Company hired by Qatar to sabotage US World Cup bid did PR for Assad, Gaddafi

The PR company Brown Lloyd James Worldwide which Qatar hired to sabotage World Cup bid rivals, the US and Australia, has a list of interesting former clients who used the company’s services to cover up their corrupt governments’ conducts and ‘rebrand’ their names. Topping that list is Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and slain Libyan ex-President Muammar Ghaddafi.

The company was hired in 2010 by Assad, where they signed a $5000 per month contract. The strategic communications agency was able to “liaise” between Syrian first lady Asma al-Assad and Vogue, where they landed her a glamorous profile in the magazine titled “A Rose in the Desert”.

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The world-renowned magazine described her as “young and very chic—the freshest and most magnetic of first ladies…a thin, long-limbed beauty with a trained analytic mind who dresses with cunning understatement.” It also claimed that Syria was “the safest country in the Middle East.”

Vogue has since removed the article after finding out the truth about the dictator’s regime and the killing of innocent civilians, but it remained available on their online site.

BLJ Worldwide was also hired in 2008 by then President Muammar Gaddafi to manage his international image. According to reports, the firm helped write speeches for him at the UN, and reached out to newspaper editors to discuss proposed edits and articles.

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The firm denied advising Gaddafi on the content or delivery of his speeches, as he was known to talk about his support for the Taliban among other bizarre statements. The firm stated that they were reimbursed $1.2 million for “logistical support” by the Libyan Mission to the UN.