Difference between revisions of "Muammar Qaddafi"
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President [[Ronald Reagan]] was a frequent target of Qaddafi's rants. Reagan responded with this assessment:<ref>http://www.nndb.com/people/641/000026563/</ref> | President [[Ronald Reagan]] was a frequent target of Qaddafi's rants. Reagan responded with this assessment:<ref>http://www.nndb.com/people/641/000026563/</ref> | ||
| − | :I find he's not only a barbarian, but he's flaky. ... I just think that the man is a zealot. | + | :"I find he's not only a barbarian, but he's flaky. ... I just think that the man is a zealot." |
Reportedly Qaddafi supported [[terrorism]], and may have ordered the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 in 1988. | Reportedly Qaddafi supported [[terrorism]], and may have ordered the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 in 1988. | ||
| − | Due largely to his fear of becoming a target in the American [[War on Terror]], Qaddafi decided to change his ways, giving up his WMD programs and renouncing terrorism; this marked | + | Due largely to his fear of becoming a target in the American [[War on Terror]], Qaddafi decided to change his ways, giving up his WMD programs and renouncing terrorism; this marked one of the clear successes of the war, as it brought a measure of stability to North Africa without a single shot being fired. Full diplomatic relations with the [[United States]] were restored in 2006, and the Qaddafi regime's turnaround has been heralded by Secretary of State [[Condoleezza Rice]] as a model for others to follow. |
==References== | ==References== | ||
Revision as of 20:54, March 1, 2008
Colonel Muammar Qaddafi (born 1942) has been the tyrannical dictator of Libya since 1969, when he seized power in a military coup against King Idriss. Once he became dictator, he renamed all the months in the calendar and published the Green Book, which was a series of pamphlets on democracy, economics, and sociology.
President Ronald Reagan was a frequent target of Qaddafi's rants. Reagan responded with this assessment:[1]
- "I find he's not only a barbarian, but he's flaky. ... I just think that the man is a zealot."
Reportedly Qaddafi supported terrorism, and may have ordered the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 in 1988.
Due largely to his fear of becoming a target in the American War on Terror, Qaddafi decided to change his ways, giving up his WMD programs and renouncing terrorism; this marked one of the clear successes of the war, as it brought a measure of stability to North Africa without a single shot being fired. Full diplomatic relations with the United States were restored in 2006, and the Qaddafi regime's turnaround has been heralded by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as a model for others to follow.