A defiant Col. Moammar Gadhafi threatened Libyan protesters with death and vowed to die a martyr himself rather than abdicate the throne as he delivered a rambling and sometimes incoherent speech today amid the ruins of the palace the U.S. bombed in1986.
The delusional dictator boasted that he had brought Libya to the "summit of the world" as he stood firm and urged supporters to take revenge on the anti-government protesters (who appeared to be gaining control of more and more of the North African nation, according to reports).
"I will be a martyr at the end," Gadhafi vowed, standing amid the shambles of Bab al Aziziya, the compound President Ronald Reagan ordered bombed in 1986 in retaliation for a deadly terrorist blast at a German disco popular with U.S. serviceman.
Gadhafi appeared to be hunkered down in Tripoli for the long-haul.
His arms waving and voice erratic, Gadhafi looked like a wild man in beige pajamas, hammered and looking for a urinal in a gutted, skid row bathroom, while endlessly blaming Arab enemies, the media and the colonial powers -- everyone but himself -- for Libya's woes during his four decades of reign.
Further living up to his billing (by Reagan) as "the madman of the Middle East," Gadhafi also ticked off a strange laundry list of events, where death and mayhem resulted for civilians.
"Citing Tienanmen, Wako, Falluja, the Duma, and many other ghastly incidents, Qaddafi is blatantly threatening his people with massacre," warned Arab-American Middle East scholar Hussein Ibish on Twitter.
Egyptian protest organizer and Google exec Wael Ghonim was more optimistic in his analysis. "Can't wait to see Qaddafi follow BinAli and Mubarak path. He is the craziest dictator in the world. Libya will thrive after him," Ghonim Tweeted.
"Citing Tienanmen, Wako, Falluja, the Duma, and many other ghastly incidents, Qaddafi is blatantly threatening his people with massacre," warned Arab-American Middle East scholar Hussein Ibish on Twitter.
Egyptian protest organizer and Google exec Wael Ghonim was more optimistic in his analysis. "Can't wait to see Qaddafi follow BinAli and Mubarak path. He is the craziest dictator in the world. Libya will thrive after him," Ghonim Tweeted.
Gadhafi's threats (using translations provided by AlJazeera, CNN & MSNBC) came rapid fire throughout the more than hour long rant.
"I have not even given the order to use bullets yet," he said, seeming to indicate that the reported thousands dead and injured was nothing compared to hell he could unleash on his fellow citizens.
As Gadhafi routinely spewed out random threats of using deadly force on the demonstrators, he also accused the protesters of taking "hallucination pills" to account for the unrest.
"Give up the drugs you are taking. They are very harmful to your heart." Gadhafi said in one of a series of bizarre comments in which he accused enemies in the streets of tripping on some LSD-like drug.
"It's horrible for the country to be torn apart, or fall into the hands of crazy people," Gadhafi quacked.
Yeah, too late.
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