“Russia Today” recalls the anniversary of the evacuation of American bases from Libyan territory with facts from Gaddafi’s negotiations with the Americans
Russia Today channel recalled the 54th anniversary of the evacuation of American bases from Libyan territory, thanks to the Al-Fateh Revolution of September led by the martyr leader Muammar Gaddafi, and his fellow Free Unionist officers, by publishing memories of a retired colonel in the US Air Force about the evacuation negotiations.
The Russian channel’s report reviewed an article by retired US Air Force Colonel Walter J. Bowen entitled “The Howells Years,” published in January 2008, 3 years before the February catastrophe and NATO raids.
In his article, the colonel described the closure of Hollis Air Base as “a sad day, especially since it has become invaluable to the United States over the years, and that it “secured a suitable refueling point for transportation and a forward operating site for bombers and Strategic Air Command tankers.”
The American colonel added, “80 miles from this base there was an artillery firing range in Al-Watiya, which had an area of 23 acres, and which was often used by fighter-bomber units stationed in Europe and elsewhere.”
He went on to say, “Hoyles served as a natural logistical starting point for the entire Middle East region, and was also a suitable location for many secret intelligence operations over the years.”
The retired colonel narrated the scenes of a clash that occurred between an American Air Force colonel named Daniel James and the martyred leader, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, who had arrived at Howells Base in August 1969, and their meeting in the last days of the base.
The American colonel pointed out that when James met Gaddafi, he was putting a gun in a holster hanging on his leg, and then a conversation took place between them, and Gaddafi was putting the handle on his gun and saying: “I have a 45-caliber pistol in my belt.”
He added, “He asked him to keep his hand away from the gun. If he had drawn this weapon, I would never have been able to reach my gun holster and respond.”
