a given disclosure. When reports that Libyan "hit squads" had been dispatched to make an attempt on President Reagan's life surfaced in December 1981, New York Times columnist William Safire concluded that it was a White House ploy to publicize Muammar Qaddafi's "export of terrorism." No, replied Joseph Kraft in the Washington Post, the Reagan administration was too fearful of up- setting the planned withdrawal of Libyan troops from Chad to risk pub- licity that would anger Qaddafi.
A...