“Up until the mid 2000s, Qaddafi was largely considered the second-most wanted terrorist in the world, having claimed responsibility for several terrorist attacks that killed US citizens, including members of our military. Yet, due in no small part to a multimillion-dollar lobbying and PR campaign, he was pardoned during the War on Terror. The lobbying campaign was also successful in reducing the amount Qaddafi owed to families of the victims of his terrorist attacks by billions of dollars.
If the number-two terrorist in the world can be pardoned in the middle of the War on Terror, there is no telling to what the foreign influence industry can do.
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Ben Freeman in an interview with Truthout. Freeman is the author of a new book called The Foreign Policy Auction about the little-known industry of foreign lobbying, where countries engage in pay-to-play diplomacy with staggeringly good returns on investment.
