"...A compensation claim regarding Libya appears to be delaying the confirmation vote of Jeffrey Feltman to become assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs, The Cable has learned.
Feltman's nomination was forwarded by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to the full Senate last week. But last Friday, before they broke for Memorial Day, Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI), usually a reliable Obama White House ally, put a hold delaying a Senate vote on the nomination until after the week-long recess, apparently at the request of an unidentified constituent with an unspecified, Libya-related claim. The case does not have to do with the 1988 bombing of Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie Scotland, but officials would not specify what it was regarding.
The case doesn't appear to have anything to do with Feltman himself or his specific role in U.S.-Libya policy, sources in and out of the government said. Rather, as the highest level State Department Middle East official to undergo confirmation, his nomination seems to be an opportunity for Levin to raise the matter on behalf of the constituent. ...
His predecessor as assistant secretary of NEA, David Welch, retired from the State Department in December to join Bechtel as vice president for Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Southwest Asia. Bechtel is part of an Egyptian-led joint venture that has contracts to design and build power plants in Libya. Last August, "Mr. Welch helped negotiate a fund for Libyan victims of 1986 U.S. air strikes on Tripoli and Benghazi," the Washington Times reported. "The strikes were retaliation for Libya´s role in bombing a German nightclub frequented by American servicemen."
The Justice Department declined to comment on the matter. A U.S. official said it's not clear if the matter raised by Levin on behalf of his constituent should be resolved by State or the Justice Department. Levin's office also declined to comment, except to say last Friday that the Senator had asked for a few more days to seek clarification on some matters before the Senate takes up the nomination. Congress is out all week and Levin is back in Michigan, his office said Tuesday. "
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