Gaddafi Killed: Dead Libyan Dictator's Life Was Bizarre and Bloody
Colonel Muammar Gaddafi was not your average Arab dictator. Sure, he was a despot. And yes, he was brutal. But he also marched to a very different drummer, making him one of the most bloody – and bizarre – dictators in recent times.
Gaddafi was not born into power. The son of a Bedouin herdsman who was born in a tent in 1942, the future Libyan leader proved to be a talented student and graduated from the University of Libya in 1963 before joining the military. Between the ages of 21 and 27, when most young men are still figuring out who they are and how they fit in with the world, Gaddafi was busy climbing the military ranks and planning a coup of King Idris I, according to Biography.com.
On Sept. 1, 1969, Gaddafi's time came: he seized power over the Libyan government by staging a military coup that ousted the king. Gaddafi was named commander in chief of Libya's armed forces and chairman of its new governing body, the Revolutionary Command Council. Col. Gaddafi would remain in power for the next 42 years.
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After a few years of aggressive international moves, such as kicking American and British military bases out of the country in 1970, Gaddafi decided to put his thought about power and politics in book form, writing The Green Book, a tract that explains Gaddafi's "Third International Way," a style of governance that combines Islamic socialism and Arab nationalism. The book also contains the young Gaddafi's thoughts on life, including the types of things most young men think about: sports and women.
Gaddafi seems to favor equality between sexes in the book, with quotes like, "A woman is a human, just like a man is."
However, he definitely believed that women served a different purpose than men. "Males in the world of plants and animals are by nature strong and rough, whereas women in the world of plants and animals in the world and the world's peoples are by nature beautiful and tender," Gaddafi wrote.
More to the point, the dictator wrote: "Human rights are for everyone - men and women, but the responsibilities are not equal."
Regarding sports, Gaddafi wrote: "Sport can only be individual, like a prayer." According to Canada's National Post, Gaddafi banned many forms of professional sports after taking power.
It was around this time that Gaddafi began to exhibit eccentric behavior, such as sleeping in Bedouin tents like the one he was born in and describing himself as a pan-African king. The National Post also reported that he would disappear for months at a time to work on his political theories.
Gaddafi also tried to expand his influence in a myriad of unorthodox ways, including helping to finance the Black Panther Party and the Nation of Islam in the United States and the Irish Republican Army in Northern Ireland, according to Biography.com.
The colonel also tried to merge with Libya with other Arab countries, failing in bids to combine his nation with Egypt and Syria in one instance and with Tunisia in another.
The National Post said that Gaddafi's behavior and actions caused him to fall out of favor with other Arab leaders, and in retaliation, he tried to win the favor of sub-Saharan Africa. Gaddafi reportedly sent billions of dollars in oil to African countries in return for token favors, such as his face on postage stamps and leadership roles at symbolic pan-African conferences.
Gaddafi also said that Libyans should be more than just friends with their black neighbors. "I would like Libya to become a black country," Gaddafi said in 1998. "Hence, I recommend to Libyan men to marry only black women, and to Libyan women to marry black men."
Later in life, Gaddafi became known for pulling stunts at international conferences and surrounding himself with beautiful, female bodyguards like a villain in a James Bond movie.
However, one of his most interesting stunts came in 2009 when, while visiting Italy for a U.N. conference on food and agriculture, Gaddafi had a hostess agency send 200 attractive young women to his residence. Each woman was promised 50 euros for providing eye candy at what they thought would be a diner with heads of state, the Guardian reported. But Gaddafi’s goal wasn't dinner and conversation – he wanted to convert the girls to Islam.
Gaddafi told the women that Jesus was not crucified, as taught in the Quran. Rather, "God in heaven took him. They crucified someone who looked like him," the proselytizing despot said.
According to the Guardian, it turned out to be a life-changing experience for Rea Beko, one of the hostesses. "He convinced me," she said. "I shall be converting to Islam."
Gaddafi was killed Oct. 20 by Libya's National Transitional Council (NTC).
"He (Gaddafi) was also hit in his head," NTC official Abdel Majid Mlegta told Reuters. "There was a lot of firing against his group and he died."
Gaddafi's alleged last words were, "Don’t Shoot! Don’t shoot!"
