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Today marks the anniversary of the assassination of Libya's Muammar Gaddafi.
Muammar Gaddafi (often spelled Qaddafi or other variants) was a Libyan revolutionary, politician, and political theorist who governed Libya as its primary leader from 1969 until his assassination in 2011. His tenure in power spanned over four decades, making him one of the longest-serving rulers in history.
Born in 1942 near Sirte, Gaddafi was influenced by Arab nationalist movements during his youth. As a young officer, he joined the military, inspired by the likes of Egyptian leader Gamal Abdel Nasser. On September 1, 1969, Gaddafi led a group of young officers in a coup against King Idris, the then-monarch of Libya. The monarchy dissolved, and the Libyan Arab Republic. Gaddafi took a position of significant power in the government.
Gaddafi's rule embraced his unique ideology, which combined elements of Arab socialism, direct democracy, and pan-Arabism. He documented these ideas in his "Green Book," which guided political life in Libya. Gaddafi sought to modernize Libya's economy by nationalizing oil companies and using oil revenues for infrastructure projects, something Mohammad Mosaddegh, the first democratic leader of Iran, also tried to do in 1953. He was deposed in a CIA-MI6-led coup, which installed the dictator Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi.
Gaddafi established a system called "Jamahiriya" (state of the masses), which aimed at direct political participation of citizens through "people's committees." His rule saw a series of confrontations with Western countries, particularly the United States, which accused Gaddafi's regime of supporting international terrorism, including the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland. Libya faced international sanctions as a result.
Gaddafi aspired to be a leader in both the African and Arab worlds. He championed pan-Africanism, was instrumental in forming the African Union (AU), and proposed a "United States of Africa."
In 2011, amidst the wave of the Arab Spring protests across the Middle East and North Africa, anti-Gaddafi protests erupted in Libya, which quickly escalated into a civil war.
NATO intervened militarily on behalf of the anti-Gaddafi forces. By October 2011, Gaddafi's government had collapsed, and rebel forces captured and killed him. The NATO campaign, "Operation Unified Protector," constituted a direct violation of international law according to the Geneva Conventions, created by the international community after the Nuremberg Trials at the end of World War II.
Gaddafi's rule, policies, and actions remain controversial. While some credit him with modernizing Libya and championing anti-imperialistic causes, others criticize him for human rights abuses, autocratic rule, and supporting terrorism. In the years since his death, Libya continues to face political instability, with various factions vying for power, making Gaddafi's long-term impact on the nation's trajectory a matter of ongoing debate.
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