Libya: Ten Things About Gaddafi They Dont Want You to Know

[Zoq_Elia]

Libya: Ten Things About Gaddafi They Dont Want You to Know
By Global Research News
Global Research, November 16, 2014
Urban Times 16 May 2014
Region: Middle East & North Africa
Theme: Media Disinformation, Poverty & Social Inequality

What do you think of when you hear the name Colonel Gaddafi? Tyrant? Dictator? Terrorist? Well, a national citizen of Libya may disagree but we want you to decide.
For 41 years until his demise in October 2011, Muammar Gaddafi did some truly amazing things for his country and repeatedly tried to unite and empower the whole of Africa.
So despite what youve heard on the radio, seen in the media or on the TV, Gaddafi did some powerful things that are not characteristic of a vicious dictator as portrayed by the western media.
Here are ten things Gaddafi did for Libya that you may not know about

1. In Libya a home is considered a natural human right

In Gaddafis Green Book it states: The house is a basic need of both the individual and the family, therefore it should not be owned by others. Gaddafis Green Book is the formal leaders political philosophy, it was first published in 1975 and was intended reading for all Libyans even being included in the national curriculum.


2. Education and medical treatment were all free

Under Gaddafi, Libya could boast one of the best healthcare services in the Middle East and Africa. Also if a Libyan citizen could not access the desired educational course or correct medical treatment in Libya they were funded to go abroad.


3. Gaddafi carried out the worlds largest irrigation project

The largest irrigation system in the world also known as the great manmade river was designed to make water readily available to all Libyans across the entire country. It was funded by the Gaddafi government and it said that Gaddafi himself called it the eighth wonder of the world.

​

4. It was free to start a farming business

If any Libyan wanted to start a farm they were given a house, farm land and live stock and seeds all free of charge.


5. A bursary was given to mothers with newborn babies

When a Libyan woman gave birth she was given 5000 (US dollars) for herself and the child.


6. Electricity was free

Electricity was free in Libya meaning absolutely no electric bills!


7. Cheap petrol

During Gaddafis reign the price of petrol in Libya was as low as 0.14 (US dollars) per litre.


8. Gaddafi raised the level of education

Before Gaddafi only 25% of Libyans were literate. This figure was brought up to 87% with 25% earning university degrees.


9. Libya had Its own state bank

Libya had its own State bank, which provided loans to citizens at zero percent interest by law and they had no external debt.


10. The gold dinar

Before the fall of Tripoli and his untimely demise, Gaddafi was trying to introduce a single African currency linked to gold. Following in the foot steps of the late great pioneer Marcus Garvey who first coined the term United States of Africa. Gaddafi wanted to introduce and only trade in the African gold Dinar a move which would have thrown the world economy into chaos.
The Dinar was widely opposed by the elite of todays society and who could blame them. African nations would have finally had the power to bring itself out of debt and poverty and only trade in this precious commodity. They would have been able to finally say no to external exploitation and charge whatever they felt suitable for precious resources. It has been said that the gold Dinar was the real reason for the NATO led rebellion, in a bid to oust the outspoken leader.


So, was Muammar Gaddafi a Terrorist?

Few can answer this question fairly, but if anyone can, its a Libyan citizen who has lived under his reign? Whatever the case, it seems rather apparent that he did some positive things for his country despite the infamous notoriety surrounding his name. And thats something you should try to remember when judging in future.


This quirky video documentary spells out an interesting, if rather different, story from the one we think we know.

http://playit.pk/watch?v=TkTUDw0mjMA
​

Sixteen Things Libya Will Never See Again



By Disinfo.com
Global Research, October 25, 2011
disinfo.com 25 October 2011

Region: Middle East & North Africa
Theme: Culture, Society & History, Poverty & Social Inequality, US NATO War Agenda
In-depth Report: NATO'S WAR ON LIBYA

1. There is no electricity bill in Libya; electricity is free for all its citizens.
   
2. There is no interest on loans, banks in Libya are state-owned and loans given to all its citizens at zero percent interest by law.
3. Having a home considered a human right in Libya.
4. All newlyweds in Libya receive $60,000 dinar (U.S.$50,000) by the government to buy their first apartment so to help start up the family.
5. Education and medical treatments are free in Libya. Before Gaddafi only 25 percent of Libyans were literate. Today, the figure is 83 percent.
6. Should Libyans want to take up farming career, they would receive farming land, a farming house, equipments, seeds and livestock to kickstart their farms are all for free.
7. If Libyans cannot find the education or medical facilities they need, the government funds them to go abroad, for it is not only paid for, but they get a U.S.$2,300/month for accommodation and car allowance.
8. If a Libyan buys a car, the government subsidizes 50 percent of the price.
9. The price of petrol in Libya is $0.14 per liter.
10. Libya has no external debt and its reserves amounting to $150 billion are now frozen globally.
11. If a Libyan is unable to get employment after graduation the state would pay the average salary of the profession, as if he or she is employed, until employment is found.
12. A portion of every Libyan oil sale is credited directly to the bank accounts of all Libyan citizens.
13. A mother who gives birth to a child receive U.S.$5,000.
14. 40 loaves of bread in Libya costs $0.15.
15. 25 percent of Libyans have a university degree.
16. Gaddafi carried out the worlds largest irrigation project, known as the Great Manmade River project, to make water readily available throughout the desert country.

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[Talwar Gujjar]

Libya was generally secure in economic terms but Qaddafi was a terror. You will be dead if you were thought to be a even remotely dissident.

 

[the mute]

Now they are free, they can speak out everything (let's say so) but hunger, crimes, caos, loan, insecurity etc.. wrap all country and people
By the way if we say Kaddafi is a terrorist, so what is the leader of North Korea or China etc..?
Why has the West (or the USA) ever interfere in countries except for Muslims?

 

[airbender]

Have you missed the C-130 filed with Gold landed in Pakistan a gift from Gaddafi.............currently i am pretty sure the same gold is lying in Swiss bank from bhuttos family

 

[shumali]

Have you missed the C-130 filed with Gold landed in Pakistan a gift from Gaddafi.............currently i am pretty sure the same gold is lying in Swiss bank from bhuttos family

Is it true, is there a link to this story, or any proof?

 

[mufasa ace]

Compare the time of Saddam's rule in Iraq and now what's happening in Iraq, see the difference same thing goes to Libya Before Qaddafi and after Qaddafi...... so we need to understand and learn

 

[airbender]

@shumali ,,,,,,,let me give some time to scan the source and upload for you .....

 

[cheetah]

When Ghadaffi shook hand with west and started to compromise on principles which led to his downfall, west played master stroke and the turn of Saudi monarchs is very near, they have started to feel the heat.

 

[Rooh-e-Safar]

Muammar al-Qaddafi Biography
Dictator (19422011)
http://www.biography.com/people/muammar-al-qaddafi-39014#synopsis

Muammar al-Qaddafi seized control of the Libyan government in 1969 and ruled as an authoritarian dictator for more than 40 years before he was overthrown in 2011.

Synopsis
Muammar al-Qaddafi was born in a Bedouin tent in Sirte, Libya, in 1942. He joined the military and staged a coup to seize control of Libya in 1969, ousting King Idris. Though his Arab nationalist rhetoric and socialist-style policies gained him support in the early days of his rule, his corruption, military interference in Africa, and record of horrific human rights abuses turned much of the Libyan population against him. Accused of supporting terrorism, in the last decade of his rule Qaddafi reached a rapprochement with Western leaders, and Libya became a key provider of oil to Europe. During the "Arab Spring" of 2011, NATO troops supported dissidents attempting to overthrow Qaddafi's government. After months on the run, on October 20, 2011, he was killed in his hometown of Sirte.

Early Life
Muammar al-Qaddafi was born on June 7, 1942, in Sirte, Libya. Raised in a Bedouin tent in the Libyan desert, he came from a tribal family called the al-Qadhafah. At the time of his birth, Libya was an Italian colony. In 1951, Libya gained independence under the Western-allied King Idris. As a young man Qaddafi was influenced by the Arab nationalist movement, and admired Egyptian leader Gamal Abdel Nasser. In 1961 Qaddafi entered the military college in the city of Benghazi. He also spent four months receiving military training in the United Kingdom.


After graduating, Qaddafi steadily rose through the ranks of the military. As disaffection with Idris grew, Qaddafi became involved with a movement of young officers to overthrow the king. A talented and charismatic man, Qaddafi rose to power in the group. On September 1, 1969, King Idris was overthrown while he was abroad in Turkey for medical treatment. Qaddafi was named commander in chief of the armed forces and chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council, Libya's new ruling body. At age 27, he had become the ruler of Libya.

Taking Control of Libya
Qaddafi's first order of business was to shut down the American and British military bases in Libya. He also demanded that foreign oil companies in Libya share a bigger portion of revenue with the country. Qaddafi replaced the Gregorian calendar with the Islamic one, and forbade the sale of alcohol.


Feeling threatened by a failed coup attempt by his fellow officers in December 1969, Qaddafi put in laws criminalizing political dissent. In 1970, he expelled the remaining Italians from Libya and emphasized what he saw as the battle between Arab nationalism and Western imperialism. He vocally opposed Zionism and Israel, and expelled the Jewish community from Libya. Qaddafi's inner circle of trusted people became smaller and smaller, as power was shared by himself and a small group of associates. His intelligence agents traveled around the world to intimidate and assassinate Libyans living in exile.


In these early days, Qaddafi sought to orient Libya away from the West and towards the Middle East and Africa. He involved the Libyan military in several foreign conflicts, including in Egypt and Sudan, and the bloody civil war in Chad.


In the mid-1970s, Qaddafi published the first volume of the Green Book, an explanation of his political philosophy. The three-volume work describes the problems with liberal democracy and capitalism, and promotes Qaddafi's policies as the remedy. Qaddafi claimed that Libya boasted popular committees and shared ownership, but in reality this was far from true. Qaddafi had appointed himself or close family and friends to all positions of power, and their corruption and crackdowns on any kind of civic organizing meant much of the population lived in poverty. Meanwhile, Qaddafi and those close to him were amassing fortunes in oil revenue while the regime murdered those it deemed as dissidents.


International Notoriety
Qaddafi's ruling style was not just oppressive, it was eccentric. He had a cadre of female bodyguards in heels, considered himself the king of Africa, erected a tent to stay in when he traveled abroad, and dressed in strange costume-like outfits. His bizarre antics often distracted from his brutality, and earned him the nickname "the mad dog of the Middle East."


In addition to his destructive rule at home, Qaddafi was despised by much of the international community. His government was implicated in the financing of many anti-Western groups around the world, including some terror plots. The Irish Republican Army allegedly had links to Qaddafi. Because of the regime's links to Irish terrorism, the United Kingdom cut off diplomatic relations with Libya for more than a decade.


In 1986, Libyan terrorists were thought to be behind the bombing of a West Berlin dance club that killed three and injured scores of people. The U.S. in turn, under President Ronald Reagan's administration, bombed specific targets in Libya that included Qaddafi's residence in Tripoli.


In the most famous instance of the country's connection to terrorism, Libya was implicated in the 1988 Lockerbie bombing. A plane carrying 259 people blew up near Lockerbie, Scotland, killing all on board, with falling debris killing 11 civilians on the ground. Libyan terrorists, including an in-law of Qaddafi's, were also believed to be behind the destruction of a French passenger jet in 1989, killing all 170 on board.


Rapprochement With the West
In 1990s, the relationship between Qaddafi and the West began to thaw. As Qaddafi faced a growing threat from Islamists who opposed his rule, he began to share information with the British and American intelligence services. In 1994, Nelson Mandela persuaded the Libyan leader to hand over the suspects from the Lockerbie bombing. It wasn't long before Qaddafi had mended relations with the West on many fronts.


Qaddafi was welcomed in Western capitals, and Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi counted him among his close friends. Qaddafi's son and heir apparent, Seif al-Islam Qaddafi, mixed with London's high society for several years. Many critics of the newfound friendship of Qaddafi and the West believed it was based on business and access to oil.


In 2001, the United Nations eased sanctions on Libya, and foreign oil companies worked out lucrative new contracts to operate in the country. The influx of money to Libya made Qaddafi, his family and his associates even wealthier. The disparity between the ruling family and the masses became ever more apparent.


Arab Spring
After more than four decades in power, Qaddafi's downfall happened in less than a year. In January 2011, the Tunisian revolution forced out longtime dictator Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali and set off the Arab Spring. The next month, Egyptian ruler Hosni Mubarak was forced out, providing a morale boost to protesters in several Arab capitals. Despite the atmosphere of severe repression, demonstrations broke out in the city of Benghazi and spread throughout Libya.


Qaddafi used aggressive force to try to suppress the protests, and the violence quickly escalated. Police and foreign mercenaries were brought in to shoot at protesters, and helicopters were sent to bombard citizens from the air. As casualties mounted, Libyans grew more determined to see Qaddafi's ouster. As violence spread through the country, Qaddafi made several rambling speeches on state television, claiming the demonstrators were traitors, foreigners, al-Qaeda and drug addicts. He urged his supporters to continue the fight, and small groups of heavily armed loyalists battled against the rebels.


By the end of February 2011, the opposition had gained control over much of the country, and the rebels formed a governing body called the National Transitional Council. The opposition surrounded Tripoli, where Qaddafi still had some support. Most of the international community expressed support for the NTC and called for the ouster of Qaddafi. At the end of March, a NATO coalition began to provide support for the rebel forces in the form of airstrikes and a no-fly zone. NATO's military intervention over the next six months proved to be decisive. In April, a NATO attack killed one of Qaddafi's sons. When Tripoli fell to rebel forces in late August, it was seen as a major victory for the opposition and a symbolic end for Qaddafi's rule.


In June 2011, the International Criminal Court issued warrants for the arrest of Qaddafi, his son Seif al-Islam, and his brother-in-law for crimes against humanity. In July, more than 30 countries recognized the NTC as the legitimate government of Libya. Qaddafi had lost control of Libya, but his whereabouts were still unknown.

Death and Turmoil
On October 20, 2011, Libyan officials announced that Muammar al-Qaddafi had died near his hometown of Sirte, Libya. Early reports had conflicting accounts of his death, with some stating that he had been killed in a gun battle and others claiming that he had been targeted by a NATO aerial attack. Video circulated of Qaddafi's bloodied body being dragged around by fighters.


For months, Qaddafi and his family had been at large, believed to be hiding in the western part of the country where they still had small pockets of support. As news of the former dictator's death spread, Libyans poured into the streets, celebrating the what many hailed as the culmination of their revolution.


Post Qaddafi, Libya has continued to be embroiled in violence. With state authority eventually being held by the General National Congress, various militia groups have vied for power. Dozens of political figures and activists in Benghazi have been killed, with many having to leave the area. The country has also seen a succession of interim prime ministers.

 

[moshejubin]

Now they are free, they can speak out everything (let's say so) but hunger, crimes, caos, loan, insecurity etc.. wrap all country and people
By the way if we say Kaddafi is a terrorist, so what is the leader of North Korea or China etc..?
Why has the West (or the USA) ever interfere in countries except for Muslims?

muslims deserve it .
they do not know what is peaceful coexistence and human rights .

 

[Zoq_Elia]

Muammar al-Qaddafi Biography

.......................
Post Qaddafi, Libya has continued to be embroiled in violence. With state authority eventually being held by the General National Congress, various militia groups have vied for power. Dozens of political figures and activists in Benghazi have been killed, with many having to leave the area. The country has also seen a succession of interim prime ministers.

All you Provided is mixed with western Propaganda and with Twisted reality hiding many truths. But End result cannot be changed. you have told same in the end what I presented in this thread.
I am not Defending Muammar al-Qaddafi wrongs But Also not Masking the Real Agenda of NATO, USA and Israel in the name of ARAB SPRING in this region and now in Middle East.
What Kind of this Spring was, Which Spread Worst than Autumn in Middle East Along with Libya. Now USA and Israel can achieve their goals more easily. Who is serving USA & Israeli Cause??????????

Libya is on the verge of collapse
Three years after the fall of dictator Moammar Gadhafi, Libya is being torn apart by power struggles. The security situation is catastrophic and the country is sliding into civil war. ........... "Many Libyans," says Meyer, "yearn for the stability that Gadhafi provided - even though he was an authoritarian ruler."

All your Highlights are already answered in Related Articles Provided in the End of thread.

 

[the mute]

muslims deserve it .
they do not know what is peaceful coexistence and human rights .

To some extent I can agree with this statement.
But if nobody (I mean the West or the USA) interferes with China, does it mean they know what is peaceful coexistance and human rights?
It's so obvious that you are unaware of China's cruelty on Sark-i Turkistan (or let's say East Turkistan) or even India's cruelty on Kashmiris..
So if there are parliamentarism governing, the rulers, governers have all right to do what they want, is it so?