Thatcher Reportedly Gave U.S. Go-Ahead on Use of Jets as Early as Last Weekend

Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher agreed as early as last weekend to the use of British-based U.S. aircraft in the attacks on Libya, authoritative government sources said Tuesday.

Thatcher’s approval apparently came amid intense consultations between London and Washington that culminated in an hourlong meeting Saturday with Vernon A. Walters, the U.S ambassador to the United Nations, who conferred with allied leaders as a special envoy for President Reagan.

In an emotional defense of the American action, Thatcher told a crowded, clearly worried House of Commons on Tuesday that her consent was based on the belief that the United States has a right, under Article 51 of the U.N. Charter, to defend itself.

“It is inconceivable that I should refuse an American request to use their planes and their pilots to defend their people,” she shouted over the jeers of opposition members.

Britain Stands Alone

Britain, the only European country to back the U.S. action, was accused by some members nations of the European Communities of duplicity for failing to inform them of the U.S. raid plan when their foreign ministers met in emergency session at The Hague just hours before the attack.

Thatcher also came under criticism from political opponents at home, who argued that the raid would do little to stop Arab terrorism and would only make Britain a target.

The Liberal Party leader, David Steel, accused her of giving Washington a blank check in permitting the use of British bases. A former Labor leader, Michael Foot, shouted, “The worst way to deal with terrorism is to act like terrorists ourselves.”

Between 1,000 and 2,000 demonstrators gathered near 10 Downing Street, the prime minister’s residence, to protest the British cooperation with the United States. About 100 people were arrested.

Planes From Britain

The 18 F-111 fighter-bombers that attacked targets in the Libyan capital Tuesday and the KC-10 tankers that refueled them are attached to the 3rd U.S. Air Force, which is stationed at Royal Air Force bases in the British Midlands.

British television viewers watched Tuesday as the returning F-111s appeared one by one through a heavy dawn mist, landing at bases at Upper Heyford, 10 miles north of Oxford, and Lakenheath, about 75 miles northeast of London.

The U.S. planes based here are part of the American contribution to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s European defense. Under the terms of a 35-year-old Anglo-American agreement, they may be used in U.S. national operations if Britain approves.

Thatcher told Parliament: “The United States, after trying other means, has now sought by limited military action to induce the Libyan regime to desist from terrorism. This is in the British interest. It is why the government supports the United States action.”

Scourge of Modern Age

She called terrorism a scourge of the modern age, adding that “Libya has been behind much of it and was planning more.”

Thatcher, who denounced Israel as a violator of international law for its air attack on Palestine Liberation Organization camps near Tunis, Tunisia, last October, repeatedly stated her belief Tuesday that the United States had acted within the framework of Article 51.

She reportedly sought the legal advice of her attorney general, Michael Havers, and other lawyers before approving the use of British bases.

Thatcher told Parliament she had been persuaded by Reagan that the British-based F-111s would be capable of conducting a more precise raid than carrier-based aircraft with the U.S. 6th Fleet in the Mediterranean. She said he told her the planes would concentrate on specific targets known to be linked to terrorist activities, reducing the potential for large civilian casualties.

Reserves Right of Approval

Thatcher told Parliament she has reserved the right to question further U.S. action less clearly directed against terrorism.

The prime minister’s support for controversial U.S. action reflects in part the view of world affairs that the two conservative leaders share. Under Thatcher’s leadership, Britain was the first European ally to deploy U.S. medium-range missiles in 1983, the first to join Reagan’s Strategic Defense Initiative for space-based weapons and among the strongest supporters for Reagan’s tough stance before the Soviet-American arms talks were resumed last year in Geneva.

Foreign Office sources pointed to three additional reasons why Britain broke with its partners in the European Communities and supported the action against Libya:

--A woman police officer, Yvonne Fletcher, was killed two years ago by gunfire from the Libyan Embassy here, and this gave Britain first-hand experience with attacks sponsored by the Libyan government. The incident led directly to a break in Anglo-Libyan diplomatic relations, to a ban on the sale of military equipment to Libya and to strict controls on Libyans wishing to enter this country.

--The existence of what Foreign Office officials describe as fresh “ambiguous evidence” of Libyan financial and military support for the outlawed Irish Republican Army’s activities against the British in Northern Ireland.

--The so-called “Falklands factor,” a sense of British gratitude for U.S. support of Britain’s 1982 military action to recapture the Falkland Islands from Argentina.

‘We Owed Him One’

“We acknowledged we owed him (Reagan) one,” a Foreign Office official said.

In an hour of often heated parliamentary questioning on the government’s role in the attack, Thatcher implied that the absence of united European action to punish Libya with strong but peaceful measures had left the United States no alternative to armed retaliation.

Foreign Minister Geoffrey Howe reportedly warned at Monday’s meeting in The Hague that if there was worry about an armed U.S. attack, the Europeans had to prove there was another way.

Thatcher is expected to come under new pressure today in an emergency parliamentary debate on the Libya attack. She said she will reveal to opposition leaders the evidence that persuaded the government of Libyan involvement in terrorist attacks.