CLASH OVER THE MEDITERRANEAN : U.S. Tries to Cool Confrontation : Seeks Peaceful Ways to Disable Chemical Facility

WASHINGTON —  The Reagan Administration, seeking to lower the temperature of its confrontation with Libya, said Thursday that it is willing to discuss peaceful ways to disable the suspected chemical weapons plant near Tripoli without further military conflict.

Secretary of State George P. Shultz said that the United States remains determined to prevent Libya from producing poison gas, but he added that the Administration will pursue what may be a lengthy diplomatic process to bring more international pressure on Libyan leader Moammar Kadafi.

Other officials said the Administration hopes Kadafi will quickly back down and agree to dismantle the plant--an outcome one State Department official called “the best solution.” But the Administration is also willing to discuss proposals for a permanent inspection system under which Libya could use the plant for peaceful purposes, one official said. He said it is not clear whether an inspection system could be devised that would satisfy the Administration’s concerns, however.

Apparent Concern

The newly flexible tone of public and private comments on the chemical dispute appear to reflect some senior officials’ concern that Wednesday’s clash between U.S. and Libyan warplanes could touch off further escalation of the conflict.

“We’ve stirred up something without knowing how to control it,” one White House official said.

On Wednesday, officials disclosed, the State Department sent an unusual official message to Kadafi assuring him that the U.S. Navy jets that shot down two Libyan planes were acting in self-defense and emphasizing that the United States wants no further military confrontation.

The message, which was sent through the embassies of Belgium and the United Arab Emirates, did not link the aerial combat to the dispute over the chemical plant, a State Department official said. But several officials suggested that while the air battle was unexpected and not planned as part of the pressure campaign against Kadafi, it may have the effect of pushing the Libyan leader toward yielding on the chemical issue.

‘He Ought to Be Worried’

“The dogfight reminded him that the U.S. means it--that if he doesn’t back down, he’s going to get his butt kicked,” a senior American diplomat said. “He ought to be worried.”

Shultz, who talked to reporters aboard the Air Force jet that carried him to Paris for a chemical weapons conference, said that the United States will also raise the Libyan issue in Geneva at a multi-nation disarmament conference now going on--a step that could delay any other action for months.

The United States has already proposed a comprehensive ban on the production and stockpiling of chemical weapons at the conference.

Asked what the United States would consider an acceptable outcome of the chemical weapons dispute, Shultz said: “Obviously, if the facility were destroyed that would take care of the problem. That’s always possible.

“Completely Inadequate”

“Whether there is something else that can be done, we’ll see,” he said. “The Libyan proposals (to permit limited international inspection of the plant) so far have been completely inadequate. A one-time inspection doesn’t yield anything.

“There is a negotiation going on in Geneva, so I don’t think it’s appropriate for us to propose an ad hoc solution absent really working through the broader negotiations.”

A senior State Department official said later that Shultz’s reference to “an ad hoc solution” applies to possible safeguards to prevent the plant from being used for weapons production. He said that Shultz was not talking about the possibility of U.S. military action to knock out the facility.

Taking the matter to the Geneva conference would seem to preclude any U.S. decision on military action for some time, certainly until after President-elect Bush takes office Jan. 20.

Asked if the United States could wait for the Geneva talks to run their course, Shultz said that “in the meantime,” Washington would pursue diplomatic efforts, already under way, to persuade industrial nations to prevent their citizens or business firms from providing technical assistance to the Libyan project.

Bush Tough on Libya

A senior official who has worked with Bush said that there is no apparent pressure within the Administration to solve the chemical weapons problem before inauguration day. “One of the issues George Bush has been toughest on for the past eight years is Libya,” he said.

“Kadafi had some hopes for better relations with the Bush Administration,” the official added. “If he doesn’t back down on this issue, he’s going to lose that.”

Action at the Geneva conference would solve one awkward diplomatic problem that has complicated the U.S. effort: Under current international law, the Libyan plant is entirely legal.

A 1925 protocol, signed by Libya in 1971, prohibits the use of poison gas. But that measure does not ban manufacturing or stockpiling chemical weapons. The United States, the Soviet Union and a number of other nations possess war gases despite their pledge not to be the first to use them.

No Law Broken

U.S. officials, conceding that Libya has broken no international law, maintain that Kadafi should be prevented from obtaining poison gas because of the possibility that he might turn the chemicals over to terrorists or use them against his neighbors.

Shultz reiterated the U.S. position that Wednesday’s aerial combat had nothing to do with the dispute over the chemical plant. But he said that Kadafi’s decision to challenge U.S. warplanes “must show Libyan uneasiness about the fact that they have constructed a chemical weapons plant.

“They know the world community will be upset about it. . . . Their aggressive behavior in the air is an indication of their possibly guilty feeling,” he said.

Shultz said that the Libyan project would be “Topic A” during the Paris conference, scheduled to run Saturday through Wednesday. The conference was called to reinvigorate the 1925 protocol, which was eroded by Iraq’s regular--and effective--use of poison gas in its war with Iran.

Shultz said that he hopes to persuade other industrial nations--East and West alike--to accept the U.S. intelligence assessments of the Libyan facility, which Kadafi claims is a peaceful pharmaceutical plant.

Shultz was clearly miffed by the doubts that even U.S. allies like France and West Germany have expressed about the plant’s purpose.

Doyle McManus reported from Washington and Norman Kempster from Paris. Times staff writer Robin Wright, in Washington, contributed to this article.