25 March 2004 On 25 March 2004, Tony Blair embraced Libyan dictator Colonel Gaddafi in a Bedouin tent outside Tripoli, and declared he was hopeful for a ‘new relationship’ between Britain and Libya. The Prime Minister was exuberant over Gaddafi’s promise to privatise Libyan state assets. Even before they had finished their negotiations, it was…
19 March 2011 On 19 March 2011, the Royal Air Force commenced air strikes in Libya. United Nations resolution 1973 had authorized member states to enforce a no-fly zone and to use all necessary means to protect civilians. However, the British government was soon involved in the pursuit of regime change to topple Gadaffi, who…
7 March 2004 Abdel Hakim Belhaj was a Libyan dissident belonging to an organisation, the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, which though banned in Libya was not considered to be a terrorist organization by the British. He had fled Libya to China where he hoped to to be beyond the reach of Gadaffi’s security forces. However…
EAST INDIA COMPANY MERCHANTS PROFIT FROM BENGAL’S FAMINE [ 1 September 1771 ] Today in 1771, the Scots Magazine published an account from a ‘gentleman’ in Bengal describing an unprecedented famine. It has been provoked by a combination of a prolonged drought and the rapacity of Britain’s East India Company which, despite the wretched condition of the…
BLAIR WRITES LETTER OF THANKS TO LIBYAN TYRANT COLONEL GADAFFI [ 26 April 2007 ] On 26 April 2007, Prime Minister Tony Blair wrote a personal letter to Libyan tyrant Muammar Gaddafi to express his disappointment that a British court had decided against deporting two men linked to the insurgent Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG)…
MI6 ARRANGE RENDITION OF FAMILY TO LIBYAN TORTURE CENTRE [ 28 March 2004 ] On 28 March 2004, in an operation masterminded by MI6, Sami al-Saadi, his wife and children were forcibly flown from Hong Kong to Tripoli, where he was tortured while his family remained locked up in a nearby cell. They had flown…
TONY BLAIR FALSELY CLAIMS HE IS PURSUING DIPLOMATIC OPTIONS [ 7 March 2002 ] On 7 March 2002, there was a two hour discussion in Cabinet on the possibility of military action against Iraq. The word ‘invasion’ was never mentioned. Tony Blair informed ministers that ‘all options were still open,’ although he had already reassured…
