Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair tried to save the regime of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. This is evidenced by his correspondence with former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, which was made public by the State Department, The Daily Mail wrote on Sunday, November 1st.
Tony Blair, who was a special representative of the 'Quartet' in 2011 repeatedly held telephone talks with Gaddafi and urged Clinton ‘not to humiliate’ the Libyan leader. The former prime minister wrote to the Secretary of State that Gaddafi’s ‘right hand’ was a reasonable man. According to the publication, they meant former Foreign Minister Moussa Koussa, or Chief of the Libyan intelligence Abdullah Senussi.
"The ‘right hand’ of Gaddafi called me. He asked about progress [in the settlement of the conflict]. He said he had asked on the behalf of the name of G [Gaddafi]. I told G. that he should assign someone to negotiate. If he does, I will definitely give it to the other party and consider the possibility of negotiations,’’ The Daily Mail cites the letter from Blair to Clinton on August 9th, 2011.
In this letter, the former prime minister offered Clinton to choose their own negotiator, noting that "G. was a reasonable person and he was ready to consider their opinions." "I'm sure G. agreed,’’ Blair said.
In an earlier letter, written on March 3rd 2011, Blair noted that Gaddafi refused to communicate with him, accusing him of treachery because of Blair’s call for him to resign. "I thought that G. would agree to speak if there was a way to set things right without humiliation," the former prime minister wrote.
Libya's civil war began in 2011 after the overthrow and murder of Gaddafi, supported by the United States. There are two governments in the country now: a democratically elected government recognized by the international community, which works in Tobruk, and an Islamic one in Tripoli.
Earlier this week, Tony Blair admitted that the invasion of Iraq by the US military and its allies in 2003 became one of the main causes of the formation of the terrorist group Islamic State, which is forbidden in Russia. "Certainly, we cannot say that those who removed Saddam Hussein in 2003 are not responsible for the situation in 2015,’’ he said.
