KADHAFI: Soldier of Allah or Political Forerunner

Having been colonized by Mussolini's Italy, Libya was classified by the United Nations as the poorest country on the planet at the end of the war. Indeed, 94% of its population was illiterate, there were no doctors and 40% of children died at birth. The country was totally dependent. The supply was 100% provided by the Americans. The monarchy of King Idriss 1st had given rise to a corrupt pro-American bourgeoisie and a starving people crammed into insalubrious shantytowns. On the evening of 31/08/1969, taking advantage of the King's absence, a group of a dozen officers, including a young 27-year-old Captain - Moammar El Qadhafi - son of a Bedouin couple, seized power. Promoted to Colonel 9 days later, Captain El Qadhafi read the first communiqué of the new regime on the radio, "Taking note of the incessant demands of the People to put an end to the reactionary, backward and decadent regime". Thus was born the "Reign" of Colonel Qadhafi (Gaddafi)...