Muammar Al-gaddafi Quotations

This person article needs cleanup. Please review , especially the , to determine how to edit this article to conform to the current standard. This page has been listed as needing cleanup since 2009-09-25.

Muammar abu Minyar al-Gaddafi (born c.1942) has been the de facto leader of Libya since 1969.

Sourced

Democracy

• The era of the masses, which follows the age of the republics, excites the feelings and dazzles the eyes. But even though the vision of this era denotes genuine freedom of the masses and their happy emancipation from the bonds of external authoritarian structures, it warns also of the dangers of a period of chaos and demagoguery, and the threat of a return to the authority of the individual, the sect and party, instead of the authority of the people. Theoretically, this is genuine democracy but, realistically, the strong always rules. That is, the stronger party in the society is the one that rules.
  • The Green Book (1975)

• There is no state with a democracy except Libya on the whole planet.
  • Speech to students at Columbia University (23 March 2006)

• In the Middle East, the opposition is quite different than the opposition in advanced countries. In our countries, the opposition takes the form of explosions, assassinations, killings.
  • Speech to students at Columbia University (23 March 2006)

Religion

• There are serious mistakes, among them the one saying that Jesus came as a messenger for other people other than the sons of Israel.… Christianity is not a faith for people in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas. Other people who are not sons of Israel have nothing to do with that religion.… It is a mistake that another religion exists alongside Islam. There is only one religion which is Islam after Mohammed.… All those believers who do not follow Islam are losers.
  • Sermon to a prayer meeting in Niger (30 March 2007), quoted in Salah Sarrar (2007-03-30) "Gaddafi says only Islam a universal religion" Reuters UK

• We have 50 million Muslims in Europe. There are signs that Allah will grant Islam victory in Europe—without swords, without guns, without conquest—will turn it into a Muslim continent within a few decades.
  • (10 April 2006), quoted in Steven Stalinsky (2006-09-06) "Terrorists Promise More Attacks Like 9/11" New York Sun

• "They have divided Islam into two Islams, and there came to be Shi'ite Islam and Sunni Islam. This is a forbidden innovation [bid'a]… When did Muhammad say: "I have brought you Shi'ite Islam and Sunni Islam?"... they have now begun to group the Arabs against Iran and Iran against the Arabs, and then Shi'ites against Sunnis and Sunnis against Shi'ites. I will not be a part of conspiracy that divides Islam into two, that is a conspiracy I cannot be a part of."
  • In Overture to Iran, Qaddafi Declares North Africa Shi'ite and Calls for Establishment of New Fatimid State April 2007

Pan-Arabism and Pan-Africanism

• Libya is an African country. May Allah help the Arabs and keep them away from us. We don't want anything to do with them. They did not fight with us against the Italians, and they did not fight with us against the Americans. They did not lift the sanctions and siege from us....I won't be a party to a conspiracy to mobilize the Arabs against the Persians. Only the forces of colonialism benefit from such a conspiracy. I won't be a party to a conspiracy that splits Islam into two - Shiite Islam and Sunni Islam – mobilizing Sunni Islam against Shiite Islam.
  • Libyan Leader Mu'ammar Al-Qadhafi: The Arab Nation's Time Is Up March 2007

• Africa is closer to me in every way than Iraq or Syria.
  • (2001), as quoted in Gerald Butt (2001-02-06) "Analysis: Gaddafi's revolution" BBC News

• The times of Arab nationalism and unity are gone forever. These ideas which mobilized the masses are only a worthless currency. Libya has had to put up with too much from the Arabs for whom it has poured forth both blood and money.
  • (2003), as quoted in Maria Rost Rublee (2009) Nonproliferation Norms

Terrorism

• We believe America is practicing all kinds of terrorism against Libya. Even the accusation that we are involved in terrorism is in itself an act of terrorism.
  • Interview with Time magazine, June 8, 1981 **http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,922551-2,00.html.

• I have nothing but scorn for the notion of an Islamic bomb. There is no such thing as an Islamic bomb or a Christian bomb. Any such weapon is a means of terrorizing humanity, and we are against the manufacture and acquisition of nuclear weapons. This is in line with our definition of—and opposition to—terrorism.
  • Interview with Time magazine, June 8, 1981 **http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,922551-1,00.html.

• The Libyans said they'll buy their way out of these three [terrorism] black lists. We'll pay so much, to hell with $2 billion or more. It's not compensation. It's a price. The Americans said it was Libya who did it. It is known that the president was madman Reagan who's got Alzheimer's and has lost his mind. He now crawls on all fours.
  • "The New Libya", SBS Dateline, October 8 2003 **http://news.sbs.com.au/dateline/index.php?page=archive&daysum=2003-10-08#.

America

• Nothing would please me more, but who else would pump the oil that we need? God damn America.
  • Response to a question on expelling Americans from Libya (March 1973), quoted in "The Arab World: Oil, Power, Violence" (1973-04-02) Time

• Why should we be closer to the Soviets? Because the Americans have challenged us. America is involved in a conspiracy [against the Arab world], primarily because of its policy toward Israel. In our view, whoever is against the Americans stands with us. The enemy of your enemy is your friend.
  • Interview with Time magazine, April 9, 1979

• Ronald Reagan plays with fire. He doesn't care about international peace. He sees the world like the theater.
  • (1981), quoted in UPI (1986-08-08) "Moammar Gadhafi, the man the world loves to hate" Lodi News-Sentinel

• Irrespective of the conflict with America, it is a human duty to show sympathy with the American people and be with them at these horrifying and awesome events which are bound to awaken human conscience. When I was five, my brother was shot by an Israeli soldier, since then I have been dedicated to uniting the Arab countries throughout the Middle East and retain a trade flow with the west.
  • Regarding the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks [1].

• The statements of our Kenyan brother of American nationality, Obama, on Jerusalem ... show that he either ignores international politics and did not study the Middle East conflict or that it [Barack Obama's expression of solidarity with Israel] is a campaign lie. We fear that Obama will feel that, because he is black with an inferiority complex, this will make him behave worse than the whites. This will be a tragedy. We tell him to be proud of himself as a black and feel that all Africa is behind him.
  • 'Gaddafi attacks Obama on Israel'. BBC News, 12 June 2008

• "The black people’s struggle has vanquished racism. It was God who created colour. Today Obama, a son of Kenya, a son of Africa, has made it in the United States of America."
  • Kadhafi closes AU summit, division over plans for "United States of Africa"

Israel

• Israel is a colonialist-imperialist phenomenon. There is no such thing as an Israeli people. Before 1948, world geography knew of no state such as Israel. Israel is the result of an invasion, of aggression.
  • Interview with Time magazine, April 9, 1979 **http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,920211-1,00.html.

Other

• I've got two idols in my life — President Lincoln and Dr. Sun Yat-sen.
  • Quoted from a newspaper article in "China Times", January 19, 2006.

• Man’s freedom is lacking if somebody else controls what he needs, for need may result in man’s enslavement of man.
  • The Green Book (1975)

• Whenever I ask about Pepsi-Cola or Coca-Cola, people immediately say it is an American or European drink. This is not true. The kola is African. They have taken the cheap raw material from us. They produced it, they made it into a drink, and they sell it to us for a high price. Why are Pepsi-Cola and Coca-Cola expensive? Because they have taken our kola, produced it, and sold it back to us. We should produce it ourselves and sell it to them.
  • Speech in Conakry, New Guinea (25 June 1007). Modern cola drinks contain very little kola nut, although they do use African vanilla.

• It is a response to greedy Western nations, who invade and exploit Somalia's water resources illegally. It is not a piracy, it is self defence. It is defending the Somalia children's food.
  • Remarks at African Union headquarters (5 February 2009), quoted in Argaw Ahine (2009-02-05) "Gaddafi defends Somali pirates" Daily Nation

• During my term in AU, I will initiate an organised compensation claim for Africa and I will fight for a greater voice for Africa in the United Nations Security Council. If they do not want to live with us fairly, it is our planet and they can go to another planet.
  • Remarks at African Union headquarters (5 February 2009), quoted in Argaw Ahine (2009-02-05) "Gaddafi defends Somali pirates" Daily Nation

• I am an international leader, the dean of the Arab rulers, the king of kings of Africa and the imam of Muslims, and my international status does not allow me to descend to a lower level.
  • Gaddafi walks out of summit after attack on Saudi king, Scotsman, 31 March 2009

External links

• Colonel Gaddafi's Libya (May 2006)
• ANALYSIS-Gaddafi's hand seen in Chad objections to UN force (April 2007)

Video clips

• Libyan Leader Mu'ammar Al-Qadhafi: The Arab Nation's Time Is Up; I Love the Black American Secretary of State of African Origin Leezza Very Much (March 2007)
• Libyan Leader Muammar al-Gaddafi

Related 'Muammar Al-gaddafi' Searches: