Revealed: How Gaddafi's son toured America as guest of U.S. Government...just as Libya was plunged into revolution

By Daily Mail Reporter
Updated: 07:20 EDT, 29 March 2011

• Revelation comes as Obama vows U.S. will not make the same mistakes in Libya as it did in Iraq

Tour: Khamis Gaddafi had been on a four-week U.S. trip organised by an American company with U.S. State Department approval

One of Colonel Gaddafi's sons was on a U.S. State Department approved tour of America as the uprising in Libya began, it was revealed today.

Khamis Gaddafi, 27, had been on a four-week U.S. tour organised by an American company with U.S. State Department approval.

The tour was part of an internship with AECOM, a global infrastructure company with deep business interests in Libya, according to Paul Gennaro, AECOM's Senior Vice President for Global Communications.

Khamis was believed to have been killed by a disaffected Libyan kamikaze pilot, but Libyan state television tonight broadcast what it claimed was live footage of Gaddafi's son greeting supporters at his father's compound in Tripoli.

The revelations of Khamis' tour come moments after Barack Obama defended his decision to lead coalition forces in Libya and are sure to be highly embarrassing for the Administration.

President Obama announced that Nato would take command over the entire operation in Libya on Wednesday, in a Presidential address tonight.

He also vowed not to repeat the mistakes America made in Iraq by seeking to oust Colonel Gadaffi.

Mr Gennaro said the U.S. State Department approved Khamis' trip, and considered Gaddafi a reformer.

He said the government signed off on the itinerary, at times offering advice that affected the company's plans for Gaddafi.

The Libyan leader's sixth son is thought to have had tours and meetings with high-profile companies and U.S. military institutions in all parts of the U.S.  from Houston to Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Washington and New York.

Visit: Khamis was scheduled to tour Universal Studios in Los Angeles and was reportedly at the New York Stock Exchange when news of the protests broke

The leader of the Libyan Army visited the Port of Houston Authority before jetting to Los Angeles for a scheduled 'exclusive' VIP tour of Universal Studios, according to travel documents obtained by ABC News.

He is then thought to have had meetings with Google, Apple and Intel among others in San Francisco before heading to Colorado Springs to look around the U.S. Air Force Academy.

He then went to Chicago for a tour of Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management, according to the documents.

Military: Khamis is then thought to have toured the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs

By mid-February Khamis was scheduled to visit Washington and had high-powered meetings with defence contractors including Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin, among others.

Both U.S. military and civilian officials were at the meetings with Northrop, a company official revealed to ABC News.

Gaddafi's sixth son was in New York, visiting the Stock Exchange when news of the first protests in Libya broke, according to ABC.

The revelations came moments after Barack Obama defended his decision to lead coalition forces in Libya and are sure to be highly embarrassing for the Administration

He reportedly flew back to Libya that night forgoing tours of Columbia University, the West Point Military Academy due on February 17, MIT and Harvard University, according to reports.

The uprising in Libya began with a series of protests on February 15.

State department officials denied any role in planning, advising or paying for the trip however.

'We did greet him at the airport. That is standard courtesy for the son of the leader of a country,' said State Department spokesman Mark Toner. 

Mr Toner said the government was aware of Gaddafi's itinerary, but 'did not sign off on it.'

AECOM was not paid to arrange the trip, and did not pay for related expenses, Mr Gennaro said.

He said the trip was arranged at the request of a Libyan, whom he declined to name.

Mr Gennaro was one of the AECOM executives who met with Gaddafi during the trip, to educate him on U.S. corporate practices.

He said Gaddafi was 'very, very interested in the planning, design, how do you advance large infrastructure projects.'

Less than a month later, Khamis was rumoured to have been killed in an attack by a Libyan kamikaze pilot, but this has not been officially confirmed.