Eli Lake has a terrific report in the Washington Times concerning new captured documents from Libya. The documents reveal exactly who in the west was communicating with Col. Gaddafi’s regime what they were saying. Among the findings? Congressman Dennis Kucinich was looking for dirt on the Libyan rebels, through an intermediary, from one of Col. Gaddafi’s son. From Lake:
Another document found by Al-Jazeera inside the personal office of Abdullah al-Senussi, Libya’s intelligence chief, was a memo addressed to Col. Gadhafi’s son, Saif al-Islam, describing a conversation between an intermediary for the son and Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich, Ohio Democrat and outspoken critic of the military intervention in Libya since it was launched in March.
That document, according to Al-Jazeera, said Mr. Kucinich was asking for information aimed at discrediting the Libyan opposition, such as evidence of corruption and links to al Qaeda. The information requested by Mr. Kucinich, according to the report, was aimed at improving the Libyan regime’s image, defending Saif al-Islam from charges against him in the International Criminal Court, and building a case against NATO and the U.S. government in a court challenge to the war.
Mr. Kucinich issued a statement Wednesday on the report. “Al Jazeera found a document written by a Libyan bureaucrat to other Libyan bureaucrats,” he said. “All it proves is that the Libyans were reading the Washington Post, and read there about my efforts to stop the war. I can’t help what the Libyans put in their files.”
Lake also reports that former Assistant Secretary of State David Welch, who is now with Bechtel, offered advice to Gaddafi.
“A former U.S. diplomat advised the crumbling regime of Col. Moammar Gadhafi on how to counter its critics, according to documents found after rebels gained access to the regime’s intelligence ministry in Tripoli….The first set of documents purports to be notes of an Aug. 2 meeting between David Welch, a career U.S. diplomat who negotiated the normalization of ties between the United States and Libya during theGeorge W. Bush administration, and two senior regime officials,Abubakr Alzleitny and Mohammed Ahmed Ismail.
The English-language version of the Arabic news channel Al-Jazeera first reported the notes of that meeting at the Four Seasons Hotel in Cairo.
The notes show Mr. Welch recommended that the regime funnel any intelligence linking the rebels’ National Transitional Council and al Qaeda to the United States through contacts in Moroccan, Jordanian orIsraeli intelligence. The recommendation was part of public relations advice Mr. Welch purportedly gave the regime, according to the documents.
Mr. Welch also urged the Libyan officials to highlight the double standard of the Western nations attacking his regime while Syria escapes intervention.
While the documents say Mr. Welch suggested that Col. Gadhafi step down as leader of his country, according to Al-Jazeera, the notes of the meeting also say Mr. Welch suggested that the Libyan dictator still could retain some power.”
The full story can be found here.
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