The World - News from Feb. 5, 1988

Italy will consider accepting the 72 American jet fighters being evicted by Spain, but the North Atlantic Treaty Organization must make the final decision on where they are based, U.S. and Italian defense officials said. Defense Secretary Frank C. Carlucci and Valerio Zanone, Italy’s defense minister, said the Air Force F-16s should remain in Europe but indicated there was no commitment to base them in Italy. They said no official request has been made to Italy. “This is not a question of us asking and another country giving,” Carlucci told a Rome news conference. “That is not the way NATO conducts business. It’s not a unilateral issue . . . it’s a NATO issue.”