Why Libya Fights: The Crimes of Gaddafi

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February 23, 2011 • 6:00 am PST
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Update: We're featuring this article, originally published in February, to provide useful context on Gaddafi's death.

Until this month's protests, Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi wasn't in the public eye. That hasn't always been the case, however. Gaddafi previously found the spotlight as either a pariah or an eccentric, and often both (unfortunately for his public image, he has a talent for looking perpetually hungover). In his 41-year tenure as the "Leader and Guide of the Revolution," Gaddafi's exploits moved Ronald Reagan to coin him "the mad dog of the Middle East."

Click on for a look at a few of his many notorious acts as Libya's autocrat.

Wylie Overstreet

Images via Wikimedia

Posted in: News

Tags: politics,; media,; history,; protests,; middle east,; libya,; muammar gaddafi

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