By Neil Irwin, Thursday, March 31, 8:51 PM
The Federal Reserve lent vast sums of money to a long list of banks during the financial crisis, according to newly released documents, supporting institutions gigantic and minuscule, and those based throughout United States and from many corners of the globe.

The New York office of Bahrain-based Arab Banking Corp. borrowed $1.1 billion from the Fed’s emergency lending program for banks during October 2008, according to the documents. That bank is currently 59 percent owned by the Libyan Investment Authority, which invests money for the government of the Middle Eastern state now enmeshed in conflict. (At the time, Libya was making slow progress at mending its relationship with the United States and other Western governments.)

“It is incomprehensible to me that while creditworthy small businesses in Vermont and throughout the country could not receive affordable loans,â€