A private diplomatic mission to Libya by a former U.S. congressman, who wanted to meet Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi and convince him to step aside, was paid for by two Houston businessmen whose firm brokers oil and gas deals in unstable countries.
The former congressman, Curt Weldon, who left Libya on Friday, after he failed to secure a meeting with Colonel Qaddafi and had to settle for talks with one of his sons, Saadi, told CNN on Thursday night his trip “was paid for by the team of Steve Payne and Brian Ettinger of Houston.”
In a statement sent to The Lede on Friday from Tripoli, the Libyan capital, Mr. Payne and Mr. Ettinger, who have worked at the nexus of international relations and the energy industry for many years, confirmed that they had paid Mr. Weldon’s travel expenses and accompanied him on his trip.
The statement added that while Mr. Payne “has deep and wide contacts in Libya, and has a long term relationship with three of the sons of Muammar Qaddafi,” the two men “have no current business in Libya or with the Qaddafi family.” But Mr. Payne and Mr. Ettinger once boasted that Libya was a part of the world where their firm, Worldwide Strategic Energy, had “influence.”
A confidential document describing the firm’s accomplishments, obtained and posted online by the Web site Talking Points Memo in 2008, told potential investors that Worldwide Strategic Energy had “been engaged in Libya since 2005, holding multiple meetings in London, Geneva, Moscow and Tripoli with key oil ministry officials, as well as with Seif el-Qaddafi, president of the Qaddafi Foundation for Development and son of the Leader Muammar el-Qaddafi.”
In a description of his plan for ending the conflict in Libya published on The New York Times Op-Ed Page on Wednesday, Mr. Weldon wrote that “Colonel Qaddafi’s son Seif, a powerful businessman and politician, could play a constructive role as a member of the committee to devise a new government structure or Constitution.”
Speaking to CNN on Thursday night, the former congressman suggested that Seif el-Qaddafi “should be given the opportunity to seek office where he can run against other candidates, perhaps, for the presidency,” if Colonel Qaddafi would agree to stand aside and allow elections to take place.
As my colleague David Kirkpatrick reported from Tripoli earlier this week, some Libyan officials said that part of the Qaddafi family has endorsed “a resolution to the Libyan conflict that would entail pushing their father aside to make way for a transition to a constitutional democracy under the direction of his son Seif al-Islam el-Qaddafi.” The officials said that Saadi el-Qaddafi supports that plan.
According to the statement by Mr. Payne and Mr. Ettinger, Saadi el-Qaddafi was involved in the planning for the visit by Mr. Weldon’s delegation.
Earlier this week, Saadi el-Qaddafi also took an interest in the case of Eman al-Obeidy, the Libyan woman who told foreign journalists last month that she had been gang-raped by 15 members of Colonel Qaddafi’s security forces. Over the objections of Libyan information ministry officials, the Libyan leader’s son met with Ms. Obeidy on Wednesday and allowed her to be interviewed by CNN.
A press release sent to reporters on Friday by Mr. Weldon’s delegation gave Mr. Payne credit for arranging the meeting between Saadi el-Qaddafi and Ms. Obeidy. The statement also revealed that Mr. Weldon had tried and failed to secure passage for Ms. Obeidy to eastern Libya during his visit.
In addition to their work in the energy sector, Mr. Payne and Mr. Ettinger also broker contacts between foreign governments and American officials, through another of their firms, Worldwide Strategic Partners.
Both men have close ties to senior American politicians. Mr. Ettinger worked for Joe Biden, the current vice president, during his time in the Senate.
In 2008, Mr. Payne was caught on tape during an investigation by The Times of London apparently suggesting that he could arrange a meeting with Vice President Dick Cheney for an exiled Kyrgyz politician in return for a donation of “a couple of hundred thousands of dollars” to the George W. Bush Presidential Library.
In addition to releasing a secretly filmed tape of Mr. Payne discussing the meetings with Bush administration officials that he said his firm could set up, the British newspaper also published a slide show featuring snapshots of Mr. Payne clearing brush with Mr. Bush and shooting with Mr. Cheney, and this brochure discussing the work of Worldwide Strategic Partners on behalf of clients like the governments of Pakistan and Azerbaijan: