Americans offered Muammar Gaddafi aid: Reports
Former Libyan Dictator Col. Muammar Gaddafi was in power for 42 years, from 1979 to 2011.
An eclectic group of Americans saw a rare business opportunity in Muammar Gaddafi's demise, offering to lobby for the Libyan dictator, The New York Times reported.
Among those who promised to help access billions of dollars in frozen Libyan assets by helping Gaddafi were a Washington terrorism expert, a former CIA officer, a Republican operative, and a Kansas city lawyer.
They all promised to help arrange Gaddafi's exit in exchange for $10 million.
Neil C. Livingstone, the terrorism specialist, told the Times that he helped put the deal together after hearing that Gaddafi's son, Seif al-Islam, was interested in an exit strategy for the family.
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According to the Times, Gaddafi was killed before the Treasury granted them the license they needed to accept payment from Libya.
“We were not an eleemosynary organization,” Livingstone said.
According to the Times:
Mr. Livingstone, said he had long been a vocal critic of Colonel Qaddafi and was briefly jailed by his government on a visit to Libya in the 1970s. The goal of the consulting deal, he insisted, was not to save Colonel Qaddafi but to prevent a bloodbath in Libya by creating a quick way out for the ruler and his family.
Livingstone was hoping to be Montana's Republican nominee for governor, Newser reported.
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