11 Facts About Colonel Muammar Gaddafi

1. In early 1979, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi warned opposition leaders to return home immediately or face "liquidation.

2. In 1971 Colonel Muammar Gaddafi warned that if France opposes Libyan military occupation of Chad, he will use all weapons in the war against France including the "revolutionary weapon".

3. In 1972, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi tried to buy a nuclear bomb from the People's Republic of China.

4. In 1972, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi created the Islamic Legion as a tool to unify and Arabize the region.

5. In 1977, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi dispatched his military across the border to Egypt, but Egyptian forces fought back in the Libyan–Egyptian War.

6. In October 2010, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi apologized to African leaders for the historical enslavement of Africans by the Arab slave trade.

7. In 2001, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi condemned the September 11 attacks on the US by al-Qaeda, expressing sympathy with the victims and calling for Libyan involvement in the War on Terror against militant Islamism.

8. In turn, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi played up his commercial relationship with the Soviets, visiting Moscow again in April 1981 and 1985, and in 1978 threatening to join the Warsaw Pact.

9. In December 1978, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi stepped down as Secretary-General of the GPC, announcing his new focus on revolutionary rather than governmental activities; this was part of his new emphasis on separating the apparatus of the revolution from the government.

10. In June 1973, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi created a political ideology as a basis for the Popular Revolution: Third International Theory.

11. On 16 April 1973, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi proclaimed the start of a "Popular Revolution" in a speech at Zuwarah.