Arab Socialists

"You — yourself — said on many occasions, one of them in the UN General Assembly, I was witness to that personally, that America is not responsible for the security of other peoples. That America helps only. This is the right logic."

"Our dear son, Excellency, Baraka Hussein Abu oumama, your intervention is the name of the U.S.A. is a must, so that Nato would withdraw finally from the Libyan affair. Libya should be left to Libyans within the African union frame. The problem now stands as follows:-"

"1. There is Nato intervention politically as well as military."

"2. Terror conducted by AlQaueda gangs that have been armed in some cities, and by force refused to allow people to go back to their normal life, and carry on with exercising their social people’s power as usual."

"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."

"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."

"Did Libya invade Italy or was it Italy that invaded Libya? You attack us now as you did then. In other ways, with other systems, by supporting Israel, opposing Arab unity and our revolutions, frowning on Islam and calling us fanatics. We’ve been too patient with you. We’ve put up with your provocation for too long. If we hadn’t been so wise, we would have gone to war with you a thousand times. We didn’t because we think the use of force is a last resort for survival and because we have always been on the side of civilisation. After all, during the Middle Ages we civilised you. You were poor barbarians, primitive, savage creatures."

"The science you enjoy now is the science we taught you. The medicine you treat yourselves with is the medicine we gave you. It’s the same with the astronomy you know, the mathematics, the literature, the art..."

"I think these Western phenomena derive from capitalist society. They’re movements denoting rejection of a society that has to be torn down. Whether they are called the Red Brigades or the hippies or the Beatles or the Children of God. And even though I’m against kidnappings and hijackings, I don’t want to interfere with what they’re doing."

"We are not responsible for what might be done with the weapons we give to the Palestinians. We give them to the Palestinians because we believe in their cause and we believe we have a duty to help them. What happens afterwards is none of my business. If I am to be found guilty by proxy, I prefer charges that are direct. But there is no proof."

"Revolution is when the masses make the revolution. A people’s revolution. But even when the revolution is made by others in the name of the masses, expressing what the masses want, it can be revolution. A people’s revolution because it has the support of the masses and interprets the will of the masses."

"I staged a coup d’état and the workers staged the revolution, occupying the factories, becoming partners instead of employees, eliminating the monarchic administration and setting up people’s committees. In short, they liberated themselves. Students did the same. Today in Libya, only the people count."

"Hitler and Mussolini exploited the support of the masses to rule the people. We revolutionaries enjoy the support of the masses to help the people become capable of ruling themselves on their own. I myself am constantly appealing to the masses to govern on their own. I say to my people: ‘If you love me, listen to me. And govern yourselves on your own’. That’s why they love me because, unlike Hitler, who said ‘I’ll do it all for you’, I say ‘Do it on your own."

"When everyone is part of the people’s congress, what need is there for an opposition? Opposition to what? You oppose a government! If there is no government, and the people govern themselves on their own, what are they going to oppose? Something that isn’t there?"

"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."

"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."

"Africa is closer to me in every way than Iraq or Syria."

"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. On the contrary, they gloated at us, and benefited from our hardship…."

"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."

"I am defending the Jews to prevent them from becoming extinct, because they are doomed to become extinct if they continue this way.… I am convinced that the solution is to establish a democratic state for the Jews and the Palestinians, a state that will be called Palestine, Isratine, or whatever they want. This is the fundamental solution, or else the Jews will be annihilated in the future, because the Palestinians have [strategic] depth."

"I am not the leader of Libya, I am the leader of the Revolution, the revolution is part of the past and took place in 1969, Consequently. There's no need to talk about one will replace me. I do not have any power to delegate to my successor. The power lies with the people."

"Interviewer: When I was in Tripoli, a slogan caught me, "Wherever you go, Happiness rains..." Do you think 40 years after the revolution, Libyan people are happy? Gaddafi: First of all, I have not seen those slogans and I am not responsible for them. Unlike you, I cannot freely taking time to read slogans if I am in the street, it's in the middle of convoy, so I have no knowledge of these slogans. But if that's the case the people who thought up that slogans acted with good intentions, they think well of this government and that glads me. I've done my best to make my people happy and free."

"I think it is peaceful and civil ... civilian activity for investigation of space, or something like this."

"Interviewer: How about al Qaeda? Gaddafi: Where is al Qaeda? Al Qaeda's in Europe. Al Qaeda is here in New York."

"Interviewer:In an interview with ABC six years ago, you said the United States has made Osama bin Laden a prophet and a saint in the Islamic world. Is he still held that way, do you think? Gaddafi: We should not have given him this value or this status. Who is he, bin Laden? Interviewer: He committed a heinous act. Gaddafi: Bin Laden made this heinous act. Interviewer:You don't think what Osama bin Laden did was wrong? Gaddafi:Was he on board one of the aircraft that hit the tower? 'Interviewer:No, but he took credit for sending them. Gaddafi:This is another thing. I don't think that in front of us we have a court sentence vis-a-vis bin Laden or this or that."

"America interferes in the internal affairs, uses threats of military force, interferes in elections and the type of government. In Africa, America preaches what it does not practice in its own affairs inside the US."

"I want provocation. People should take to the streets. Smash those dogs, and tell them: "you traitors will bring us the British.""

"What's wrong with the Spanish? Tell them they do not appreciate their own interests. Tell them we will recognize the Basques. Threaten them with this, and recognize Andalusia."

"Oil is like drugs. Find the commodity smugglers. Many are adventurous; they will buy from you at a discount and they don't care about embargoes."

"I take this opportunity to reiterate my thanks and my appreciation to my dear Brother Leader Muammar Gaddafi, Leader of the Libyan revolution, for his honourable initiative that our people have received with great satisfaction and of facilitating the movement and activities of Tunisian Libya sister and treat them just like the Libyans. This confirms a sincere brotherhood and the strong support we have always received from him and to the brotherly Libyan people."

"Love him or not, we must recognize that this is one of the greatest African leaders who influenced several generations, including mine, and found in the constancy and courage of his positions what we research in a hero. In a word: pride."

"A man who I have always admired."

"The way he was martyred on behest of imperialist forces indicates that he was anti-imperialist, brave, courageous and a great revolutionary."

"Gaddafi was a great leader, a true revolutionary who should not be confused with the new Libyan leadership swept into power by NATO's bayonets and by oil multinationals."

"Liberator of Libya, He will be remembered as a great fighter, a revolutionary and martyr."

"We came, we saw, he died."

"He's stupid. He's clinically stupid... He's the most stupid of all."

"Libya is really keen to learn from us... Gaddafi has so many questions. He's particularly anxious to know how we manage our economy, warded off our currency attackers and live harmoniously in a society such as ours. He's a different person now compared to what he was before he's more open, more receptive to ideas on developing his country. He is beginning to understand and accept that peace and harmony are necessary for national development."

"He is intelligent and effectively capable of anything. But I think he has gone too far in this crisis and it is going to be very difficult for him to remain in power."

"I know something of the good of Moammar Gadhafi that made me to love him as a brother and to feel a great sense of loss at his assassination, He died in honor, fighting for the Libya that he believed in."

"The man was a freedom fighter."

"The actual evidence … is that Qaddafi senior has reached his Ceausescu moment: a full-dress (in the literal sense) meltdown into paranoia, megalomania, and delusion. His recent speeches and appearances have shown him stinking with madness and hysteria. His age and condition, at any rate, set a very sharp limit to the duration of his regime. If that regime implodes while he is still "in place," then all the grim consequences foreseen by the realists will be incurred in any case. Weapons will get into the wrong hands; divide-and-rule tactics (already a stock in trade) will intensify; religious and tribal passions will be deliberately inflamed. The main difference will be that we merely watched this happen"

"Arrivare a mettere in ginocchio un intero popolo, fargli avallare dei concetti stravaganti e irrazionali, mantenerlo nell'ignoranza e nella povertà: ecco ciò che è riuscito a fare quest'uomo, che ha resistito per 42 anni senza mai esitare di soffocare ogni tentativo di opposizione. Niente giornalisti, niente testimoni, lui non è raggiungibile, è il maestro assoluto e arrogante. Spesso sono stati ricordati i suoi problemi psichologici, ma non occorre una tecnica di analisi sofisticata per coglierli. Basta guardarlo: il suo narcisismo è patologico, il suo egocentrismo è patetico, la sua arroganza è terrificante."

"Succeeding in forcing an entire people on its knees, making it endorse extravagant and irrational concepts, keeping it in ignorance and poverty: this is what this man, who has survived 42 years without ever hesitating to suffocate any attempt at opposition, has achieved. No journalists, no witnesses, he is unapproachable, the arrogant, absolute master. Often, his psychological problems are brought up, but a sophisticated analysis is not needed to pin them down. One need only look at him: his narcissism is pathological, his egocentrism pathetic, and his arrogance terrifying."

"He died as a hero, Allah will bless him, oil diggers will be punished."

"This man did more than all the revolutionaries."

"Aggression has been committed, and the country's leadership, not only Muammar Gaddafi, has been killed. And how was he killed? Well, if they had shot him in a battle, it's one thing, but they humiliated and tormented him, they shot at him, they violated him when he was wounded, they twisted his neck and arms, and then they tortured him to death. It's worse than the Nazis once did. Besides, the United States, Italy, France and Germany have up to $150 billion of Libyan money now. They are very interested to grab this wealth. Everything will be even worse in Libya, because it has colossal deposits of resources, and everyone has rushed there to grab those riches."

"Nothing would please me more, but who else would pump the oil that we need? God damn America."

"Look, I can't take that Mister Gaddafi seriously at all. I can only wish him well in serving his country as I am serving mine, and can only remind him that he shouldn't squeal so loudly."

"The attack on Iraq, the attack on Libya, the attack on Syria happened because the leader in each of these countries was not a puppet of the West. The human rights record of a Saddam or a Gaddafi was irrelevant. They did not obey orders and surrender control of their country.... As WikLeaks has revealed, it was only when the Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad in 2009 rejected an oil pipeline, running through his country from Qatar to Europe, that he was attacked.... From that moment, the CIA planned to destroy the government of Syria with jihadist fanatics – the same fanatics currently holding the people of Mosul and eastern Aleppo hostage. Why is this not news? The former British Foreign Office official Carne Ross, who was responsible for operating sanctions against Iraq, told me: “We would feed journalists factoids of sanitised intelligence, or we would freeze them out. That is how it worked.”"