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Freeing the "Benghazi 6"

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By Bonnie Goldstein
Posted Wednesday, July 25, 2007, at 2:07 PM ET

A candid letter sent from Laurie Garrett, senior fellow for global health at the Counsel on Foreign Relations, to colleagues with the influential organization, sheds light on the events leading up to Tuesday's release of the "Benghazi 6": five Bulgarian nurses and a doctor on Libya's death row. They were accused of infecting more than 400 children with HIV while working in Libya in 1997. Arrested in 1999, two nurses, after "weeks of torture," confessed to injecting the children with the AIDS virus. EU investigators confirmed that the women had been "subjected to hours of intravaginal electrocution" (Page 2) in prison before the admissions.

Their release was negotiated in part by France's new first lady, Cecilia Sarkozy, and preceded a visit by French President Nicolas Sarkozy. Garrett writes that Madame Sarkozy's successful meetings with Col. Muammar Qaddafi were regarded as bigfooting by Sarkozy opponents and the EU leadership, which had been attempting to gain the Bulgarians' release for some time: "Both … denounced Madame Sarkozy's trips ... for 'interference' in EU affairs and 'a diplomatic cuckoo's nest' " (Page 3).

"Key to the release," Garrett wrote, were payments of over $1 million per child to the families of the infected children. According to Pulitzer Prize-winning Garrett, "checks were issued to 460 families." Neither the European Union nor France contributed to the settlement, and Garrett speculates the $460 million came from the government of Qatar, based on President Sarkozy's "heaped praise on the previously secret player in the negotiations" (Page 4). Last-minute "over-reaching and oil-greed threatened to sink the entire deal," however. "After the Libyan families had cashed their million dollar checks, Bulgarian relatives of the [still] imprisoned healthcare workers demanded that they, too, be compensated for their hardship" (Page 4). Additionally, "European banks and petroleum companies ... eager to get in on" the "normalization" of relations with oil-rich Libya came "out of the woodwork." "There was talk of a European-financed oil pipeline from Libya to Portugal," Garrett reported, pointing out Portugal currently holds the EU presidency (Page 5).

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By Bonnie Goldstein
Posted Wednesday, July 25, 2007, at 2:07 PM ET
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Bonnie Goldstein is a former special investigator to the U.S. Senate and investigative producer for ABC News.
COMMENTS

Remarks from the Fray:

I suggest a read of today's Financial Times editorial in order to gain a more sound reading on the roles of the French President and his wife and the EU. Political opportunism is the story on this side of the Pond.

It must also be noted that the Sarkozy's are living separate lives (she in the old apartment in Neuilly-sur-Seine and he in the Elysée palace), following much publicized affairs by both, and this "event" has been a strategically organized one by a PR pro. The objective is establish a "Hillary" role for Madame Sarkozy. She has stated she will announce her intentions on what she will do as the President's wife in mid-September. This story is cited here for telling us a lot about what to expect. Being a wife is not likely on the list, not that anyone would care.

That said, as the FT notes, it is a good development and a bit of political spin is to be expected. Meanwhile, take care not to dismiss the EU's efforts on this. Madame Sarko did not seduce Mouammar Qaddafi in order to achieve this. The bookings were convenient for all parties.

--hommesuisse

(To reply, click here.)

(7/27)

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