Colonel Gaddafi warned Tony Blair of Islamist attacks on Europe, phone conversations reveal

Transcripts of two telephone conversations between the two leaders which took place on February 25, 2011, are made public

7 January, 2015

Colonel Muammar Gaddafi issued a 'prophetic' warning to Tony Blair that jihadists would attack Europe if his regime was allowed to collapse, phone conversations reveal.

Gaddafi's dire prediction was made in two desperate telephone calls with Mr Blair on February 25, 2011 - as civil war was engulfing Libya.

In the first call at 11.15am, Gaddafi said: "They [jihadists] want to control the Mediterranean and then they will attack Europe."

Excerpt from Col Gaddafi's 2011 phone conversations with Tony Blair

In the call, lasting half an hour, Gaddafi insisted he was trying to defend Libya from al-Qaeda fighters. The presence of al-Qaedas would later be superceded by the rise of the so-called Islamic State.

"We are not fighting them, they are attacking us, " he said, "I want to tell you the truth. It is not a difficult situation at all. The story is simply this: an organisation has laid down sleeping cells in North Africa. Called the Al-Qaeda Organisation in North Africa... The sleeping cells in Libya are similar to dormant cells in America before 9/11.

25 March 2004: Then British Prime Minister Tony Blair, left, with Gaddafi at the start of their meeting outisde Tripoli Photo: JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images

"They have managed to get arms and terrify people. people can't leave their homes... It's a jihad situation. They have arms and are terrorising people in the street."

In a second call made a little over four hours later, Gaddafi told Mr Blair: "I will have to arm the people and get ready for a fight. Libyan people will die, damage will be on the Med, Europe and the whole world. These armed groups are using the situation [in Libya] as a justification - and we shall fight them."

Col Gaddafi warns of attacks on Europe in phone conversations with Tony Blair

Mr Blair had made two calls to Gaddafi to try to negotiate the dictator's departure from Tripoli as civil war engulfed the nation. Three weeks later, a Nato-led coaltion that included Britain, began bombing raids that led to the overthrow of Gaddafi.

The dictator was finally deposed in August and murdered by a mob in October.

Mr Blair had a developed a friendship with Gaddafi and had visted the Libyan leader at least six times after leaving Downing Street in 2007.

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He cleared the phone calls with both David Cameron and Hillary Clinton, the then US Secretary of State, in an attempt to persuade Gaddafi to leave Libya with safe passage and to avoid further conflict.

The existence of the phone calls emerged last year and Mr Blair passed the transcripts to the Foreign Affairs Committee which is investigating Libya's collapse. The committee of MPs published the transcripts on Thursday.

In the calls Mr Blair told Gaddafi: "If you have a safe place to go you should go there because this will not end peacefully and there has to be a process of change, that process of change can be managed and we have to find a way of managing it.

"The US and the EU are in a tough position right now and I need to take something back to them which ensures this ends peacefully."

Mr Blair ended the call by saying: "i would like to offer a way out that is peaceful... keep the lines open."

Gaddafi's warnings appear to have been born out. Libya has collapsed following his overthrow. The country remains in the grip of civil war andmuch of it is in the control of Islamist extremists linked to the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Isil).

Terrorists sent by Isil to France were responsible for the attacks on Paris in November amid growing concern jihadists are crossing into Europe from north Africa and the Middle East.

Crispin Blunt MP, Chair of the Committee, said: "The transcripts supplied by Mr Blair provide a new insight into the private views of Colonel Gaddafi as his dictatorship began to crumble around him.

"The failure to follow Mr Blair’s calls to 'keep the lines open' and for these early conversations to initiate any peaceful compromise continue to reverberate.

"The Committee will want to consider whether Gaddafi’s prophetic warning of the rise of extremist militant groups following the collapse of the regime was wrongly ignored because of Gaddafi’s otherwise delusional take on international affairs.

"The evidence that the Committee has taken so far in this inquiry suggests that western policy makers were rather less perceptive than Gaddafi about the risks of intervention for both the Libyan people and the western interests."

Blair's calls to Gaddafi: the full transcripts

February 25, 2011 - 11.15am to 11.45am (click on image below)

February 25, 2011 - 3.35pm to 4pm (click on image below

Gaddafi accused Blair of ‘supporting Al-Qaeda,’ unseen phone transcripts reveal

British Prime Minister Tony Blair (L) shakes hands with Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi in a tent outside Tripoli, March 25. 2004. © Madeleine Chambers / Reuters

RT,

7 January, 2015

Transcripts of two phone calls between Tony Blair and Colonel Muammar Gaddafi reveal the Libyan dictator forced the former prime minister to confirm he did not support Al-Qaeda, as civil war engulfed the North African state.

‏@CommonsForeign

Here is a link to Blair-Gaddafi transcript No. 1 http://tinyurl.com/hgxgnch 

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11:10 PM - 7 Jan 2016

On Thursday, the ex-PM submitted a transcript of the calls he made to Gaddafi on February 25, 2011, to MPs as part of their investigation into the UK’s policy on Libya.

‏@CommonsForeign

And here's a link to the second Blair-Gaddafi call -- http://tinyurl.com/jgdohxc 

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11:12 PM - 7 Jan 2016

Addressing MPs in Parliament, Blair insisted he contacted Gaddafi as a “concerned private citizen,” and confirmed he cleared the phone calls with Prime Minister David Cameron and the US State Department.

Blair accused of supporting Al-Qaeda

Blair appears to have been pressured to respond to a number of allegations during the phone calls, including claims he supported Al-Qaeda.

“People spreading rumors through the TV stations. Those people are from Guantanamo, we know them by name, they support Al-Qaeda – do you support Al-Qaeda?” Gaddafi asked Blair.

Blair, who drove the thaw in relations between the West and Gaddafi, replied:

“No, absolutely not.”

Gaddafi then accused the ex-PM of attempting to recolonize Libya.

“It seems this is colonization, I will have to arm the people and get ready for a fight.”

Blair insisted: “No one wants to recolonize Libya.”

“Let me be clear, no one wants to recolonize Libya – Libya is for its people,” he said.

‘Get to a safe place’

During the conversation, the ex-PM urged Gaddafi to get to a “safe place” in order to promote a peace process in Libya.

The transcripts show Blair was attempting to convince Gaddafi to allow a peaceful resolution to the crisis engulfing Libya and avoid a protracted civil war.

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“The position of the leader is crucial, if he indicates that he wants this to occur now, and that he will stand aside and go somewhere safe I think this will resolve this peacefully,” Blair told Gaddafi, referring to him in the third person.

“He needs to signal acceptance of that change and he needs to stand aside to let that happen peacefully.”

‘We have no problem’

However, the deposed Libyan leader repeatedly refused to leave the country and insisted there was not much fighting going on in Libya.

“We have no problem, just leave us alone,” the Libyan leader told Blair.

“We are not fighting them, they are attacking us,” he said.

‏@jimwaterson

Transcript of call between Blair and Gadaffi freaking out as Libya collapsed is fascinating: http://www.parliament.uk/documents/commons-committees/foreign-affairs/10TBandGaddafiCallTranscript-1535-1600.pdf …

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11:17 PM - 7 Jan 2016

“I want to tell you the truth. It is not a difficult situation at all. The story is simply this: an organization has laid down sleeping cells in North Africa. Called the Al-Qaeda Organization in North Africa ... The sleeping cells in Libya are similar to dormant cells in America before 9/11.”

He then warned Blair that jihadists would attack Europe if his regime was allowed to collapse.

“They [jihadists] want to control the Mediterranean and then they will attack Europe.”

Blair has since been accused of trying to protect Gaddafi when he warned him to flee Libya.

‘I was not trying to save Gaddafi’

Speaking during a Foreign Affairs Select Committee inquiry into the UK’s policy in Libya, the ex-PM said: “It’s been presented as if I was trying to save Gaddafi. I wasn’t trying to ‘save Gaddafi."

“My concern was not for his safety, it was to get him out of this situation.”

After the uprising, in which Gaddafi was killed, the relationship between the West and Libya came under heavy criticism in the wake of numerous commercial deals.

Libya remains in the grip of civil war with many areas controlled by Islamic extremists linked to Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL).

Crispin Blunt MP, chair of the Committee, said: “The transcripts supplied by Mr Blair provide a new insight into the private views of Colonel Gaddafi as his dictatorship began to crumble around him.

“The failure to follow Mr Blair’s calls to ‘keep the lines open’ and for these early conversations to initiate any peaceful compromise continue to reverberate.”

Blair’s business interests tripled in profits

The transcripts were made public a day after accounts published for Blair’s business, Windrush Ventures Ltd, reveal his company saw its turnover increase by a third to £19.4 million in 2015, while profits tripled to £2.6 million.

‏@LondonLovesBiz

Tony Blair's laughing all the way to the bank as his business venture triples profits http://goo.gl/dCpSsX 

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2:08 AM - 8 Jan 2016

Staff working for the firm have received an average pay increase of more than £30,000, according to the Mail Online.

Tony Blair’s office said in a statement: “As we stress every year, the financial results released today do not present the overall profits of either of the Windrush or Firerush businesses.”

Seemorerocks

Saturday, 9 January 2016