What has Muammar al-Gaddafi done wrong?

Everything. He’s done everything wrong.

He’s been in power for 41 years as a dictator. Suppressing the people, taking away their rights. I know that’s vague, but he’s basically just insane as well. Are you aware of his Amazonian Guard? He’s crazy and I think the people have finally had enough of his crap.

Well murdering his people might have irritated some of them. ~

He is insane. Listen to any of his rambling speeches. His own people are being mowed down in the street at his command. He says he wishes to be a martyr- I think you have to do something GOOD to be a martyr but I will be more than happy to see him die to find out.

He is obviously a bad, mad man but that hasn’t stopped others keeping hold of power until they relinquish at a time of their choosing.

What he has got wrong is hanging around too long without giving the impression of changing anything that people obviously have grown very tired of. At least other dictators have gone out their way to keep the people distracted with wars and famines and carefully crafted propaganda. He just became a lazy old whinging git with a crap facelift. What population would put up with that for over 40 years?

Pretty close to everything. I think it is finally as bat-shit crazy as his Korean counter-part. The only difference is that Gaddafi has more hats and doesn’t have a state cult to assert his godhood.

Isn’t this the Line of Death guy from the early 80’s?

Funding terrorism for decades has finally come back to bite him because it has hurt his own country and its people as well as those hurt by those groups he funded.

He’s a dictator.
What more do you need?
They all live on borrowed time. He borrowed over 40 years.

So, all I got is that hes done everything wrong. It only sounds like hearsay to me. Also, @Dr_Lawrence he offered to help fight against terrorism, not fund it.

It only sounds like hearsay to me.

Here, have some video evidence of his crimes. (Extremely graphic content at both links.)

@Fiddle_Playing_Creole_Bastard That’s only after the protests start. I’m asking what he did wrong before the uprising.

Try reading this article I found on AlJazeera.

Here’s an excerpt:

Many believed that Colonel Gaddafi’s regime in Libya would withstand the gale of change sweeping the Arab world because of its reputation for brutality which had fragmented the six million-strong population over the past 42 years.

Its likely disappearance now, after a few days of protest by unarmed demonstrators is all-the-more surprising because it has systematically destroyed even the slightest pretence of dissidence and has atomised Libyan society to ensure that no organisation – formal or spontaneous – could ever consolidate sufficiently to oppose it.

Political Islam, whether radical or moderate, has been the principle victim, especially after an Islamist rebellion in Cyrenaica, the country’s eastern region, in the latter 1990s. Other political currents have been exiled since 1973, when “direct popular democracy” was declared and the jamahiriyah, the “state of the masses”, came into existence.

Even the Libyan army was treated with suspicion, with its officer corps controlled and monitored for potential disloyalty. No wonder that major units now seems to have broken away from the regime and made the liberation of Eastern Libya possible.

He was a dictator at the wrong place at the wrong time…the people wanted freedom and democracy… and he denied it. The riots just were encouraged on by Egypt’s successes… didn’t he give a hero’s welcome to a terrorist( Lockerbie bomber) from Scotland? ... pissing in the wind is a bad Idea if that wind is freedom, and peace.

Along with the way he has treated his own people, he is also alleged to have been behind the Lockerbie bombing in which 270 people were killed. I have no sympathy for a person who can do this or for a leader who will have his own military attack his people to stay in power.

http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/muammar-gaddafi-ordered-lockerbie-bombing-says-libyan-minister/story-e6frfku0-1226011070628

@Afos22, he installed a massive surveillance program to spy on his own citizenry.
He has executed dissidents numerous times.
He has allowed Libya to become the most censored country in the the Greater Middle East and Northern Africa, according to the Freedom of the Press Index.
He went to war against Chad because their leader was black and Christian and after he lost the war, he retaliated against French involvement by arranging for a bomb to be carried on a French passenger plane, which killed all 170 people on board.
He has stockpiled mustard gas.
He has ordered his foreign diplomats, in the past, to kill his critics that were seeking asylum abroad, particularly in Britain.
He supposedly helped finance the massacre at the 1972 Summer Olympics.
He once bragged about training suicide bombers to kill Americans and Europeans and reportedly planned to assassinate Ronald Reagan.
He trained Liberian guerrilla and former president Charles Taylor, who was convicted of crimes against humanity.
To top it all off, he thinks AIDs is cool. I’m not joking.

In short, he’s a psychotic, oppressive dictator who has on numerous occasions supported various enemies of the Free World all while managing to become one of the biggest scumbags of the 20th and 21st centuries. May fuck be upon him forever and ever, amen.

@talljasperman : I don’t think that there is never a right time for a dictator.

@Fiddle_Playing_Creole_Bastard… applauds. And may the people of Libya be successful in getting rid of him with a few lives lost as is possible.

What about his own people? What has he done to his own people that would cause them to revolt? It seems to have more to do with what @talljasperman said. They see other countries protesting and they figured they should too. The grass always seems greener on the other side.

@Afos22, umm… well there were the first three points in my list, for starters. You know, the whole killing his own people when they didn’t agree with him thing, and stripping the rest of basic human rights, such as freedom of speech and privacy and property rights to an extent.

Also, the fact that he has maintained nearly absolute power in Libya since 1969 doesn’t make you raise an eyebrow? I can’t imagine anyone in the modern world wanting to live under the same oppressive douchebag for 42 years with no hope of anyone else being elected to replace him. In my eyes, that’s more than enough reason to start a riot.

And the fact that he’s responding to protests with extreme violence is reason enough in and of itself to know he’s a piece of shit.

Back in the 80’s his nickname was Gaddafi Duck , because he was bat-shit crazy.

Don’t forget the looting of the country’s assets. He has taken the treasury for his own personal use. He has stolen billions. That’s why his assets have been frozen.

Why didn’t the whore banks do that earlier? Because they were making money on his stolen money. Now that the people have revolted, the banks are getting religion.

Gaddafi always reacted spitefully to Western Imperialist maneuvering and bullying, unfortunately as nauseating as Western domineering is, it is imperative to not sink to their depths, Rule no.1

State sanctioned murder of innocent civilians is unacceptable morally and a strategic own goal in the greater propaganda war. Nevertheless any attempt to stand up against the West did engender local support despite human rights abuses and privations, but eventually Gaddafi succumbed to the temptation of Lucrative Western business deals, and oil contracts. Sensible enough you might think, after many years of doggedly fighting for Libya’s self respect, everyone breaths a sigh of relief, Even America who had travelled thousands of miles to pick a fight with a man and a country that had absolutely nothing to do with them, and then depict Gaddafi as the vilest thing that crawled out of Africa. Why oh why did it get so personal? anyway after years of Reagenite/Gaddafi idiocy, and mutual vindictiveness, relationships improved and America knew they had to reverse the propaganda machine and do business or miss out on all that top grade oil to the Europeans. Unfortuantely to the ever patient and long suffering citizens Gaddafi and his dynasty began to resemble all the other stinking rich tin pot dicators who brutalize their impoverished citizens and grow evermore distant and cruel. Rule no. 2 Spread the newfound wealth.

Rule no. 3 Eccentricity is only endearing if you are fundamentally humane.

You will get some idea from reading this short article by John Simpson.

He disagreed with disagreement as such. People not only want food (Libya is relatively well off), they want freedom of thought and freedom of speech.

Compared to many past US presidents and many other current leaders he does not look too bad.
The question is why are we trained to see him as the devil in person?
Before, many countries made pretty much deals with this man. Germany sent there unwanted immigrants to Lybia to the “Nirvana” and the US, EU and other countries sold a heavy amount of weapons. But now there is a change of plan.
The wars of today happen with the instrument of psychology and media.

Please train us to be quite and see this terrible war as a necessisty ;)
The oil is waiting.

He has done bad things as stated above, but one thing I learned about the USA is that if we can make you dance for us or give us a cut of the pie.. we will make you seem like the scum of the earth. Here are some decent things he did.
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 0% interest by law. 3. Home considered a human right in Libya 4. All newlyweds in Libya receive $60,000 Dinar (US$50,000) by the government to buy their first apartment so to help start up the family. Is this what you call a dictator Traditional wedding in Tripoli, Libya 5. Education and medical treatments are free in Libya. Before Gaddafi only 25% of Libyans are literate. Today the figure is 83%. 6. Should Libyans want to take up farming career, they would receive farming land, a farming house, equipments, seeds and livestock to kick-start their farms are all for free. 7. If Libyans cannot find the education or medical facilities they need in Libya, the government funds them to go abroad for it is not only free but they get US$2,300/mth accommodation and car allowance. 8. In Libyan, if a Libyan buys a car, the government subsidized 50% of the price. 9. The price of petrol in Libya is $0.14 per liter. 10. Libya has no external debt and its reserves amount 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 Libyan oil sale is, credited directly to the bank accounts of all Libyan citizens. 13. A mother who gave birth to a child receive US$5,000 14. 40 loaves of bread in Libya costs $ 0.15 15. 25% of Libyans have a university degree 16. Gaddafi carried out the world’s largest irrigation project, known as the Great Man-Made River project, to make water readily available throughout the desert country. It’s best to know both sides of the coin before judging anything.

If we can’t*

@303iD It just goes to show that no good deed goes unpunished.

Venezuela has a president that has really helped his country but no big supporter of the U.S., hence, he’s a bad guy and is living on borrowed time until the U.S. trumps up reasons for an assignation or invasion.

I am surprised that the U.S. hasn’t invaded Cuba again.

We replaced a democratically elected president in Iran and replaced him with the Shah and a CIA trained police force, is it any wonder that the older Iranians hate us? I a surprised that the young ones like us.

No matter what any of the above mention did, they do not compare the the death and destruction rained down on them by U.S. Presidents.

Everyone of you lunkheads who put this man down don’t know nothing about this man nor Libya and I’m finding it hard to still myself and be civil from the anger I have towards the absolute lies spread here, I’m no fan of Gadaffi’s, but his people are now suffering because of the same lies told here on this thread…
He gave his people everything and killed nor genocide anyone..Get a bloody brain and then try using it….The list of good he did for Libyans are astronomical, was he a good guy, no!, He was eccentric and a bit nutty, but he was good for Africans and Libyans and you need to do a great deal more research, most of you are to dumbed down to even give nearly anything resembling the truth here?
The Arabs just like the Ghetto Cracker in Chief lied about Gaddafi and wanted him out of the way and you fools took it bait line and lunker with one gulp…Same thing is happening again in Syria by order of the Obamanation and I bet your all for the FSA too, who by the way are slaughtering Syrian civilians…
These so called FSA are Arab, Sunni Muslim Brotherhood who could care the less about the Syrians, research your history between the Sunni Arabs and Shina’s…
Your precious god Obama is getting innocent people murdered….

How about doing a little research before buying into the BS that’s so prevalent out there, makes you look foolish…

http://jericho777.wordpress.com/2013/03/30/the-real-libya-what-muammar-gaddafi-did/

http://www.sudantribune.com/Gaddafi-death-shame-on-Libyans-so,40540

@jericho777 Welcome to Fluther. You might want to tone down responses like that. We are happy to read WHY we are wrong, but the personal attacks just don’t help.