In the latest twist in the Libyan revolt, reports suggest Colonel Gaddafi could have fled his country in a state-of-the-art armored vehicle provided by the French government. With President Sarkozy giving “the green light” to the deal.
Journalist and political analyst Nabila Ramdani told RT the revelation is ironic, given that France – above all other NATO nations – wants to see the deposed Libyan leader captured.
“It’s a huge embarrassment for the French government, as it emerges that President Sarkozy sold in 2008 a 3.5-million-pound car to Colonel Gaddafi which has allowed him to escape,” she said.” “It is a state-of-the-art armored vehicle. It’s equipped with a commander system which allows Colonel Gaddafi to keep in touch with his forces. But it is also equipped with an anti-tracking system which makes it impossible for NATO surveillance to pick up any signals, and indeed to locate and target the car.”
“The deal was struck in 2007 when President Sarkozy was then interior minister, before he became the president a few months later,” she added. “As soon as he became president, he received Colonel Gaddafi himself in Paris for a five-day state visit where he gave him a tour of Paris.”
“And there was also an opportunity to strike very lucrative business deals,” Ramdani said. “President Sarkozy was hoping to sell Colonel Gaddafi fighter jets – Rafale jets at that time – but the deal fell through when Colonel Gaddafi was able to buy those jets from Russia instead. But nonetheless, President Sarkozy was able to sell him this armored Mercedes 4×4 as part of the deal.”
The revelations come in the wake of a triumphant visit recently by Sarkozy to Libya, where he was very much depicted in the French press as the liberator of Libya, added Ramdani.
But it was not just France. These are hugely embarrassing revelations for Western countries involved in this military campaign in Libya as well.
“New revelations have come out, as well, making it clear that Tony Blair was very close indeed to Gaddafi,” she added. “Extraordinary revelations came out showing that MI6, which is the British intelligence service, were very helpful in handing over political dissidents based in the UK to Colonel Gaddafi to basically get tortured back home.”
“And to look at it, it is very hard to believe that they are getting involved militarily out of the goodness of their hearts,” she concluded.