Gadhafi government courted academics, former US officials with trips to Libya

[Geee]

The Hill:

Documents released on Monday show that the government of Moammar Gadhafi tried to court the favor of prestigious academics and former U.S. officials by arranging visits to Libya.

The Monitor Group filed documents with the Justice Department on Friday that provided concrete details about the public-relations campaign that was conducted for Gadhafi’s government.


The Justice records show that Monitor helped set up visits to Libya for “a meticulously selected group of independent and objective experts” in an attempt to win over public opinion in the United States.

According to the documents, visitors to Libya included Richard Perle, the foreign-policy expert who advocated for the invasion of Iraq. Lord Anthony Giddens, a prominent figure in the United Kingdom’s Labour Party, and Philip Bobbitt, a U.S. author and academic who served in Democratic and Republican administrations, both agreed to visit Libya, although Bobbitt's trip never took place.

In addition, the billionaire businessman and philanthropist George Soros and the author Francis Fukuyama “expressed a willingness to visit Tripoli,” according to records filed with the Justice Department.