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Politics : Liberalism: Do You Agree We've Had Enough of It? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: MJ who wrote (111840)	9/2/2011 11:14:23 PM
From: Hope Praytochange	1 Recommendation Respond to of 224729

Washington Says It Knew of Ex-Diplomat's Libya Meet WASHINGTON—A former senior State Department diplomat who met last month with two officials from the government of now-deposed Col. Moammar Gadhafi communicated with the Obama administration both before and after the meeting, according to U.S. officials. Libya's Revolution View Slideshow Alexandre Meneghini/Associated Press People in the rebel-held town of Benghazi celebrated the news Aug. 22 of the capture of Moammar Gadhafi's son Seif al-Islam. On Edge in Libya Track fighting and city control around the country. View Interactive Map: Regional Upheaval Track events day by day in the region. View Interactive More photos and interactive graphics Former Assistant Secretary of State David Welch met with the Libyans on Aug. 2 in Cairo and confirmed the meeting for the first time Friday. The encounter created controversy both in Washington and Libya, after the Arab satellite channel Al Jazeera published minutes of the meeting as described by the two Libyan officials, Fouad Abu-Bakr Al-Zleitny and Mohammad Ismaeel Ahmad. The minutes were obtained by Al Jazeera from the offices of the Gadhafi regime's intelligence services, which Libyan rebels overran last week. During the meeting, according to the minutes, Mr. Welch appeared advise the Libyan officials on how to withstand growing international pressure on Col. Gadhafi's regime. The State Department initially responded to the Al Jazeera report by stressing that Mr. Welch was acting in his private capacity and wasn't "carrying any messages" for the Obama administration. But subsequently, senior U.S. officials confirmed that Mr. Welch briefed the State Department on the Libyans' request for the meeting ahead of his trip to Egypt and provided a follow-up report afterwards. "We were aware that he was going," a senior U.S. official said. "I can't speak to exactly what he said, but he was in touch…both before and after." Mr. Welch, in a telephone interview Friday, denied he was seeking to aid the Gadhafi regime in any way or had acted on behalf of the former Libyan government or his current employer, Bechtel Corp. "Contrary to some accounts, I was not, and am not, acting on behalf of Gadhafi and his ex-regime, or anyone else for that matter," Mr. Welch said. "Any assertion to the contrary is preposterous and an insult to my record of public service." He added: "As to my motives, I believed then, and I believe now, that no effort should be spared to stop the loss of any more lives and to move to a new Libya. Other accounts of this meeting have been distorted and wrong." On its website, Al Jazeera published both the minutes it obtained and an English translation. Mr. Welch, according to these documents, advised the Gadhafi government to make "confidence building" gestures to the international community if it wanted better relations, including offering information on al Qaeda and other extremist groups. He also advised his interlocutors to help trace shoulder-fired-missiles that had gone missing from Col. Gadhafi's arms depots. According to the minutes, Mr. Welch suggested Col. Gadhafi would need to "step aside" in order for Libya to regain the trust of the international community, though he also said the longserving leader might be able to retain a role in the government. Mr. Welch served as the assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs during George W. Bush's second term and was a central player in efforts to improve U.S. relations with Libya. More Tripoli Files Show CIA Working With Libya With Libya's NTC in Place, Little Sign of Leading Mr. Welch helped broker a multibillion dollar settlement agreement between the Libyan government and the families of the victims of the 1988 bombing of a Pan Am jetliner over Lockerbie, Scotland. A Scottish court convicted a former Libyan intelligence official, Abdul Baset al-Megrahi, of executing the attack. Mr. Welch joined Bechtel in early 2009 as its regional vice president for Europe, Africa and the Middle East. In late 2008, Bechtel signed its first contract in Libya since the 1970s to build the 1,400-megawatt Al Khalij power plant near Col. Gadhafi's hometown, Sirte. A Bechtel spokesperson on Friday said in a statement: "Any comments or activities attributed to former Ambassador David Welch about the situation in Libya are of a personal nature and unrelated to Bechtel business activities."