Kadafi Defends Role in Training, Backing Terrorists

WASHINGTON —  Libyan leader Moammar Kadafi said in an interview broadcast Thursday that he accepted responsibility for training and supporting terrorists but defended his government’s role by describing the underground forces as “people who are fighting for their independence.”

Kadafi called President Reagan “insane” and said he expects another U.S. air raid on Libya’s capital, Tripoli.

The Libyan leader, who has moved from one spot to another in Libya after an April air raid by U.S. warplanes struck his headquarters, was interviewed in the coastal town of Sirt on Tuesday by David Hartman of ABC’s “Good Morning America.”

“If supporting the struggle of people for liberation is terrorism, then we’re responsible for such acts,” Kadafi said after Hartman asked: “Do you deny that your government does not support terrorism?”

Kadafi said Libya “has trained fighters in Zimbabwe and the fighters of SWAPO (the Southwest Africa People’s Organization), and we train the fighters of the Palestinian people, the Palestine Liberation Organization.”