Posted on 03/24/2011 3:35:34 PM PDT by Tailgunner Joe
Moamer Kadhafi's aides in 2009 demanded US firms make huge payments to Tripoli to help foot its $1.5-billion settlement for Lockerbie bombing victims or risk losing lucrative contracts in Libya, The New York Times reported Thursday. ....
The extraordinary request by the Kadhafi regime and the Times report highlight Libya's culture of corruption and political patronage that has swelled since 2004, when the United States re-opened trade relations with Tripoli and multinationals scrambled to exploit Libya's vast oil reserves.
Kadhafi and sons manipulated US firms eager to operate in the North African nation, reportedly amassing a multi-billion-dollar stash that has helped the embattled regime stay in power, even as Western airstrikes pound Libyan forces and rebels mount a challenge to Kadhafi's four-decade rule.
"Libya is a kleptocracy in which the regime -- either the Kadhafi family itself or its close political allies -- has a direct stake in anything worth buying, selling or owning," one State Department cable read.
Business interest in Libya surged in 2008 when Tripoli reached a settlement over the country's role in the 1988 Pan Am bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland.
The Times said at least a dozen major US firms sought to gain a foothold in Libya, including Boeing, Raytheon, ConocoPhilips, Occidental, Caterpillar and Halliburton. ....
Several industry executives and a person close to the settlement, all of whom declined to be identified, said the payments went through, but they declined to name the firms, the Times said.
Some major companies struck expensive deals with the government. In 2008, US-based Occidental Petroleum shelled out a $1.0 billion "signing bonus" to Libya as part of a 30-year deal, while Canadian oil giant Petro-Canada made a similar payment in 2007, the paper said, citing cables and company officials.
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
Thieves doing business with thieves.
We’re really playing games here. The new trade stuff was under Obama’s umbrella...We do have a Department of Commerce.
If I'm reading this right....Obama via the Commerce Department has pulled all the trade licenses of American companies.
How many US companies will Obama shut down??
Occidental
gee....that rings a bell...
Oh yeah...Al Gore...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occidental_Petroleum
All this “cost of doing business” gets passed on to the consumer
So in a way we the amercian taxpayer is partial footing the bill for this lunatic dipstick
The Lockerbie bombing should have resulted in Libya being hit with neutron bombs.
Then take their damn oil.
Because we must buy our goods from international thieves.
Is this so surprising or abnormal? “Obama asks health care industry companies to foot bill for Obamacare as the price of having a place at the table?” Once a government gets powerful enough, extortion becomes the MO. That’s how economic fascism works.
BTTT.
Now we know why Congress hasn't done a damn thing.
BTTT.
BTTT.
BTTT
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