Cables show Libya pressed oil firms to reimburse terror costs

Cables show Libya pressed oil firms to reimburse terror costs

news.yahoo.com

LONDON (Reuters) – Libya's ruling family tried to coerce billions of dollars from Libyan and foreign oil companies, and its leader Muammar Gaddafi exhorted the United States to sow division in Saudi Arabia, leaked American diplomatic cables reveal.

One cable seen by Reuters, sent from the U.S. embassy in Tripoli, shows Gaddafi's government exerting heavy pressure on U.S. and other oil companies to reimburse Tripoli the $1.5 billion Libya had paid in 2008 into a fund to settle terrorism claims from the 1980s.

The amount was the initial payment in a planned $1.8 billion fund. The cable

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Even before Libya paid into the fund, Gaddafi, "who prides himself on being a shrewd bargainer, made it clear that he intended to extract contributions from foreign companies to cover the ... initial outlay," according to the April 2009 cable titled "GOL ratchets up pressure on oil companies to contribute to U.S.-Libya claims fund."

Senior Libyan officials met representatives of 15 oil producing and service companies -- including Marathon, ConocoPhillips, Occidental, ENI, Total , Wintershall, PetroCanada, Repsol and StatoilHydro -- to say they must contribute or Libya's National Oil Corporation (NOC) would be compelled to "reconsider our relationship with you," the cable says.

Prime Minister-equivalent al-Baghdadi al-Mahmoudi is cited as telling oil firms that if they did not comply, there would be "serious consequences."

This doesn't surprise me that the CIA was involve in this so call revolution in Libya. The oil companies were tired of this crap and asked for Obama to help them out. Hence why this was happening. Gaddafi in the end suffered the consequences.

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So let me get this straight...

Libya commits acts of terrorism...

The victims of which turn around and sue Libya for their involvement...

Libya, being an oil producer, then gets the oil companies to reimburse the victims?

Talk about robbing from Peter to pay Paul!

What this boils down to... oil companies therefore committed murder and acts of terrorism with Libya as their mercenary...

I normally wouldn't say something like this, but for the sake of the many people in Libya that don't deserve this, I hope we wake up tomorrow and hear that a sniper has ended the regime.

S&F OP

~Namaste

I'm wondering why people are surprised by this - why wouldn't Libya try to wrangle more money for oil to pay teh bill?

Where else do you think the money was going to come from? Gadaffi's private stash?? Who would be thick enough to think he was going to lose anything himself??!!