So, what’s with the Polaroid tacked onto his chest?
From the NY Times:
Qaddafi Forces Violently Quell Capital Protest
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By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK and KAREEM FAHIM
TRIPOLI, Libya — Mercenaries and army forces put down an attempt by protesters on Friday to break Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi’s hold on this capital city, opening fire on crowds who had taken to the streets after prayers to mount their first major challenge to the government’s crackdown, witnesses said.
The bloodshed heightened a standoff that has pitted Colonel Qaddafi — who vowed Friday to turn Libya into “a hell” as he hunkered down in his stronghold — against a spreading rebel force and increasingly alarmed international community, which condemned the violence and promised sanctions in coming days.
A rebel officer who is coordinating an attack on Tripoli, Col. Tarek Saad Hussein, asserted in an interview that an armed volunteer force of about 2,000 men — including army defectors — was to arrive in Tripoli on Friday night. There was no way to confirm his claim.
Not enough definition in the photo for me to tell when I magnify it a bit. The helmet on a couple of them looks like the one the North Vietnamese used to wear. The fellows in soft caps look like they are in Chinese field uniforms. JMHO.
Aim small ...miss small.
Caption of Photo....
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At the beginning of September, 1969, a 27-year-old Gaddafi successfully staged a military coup against King Idris, while the King was out of the country. Immediately he abolished the monarchy, expelled most foreigners, and established the anti-Western Libyan Arab Republic. Gaddafi wanted to be a Che Guevara of sorts, and thus allowed any rogue group who declared themselves anti-imperialist (even if they were simply terrorists) safe haven in Libya, and access to weapons and financial backing. These groups included the IRA, Palestinian Black September (responsible for the 1972 Munich Olympic massacre), and those behind the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing, which killed 270 people. Libya finally took responsibility for the bombing in 2003 with a remorseless letter to the United Nations.
He’s trying to maintain solidarity with Chairman Mao and his cabinet.
The photo he has pined on is Libyan nationalist hero on chain by Italian colonialist