Muammar alGaddafi

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Muammar al-Gaddafi
Worst Foreign Leader
Nick Wetterlind Period 1
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Early Life

• Gaddafi was the youngest born into a peasant
  family in the desert region of Sirte
• He received the traditional religious education
• He later attended the Sebha preparatory school,
  which is basically private high school, in Fezzan
  from 1956 to 1961

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Expelled from Sebha..

• Gaddafi met some friends at this school
• They went on to form the leadership of a militant
  revolutionary group which would eventually seize
  control of the country
• Gaddafi was inspired by Egypts president, Gamal
  Abdel Nasser, who became president by spreading
  the idea of uniting the Arab nations
• Gaddafi was expelled from Sebha for his political
  activism in 1961

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Further Education

• After attending the University of Libya and
  graduating with high grades, Gaddafi enrolled in
  the military academy of Benghazi
• It was here that he and some friends organized a
  secretive group which dedicated themselves to
  over throwing the pro-western Libyan monarchy

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Rise To Power

• While the king of Libya, King Idris I, was at a
  medical resort, his nephew became king
• On September 1, 1969, Gaddafi led a military
  group to overthrow the recently crowned king
• Before the end of the day, the military officers
  had put the king under house arrest and abolished
  the monarchy
• Gaddafi proclaimed the new Libyan Arab Republic

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Rise To Power

• Upon becoming the new leader of Libya, Gaddafi
  did not promote himself to General
• He did however accept a ceremonial promotion
  from captain to colonel and has remained at this
  rank ever since
• His reason being that Libya's utopian society is
  "ruled by the people, so he did not need a title
  of leadership

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The Libyan Arab Republic

• The Libyan Arab Republic was ran by a political
  system called Islamic Socialism
• This allowed people to run small businesses, but
  the government controlled the larger ones
• Welfare, liberation, and education were
  emphasized under Islamic Socialism
• Gaddafi imposed some of his Islamic morals on the
  people of the Libyan Arab republic and outlawed
  drinking and gambling

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The Libyan Arab Republic

• Islamic Socialism sounded good on paper, but
  proved to be less than idealistic when Gaddafi
  responded to opposition with violence
• Gaddafis committee called for the assassination
  of anyone who actively challenged him
• He sent out hit squads and nine people were
  killed

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Terrorist Support

• Gaddafi has been widely known to support rebel
  movements and liberation movements
• Gaddafi supported groups that had views that were
  no where close to his own, as long as the were
  rebel groups
• By doing this, he often confused international
  opinion
• By the mid-1980s, he was widely regarded in the
  West as the principal financier of international
  terrorism

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Black September Organization

• The Black September Organization was a terrorist
  group
• Gaddafi was reportedly the main financer of the
  Black September Organization
• The Black September Organization is notorious for
  the kidnap and murder of eleven Israeli athletes
  and officials, and the murder of a German police
  officer, during the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich,
  Germany

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1986 Berlin Bombing

• Gaddafi was accused by the United States of being
  responsible for direct control of the 1986 Berlin
  bombing
• This bombing killed three people and wounded
  more than 200
• Of the 200 people wounded, a substantial amount
  were U.S. servicemen

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Gaddafi Mad Dog Of The Middle East

• Tensions between Libya and the West reached a
  peak during the Ronald Reagan administration,
  which tried to overthrow Gaddafi.
• The Reagan administration viewed Libya as a
  belligerent rogue state because they backed
  liberation movements in the developing world and
  their uncompromising stance on Palestinian
  independence

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Reagan Takes Action

• In December 1981 the US State Department
  invalidated US passports for travel to Libya
• in March 1982 the U.S. declared a ban on the
  import of Libyan oil and the export to Libya of
  U.S. oil industry technology
• Europe did not follow Reagans lead

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Bombings

• Reagan ordered bombing attacks on Tripoli and
  Benghazi On April 15, 1986
• The bombings killed 45 Libyan military and
  government personnel as well as 15 civilians

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Gaddafi's Refusal

• For most of the 1990s Libya endured diplomatic
  isolation
• Gaddafi refused to let the U.S. or Britain obtain
  two Libyans accused of planting a bomb on Pan Am
  Flight 103
• In 1999, after a lot of screwing around, Gaddafi
  agreed to hand over the defendants to The
  Netherlands for trial
• This allowed The United Nations Sanctions to be
  lifted, but the United States were still in
  effect

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All Is Well Now

• Gaddafi has recently decided to trade his
  uncomfortable renegade status for international
  acceptance
• To achieve this, Gaddafi is no longer associated
  with illegal weapons