Hillary Clinton’s correspondence has been unfolding for over a year since an official public disclosure of her personal email account, which she used when she was Secretary of State. Among the recently published batch, there is a secret email on Libya during the February Revolution classified as “confidential” and dated April 2, 2011. It was sent from Sidney Blumenthal, Clinton’s unofficial consultant and a former assistant of her husband, former President Bill Clinton. The email’s subject heading reads: “France’s Client and Q’s Gold.”
Hillary Clinton’s correspondence has been unfolding for over a year since an official public disclosure of her personal email account, which she used when she was Secretary of State. Among the recently published batch, there is a secret email on Libya during the February Revolution classified as “confidential” and dated April 2, 2011. It was sent from Sidney Blumenthal, Clinton’s unofficial consultant and a former assistant of her husband, former President Bill Clinton. The email’s subject heading reads: “France’s Client and Q’s Gold.”
Blumenthal reported: “A high ranking official on the National Libyan Council states that armed factions have had greater influence in the Council. In part, this reflects the cultivation by France in particular, of clients among the rebels.”
Blumenthal considered that “General Abdel Fatah Younis is a leading figure among France’s collaborators. The French are believed to have paid him an unknown amount.” According to the aforementioned source, “Younis has told others on the NLC that the French have promised they will provide military trainers and arms. So far the men and materiel have not made an appearance.”
Blumenthal analyzed the French position, saying: “It is understood that France has clear economic interests at stake. Sarkozy’s occasional emissary, the intellectual self-promoter Bernard Henri-Levy, is considered by those in the NLC who have dealt with him as a semi-useful, semi-joke figure.”
Then, he mentioned the results of reports he had recently attained about Gaddafi’s huge financial resources: “On April 2, 2011 sources with access to advisors to Saif al-Islam Qaddafi stated in strictest confidence that while the freezing of Libya’s foreign bank accounts presents Muammar Qaddafi with serious challenges, his ability to equip and maintain his armed forces and intelligence services remains intact. According to sensitive information available to these individuals, Gaddafi’s government holds 143 tons of gold, and a similar amount in silver. During late March, 2011 these stocks were moved to Sabha (south west in the direction of the Libyan border with Niger and Chad); taken from the vaults of the Libyan Central Bank in Tripoli.”
It seems that Blumenthal was not aware of the fact that Gaddafi, since the 1990s, was obsessed with investing millions of dollars in projects in African countries regardless of their economic feasibility. They acted as political propaganda for his African leadership. He even gave tens of millions in bribes to corrupt African presidents to support his project of establishing an African union.
Gaddafi considered himself the founder of the (nominally) announced African Union in Sirte in 1999. He acted as its historical and spiritual leader. Scores of corrupt African presidents grew closer to him, seeking his petrodollars. However, he was not stupid; he knew that money was power. To pair money with power, he was tempted to launch a single African currency called the Pan-African Golden Dinar.
“(Source Comment: According to knowledgeable individuals this quantity of gold and silver is valued at more than $7 billion. French intelligence officers discovered this plan shortly after the current rebellion began, and this was one of the factors that influenced President Nicolas Sarkozy’s decision to commit France to the attack on Libya.
According to these individuals, Sarkozy’s plans were driven by the following issues:
a. A desire to gain a greater share of Libyan oil production,
b. Increase in French influence in North Africa,
c. Improve his internal political situation in France,
d. Provide the French military with an opportunity to reassert its position in the world,
e. Address the concern of his advisors over Gaddafi’s long term plans to supplant France as the dominant power in Francophone Africa.)”
After publishing this email, many analyses inspired by conspiracy theories were released about the justifications of the early French military intervention through air strikes against Gaddafi’s forces, a mere two days after the UN decision. According to political logic, Sarkozy took his decision to support the Libyan revolution only four days after the Libyan rebellion against the regime, indicating the insistence on linking the French intervention with Gaddafi’s Pan-African golden dinar or the will to get a bigger share of Libya’s oil production, which did not exceed 1.5 million barrels and is based on the mechanisms of the global market shares.
As for Gaddafi’s Pan-African currency, it was just one of his many delusions. The actual leadership of Africa lies in the hands of three countries: South Africa, Nigeria and Ethiopia. They would not have agreed to Gaddafi’s obsessions, particularly in such a crucial matter as issuing a Pan-African currency.
The value of Gaddafi’s gold would be minimal compared to the reserves of South Africa, which is the fifth largest producer of gold (170 tons annually) compared to Libya’s 143 tons. However, all of that does not negate that Sarkozy’s aforementioned motives to intervene in Libya were true and logical.
