Washington, March 10: The U.S. government quietly green-lighted a $77 million deal to provide at least 50 refurbished armored troop carriers to Moammar Gadhafi’s army, approving a license that signaled growing American business contacts with his regime in the months before Libya imploded in civil war.
Congress balked, concerned that the deal would improve Libyan army mobility and questioning the Obama administration’s support for the agreement, which would have benefited British defense company BAE. The congressional concerns stalled the deal until the turmoil in the country scuttled the sale.
As all military exports to the regime were suspended last week and President Barack Obama told Gadhafi that he should step down, the State Department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls informed Congress that the troop transport deal was off the table, according to U.S. officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe the deal’s sensitive details.
The administration’s interest in the deal amounted to a first cautious step toward allowing a major arms purchase by Gadhafi’s regime even as U.S. officials waved off other Libyan approaches for weapons systems and military aid.
State Department spokesman Mark Toner said diplomats had repeatedly warned the regime that “we would not discuss the possibility of lethal U.S. arms sales until Libya made significant progress on human rights issues, visas and other areas of bilateral relationship.”
–Agencies