Page 323 - Encyclopedia Of Terrorism

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the leader of Libya. (Qaddafi has bestowed on himself
QADDAFI, MUAMMAR EL- (1942?– ) and later discarded dozens of honorary titles; most
Libyans refer to him as “the leader.”)
Almost immediately after assuming power,
Muammar el-Qaddafi is the leader of Libya. Since Qaddafi banned alcohol and expelled the Italian com-
his assumption of power in 1969, he has used his munity (a colonial remnant), and forced the British,
position to support insurgencies and terrorist groups French, and Americans to withdraw from the military
throughout the world. bases they had established on Libyan soil. Despite
Qaddafi’s exact birth date is unknown; a Bedouin, his claims of fealty to Islamic virtues, Qaddafi also
he was born in a tent in the Libyan desert near the town cracked down on the Sanusi sect, a politically influen-
of Surt. He grew up in the traditional tribal, nomadic tial system of Islamic schools and monasteries. By the
way of his people; throughout his life Qaddafi has mid-1970s, following the socialist philosophy dis-
extolled and romanticized tribal values and castigated cussed in his Green Book, Qaddafi had instituted an
the soulessness of modern industrial cities. unusual system of government in Libya. In brief, each
Qaddafi has always been fiercely proud and inde- town and village formed people’s councils to decide
pendent—traits for which the Bedouins are noted. local government policy; delegates from these local
Ambitious and intelligent, Qaddafi, from his earliest councils were sent to larger regional bodies, who in
youth, abhorred all forms of foreign domination and turn sent delegates to the national ruling body. Laws
“imperialism” in Libya. As a teenager, he came to were enforced by the Revolutionary Command
admire Gamal Abdel Nasser and was inspired by Council, of which Qaddafi was the head. This system
Nasser’s 1952 coup in Egypt. Qaddafi believed in and is called the Jamahiriya (“state of the masses”).
endorsed Nasser’s pan-Arabist philosophy. Critics believe the Jamahiriya was merely a new name
In 1961, Qaddafi enrolled in the Libyan military for a totalitarian consolidation of power, but support-
academy in the city of Benghazi. There he helped ers describe it as an effective method of involving the
found the Free Officers Movement, a group of young Libyan people in the political life of the state—impor-
military men who wanted to overthrow the Western- tant a country with a tiny educated elite and with a
supported King Idris I. Graduating in 1965, he rose short history of political participation having had no
quickly within military ranks. In September 1969, national political bodies until after World War II.
Qaddafi and the Free Officers participated in a blood- Qaddafi’s experiences shaped his extreme view of
less coup that exiled Idris. Some historians believe international relations. His beliefs and statements have
Qaddafi was the guiding spirit behind the coup, others often appeared inexplicable to outside observers; many
that he merely took advantage of it to achieve power. have characterized him as eccentric, and some have
Whatever the case, by 1970 Qaddafi had taken control gone so far as to call him mad. Yet certain predominant
of the Revolutionary Command Council and become themes and motivations can be discerned in even his

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