Moammar Gadhafi Becomes Head of Libya
Moammar Gadhafi became the head of Libya on September 1, 1969, following a bloodless coup that ousted King Idris I. Born in 1942 to a Bedouin family, Gadhafi was influenced by Egyptian leader Gamal Abdel Nasser and sought to promote Arab unity and socialism. Once in power, he implemented radical changes, including the removal of Western military bases, the nationalization of the oil industry, and the expulsion of native-born Jews and Italians. His governance was characterized by a unique blend of “direct popular democracy” and welfare state principles, which he outlined in his Green Book, published in 1976. Gadhafi's foreign policy was marked by hostility toward the West, support for terrorist organizations, and involvement in regional conflicts, notably the civil war in Chad. Although he adopted a less aggressive stance in the 1990s and cooperated with international authorities, particularly concerning weapons of mass destruction, his leadership remained controversial. Gadhafi's legacy continues to evoke diverse opinions reflecting the complexities of his rule and Libya's historical context.
Moammar Gadhafi Becomes Head of Libya
Moammar Gadhafi Becomes Head of Libya
Colonel Moammar Gadhafi (also spelled Khadafy or Qaddafi) became the head of the North African nation of Libya on September 1, 1969. A highly controversial leader, he has attempted to bring unity to the Arab world by means of a combative foreign policy and the sponsorship of terrorist organizations.
Libya had been a site of conflict and conquest since ancient times and had been conquered by the Carthaginians, the Ottoman Turks, and the Italians, before it was taken by Allied forces during World War II. It was held by the British and French after the war until 1949, at which time a United Nations resolution called for a granting of independence to Libya by January 1, 1952. Libya joined the Arab League in 1953 and the United Nations two years later. The country managed to stay out of the 1967 Six-Day War between Israel and its Arab neighbors but did provide economic aide to participating Arab nations after the war. The development of the oil industry became a financial boon to the country. By the late 1960s Libya was producing more than 85 million barrels of oil a month, and several nations had oil companies working in the country.
Gadhafi was born in Italian-occupied Libya in 1942 (the exact date of his birth is not known) to a Bedouin peasant family in the desert near Surt. As a youth he was drawn to Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser's philosophy, which included a call for Arab unity and hostility toward the West. Following his graduation from the Libyan military academy in 1965, Gadhafi moved up the ranks while plotting with others to overthrow King Idris I, who was too pro-Western for Gadhafi's liking. In addition, Libya's lack of involvement in the 1967 Six-Day War was unpopular with many Arabs. On September 1, 1969, while King Idris was out of the country seeking medical treatment, Gadhafi and his cohorts staged a bloodless coup. Gadhafi was named commander in chief of the armed forces and chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council. His political philosophy and his ideas of a Utopian Islamic socialism are set forth in his Green Book, published in three volumes in 1976.
Almost immediately, Gadhafi made several radical changes to Libyan policy. He forced the removal of the American and British military bases in Libya in 1970 and expelled many native-born Jews and Italians, seizing their property. In 1971 he was the driving force behind an unsuccessful attempt to form a pan-Arabic state with Egypt and Syria. Gadhafi nationalized oil assets in 1973 and endorsed the Arab oil embargo against the United States following the Arab-Israeli war of that same year. He also nationalized banks and insurance companies. Gadhafi combined this with some components of a welfare state and what he termed “direct popular democracy.” Despite relinquishing all formal posts in the government in 1979, he remained the real leader of Libya. Between February and June 1980, he had at least nine Libyan dissidents who refused to return to the country “liquidated” abroad. He has also supported the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and has historically been opposed to any negotiations with Israel. When Egypt began to make peace with Israel in the 1970s, Gadhafi publicly opposed the move.
Gadhafi's increasingly aggressive behavior manifested itself in several ways during the 1980s. He involved Libya's forces in a civil war in the neighboring nation of Chad and occupied part of northern Chad before signing a peace treaty with that country in 1989. Gadhafi's sponsoring of terrorism also led to the American bombing of several sites in Libya, allegedly killing at least one of Gadhafi's children and wounding several others. When two Libyans were accused of planting a bomb on a Pan American flight which exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988, Gadhafi refused to extradite them to either Britain or the United States. This decision led to economic sanctions against Libya by the United Nations.
During the 1990s Gadhafi adopted a less provocative stance. In 1999 he allowed the Lockerbie defendants to be extradited to the Netherlands and tried under Scottish law, so that UN sanctions were lifted. Then, in December 2003, Libya volunteered to eliminate its weapons of mass destruction, marking a major shift in the country's foreign policy. As of the writing of this book, Gadhafi is still the head of Libya.