v to use Cold War anxieties about the Soviet Union to improve the level of aid provided to the new nation. In these ways, the Libyan government, despite its real weaknesses, played its hand well in the international arena. The discovery of oil began to fundamentally shift the calculus of the relations between Libya and the United States in the late 1950s, but those who have characterized the Sanusi regime as puppets of the Western states have fundamentally misunderstood the very real constraints and the excellent statecraft displayed by this new government. Ultimately, it is my hope that learning this history will empower the Libyan people, which is the focus chapter five. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE LIST OF FIGURES …………………………………………………… ix CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION……………….……………………… 1 CHAPTER II: THE HISTORICAL CONTEXT OF LIBYAN- AMERICAN RELATIONS …………………………………… 26 The Libyan-American War and Relations in the Nineteenth Century.………………………………………………… 31 The Second World War and U.S. Involvement in Libya………. 38 The U.S. Position after the War ………………………….……. 45 The Potsdam Conference, July 17-August 2, 1945…………….. 49 The U.S. Position through the Council of Foreign Ministers….. 51 The U.S. Position in the United Nations ……………………… 59 The U.S. Attitude toward Political Developments in Libya…… 66 CHAPTER III: LIBYAN-AMERICAN RELATIONS, 1951-1954…… 73 Bilateral Military Treaties: The Temporary Agreement of December 1951………………………………………… 73 Deliberations toward the Wheelus Field Agreement of 1954 … 86 Wheelus Field ………………………………………………… 110 The Military Assistance Agreement of 1957 ………………… 119 vii CHAPTER IV: EVALUATION OF LIBYAN-AMERICAN RELATIONS, 1955-1959 …………………………………………………… 123 Point Four Program …………………………………………… 123 U.S. Position on Libyan-Soviet Relations in 1955…………… 127 Eisenhower Doctrine, 1957…………………………………… 133 An Evaluation of U.S interests, 1957-1959 …………………… 138 U.S. Aid Channels …………………………………………… 149 Egyptian Influence …………………………………………… 153 Discovery of Oil ……………………………………………… 161 CHAPTER V: LIBYAN-AMERICAN RELATIONS, PUBLIC HISTORY, AND ORAL HISTORY ………………………………………… 168 The History of Oral History …………………………………… 169 Oral History Project …………………………………………… 175 Assessment of Libyan CLAS Experience……………………… 190 CHAPTER VI: CONCLUSION………………………………………… 196 BIBLIOGRAPHY ………………………………………………………… 200 viii LIST OF FIGURES PAGE Figure 1: Libyan Map including Tripolitania, Cyrenaica, and Fezzan ………… 27 Figure 2: Military Operations in Libya during World War II ………………… 39 Figure 3: Wheelus Field Map ………………………………………………… 114 Figure 4: Assigned Personnel at Wheelus ……………..………………………… 116 Figure 5: U.S. Commitments to Libya under Eisenhower Doctrine in 1957 … 138 Figure 6: Allocations to LRAC by Sectors ……………………… 151 Figure 7: Seventeen Oral History Research Areas Based on Language and Culture ………………………………………………………………. 172 Figure 8: Bannon’s Pledge Issued by His School on February 2, 1967 ……………182 ix 1 CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION Libyan-American relations are an exceptional case when viewed within the overall frame of U.S.-Middle Eastern relations, primarily because of the unique circumstances that followed World War II and its aftermath, especially as the Cold War started. Not only the time period but also the history of Libya gave these relations their special character. Additionally, this relationship and the history of it has been colored by the 1969 coup when General Muamar Gaddafi took over authority in Libya. He specifically aimed to distort the history of the preceding monarchical period in order to market himself and his ideology, which was influenced heavily by the Pan-Arab propaganda flowing from Gamal Nasser’s Egypt. Gaddafi’s revolution generated aggressive criticism against anything related to the monarchy, branding the king and his government as pro-Western puppets. This aggression carried over to the generations after 1969 and into the historiography on both the monarchy and Libyan-American relations. Professional historians in Libya avoided study of the period altogether, and the public became largely convinced by the official government line of hostility against both the previous Libyan leadership and the United States. With the fall of the Gaddafi regime, a reassessment of this political history became possible, and the challenges facing the Libyan people now make recovering this history essential to their future. 2 Due to the neglect of this subject and time period as well as the lack of academic freedom in Libya, I was motivated to re-explore Libyan-American relations, which was challenging given the deliberate ignoring and distorting of this subject in both written and oral histories. Subsequently, the dissertation seeks to correct some of the distortions and fill in some of the voids in the historical record. Additionally, it examines how oral