A trip to Libya in 2006 by Anthony Giddens, the former London School of Economics director and eminent sociologist, when he met Muammar Gaddafi in his tent, was first vetted by the Libyan leader's head of intelligence, leaked documents show.
Lord Giddens, guru of Labour's third way, twice met Gaddafi on trips in 2006 and 2007 organised by Monitor Group, a US lobbying firm. Leaked documents show at least one trip was disclosed in advance to Abd Allah al-Sanusi, blamed for atrocities in the present uprising.
Giddens, 73, was director of the LSE for six years until 2003, and is the author of at least 34 books and credited with devising the "third way" adopted by Tony Blair.
Monitor Group was paid more than £2m by the Libyan government in 2006 to conduct a "cleansing" campaign of its image, according to leaked documents.
Anthony Giddens says his trips were ‘an opportunity that had to be explored’
A letter sent in July 2006 by executives at Monitor Group to al-Sanusi, also known as Abdullah Senussi, is about targeting influential academics to emphasise the emergence of "the New Libya".
"We will create a network map to identify significant figures engaged or interested in Libya today ... We will identify and encourage journalists, academics and contemporary thinkers who will have interest in publishing papers and articles on Libya," the letter claims.
"We are delighted that after a number of conversations, Lord Giddens has now accepted our invitation to visit Libya in July," the letter adds. It ends by saying to al-Sanusi: "We very much look forward to hearing from you with any questions or comments that you may have."
There is no implication that Giddens knew al-Sanusi's approval was sought.
He is married to a sister of Gaddafi's wife, and is considered his most trusted aide. He is number two on an opposition list of wanted "war criminals" topped by Gaddafi. He has been blamed for killings of rebels in Benghazi, as well as recruiting the regime's mercenaries. Libyans hold him responsible for a 1996 massacre of 1,200 inmates at Abu Salim prison.
Described as head of military intelligence with the rank of general, he is part of Gaddafi's "ahl al-Khaimah" (people of the tent), his closest entourage.
Monitor also claimed in the letter that they were paying an "honorarium", and that they would help identify academics who had an interest in publishing articles on Libya. When given questions from the Guardian asking if he had been paid an honorarium, fees or expenses for attending events in connection with the Libyan government, Giddens did not respond.
Sir Howard Davies, who resigned as current director of the LSE on Thursday night, said that he had quit because of "two errors of judgment": to advise that a donation from Saif Gaddafi's foundation was acceptable, and the other was agreeing to act as an economic envoy to Libya.
Richard Sennett, LSE emeritus professor of sociology, blamed the crisis on a "desperate search for funds, [in which] the notion of having clear water between the desires of the donors and the standards of the university is just eroded".
Lord Desai, the Labour peer who set up the LSE centre for global governance, defends the LSE in the Guardian: "It was only after bullets started flying in Libya that Saif Gaddafi was found to have cheated. Nor had anyone until then objected that the LSE had received a donation from Saif Gaddafi's Foundation."
According to another document from Monitor, sent a year later, Giddens made two visits to Libya, the first in July 2006, resulting in bylined articles in the New Statesman, El País and La Repubblica. In the New Statesman, he said Libya had been transformed from the pariah state of old. "Gaddafi's 'conversion' may have been driven partly by the wish to escape sanctions, but I get the strong sense it is authentic and there is a lot of motive power behind it. Saif Gaddafi is a driving force behind the rehabilitation and potential modernisation of Libya. Gaddafi Sr, however, is authorising these processes."
His second trip organised by Monitor was an extraordinary public discussion hosted by Sir David Frost, the TV interviewer, with a panel of three "thinkers" – Giddens, Gaddafi and Benjamin Barber, author of Jihad vs McWorld. After this visit, he wrote an article for the Guardian.
In a statement, Giddens said that he had no involvement while the LSE's director; the objective of his visits in 2006 and 2007 was to encourage the emergence of a market-based economy and draw up a democratic constitution.
"Mr Gaddafi had by that date renounced his nuclear weapons programme. His stated intention was to move the country towards the west and open up to the wider world. It was an opportunity that certainly had to be explored and for a period did seem to lead to significant reforms. Mr Gaddafi's actions in the present are entirely abhorrent and I condemn them absolutely," he said.
Source:http://www.guardian.co.uk
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