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| − | {{merge|Muammar al-Gaddafi}}
| + | #REDIRECT [[Muammar al-Gaddafi]] |
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| − | [[Image:Htfr658.jpg|right|thumb|260px]]
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| − | 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.
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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>
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| − | :"I find he's not only a barbarian, but he's flaky. ... I just think that the man is a zealot."
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| − | Reportedly Qaddafi supported [[terrorism]], and may have ordered Lybian agents to bomb Pan Am flight 103 over Scotland in 1988, killing 270 people from 21 countries, including 189 Americans. <ref>http://www.ibdeditorials.com/IBDArticles.aspx?id=291597467978635</ref>
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| − | 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.
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| − | ==References==
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| − | <references/>
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| − | {{DEFAULTSORT:Qaddafi, Muammar}}
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| − | [[Category:Heads of State]]
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