Muammar al-Qaddafi

Muammar al-Qaddafi, born in 1942, Libyan revolutionary leader and strongman, known for his devotion to Islam and his zealous support for pan-Arabic and revolutionary causes. In 1969, then a captain, Qaddafi led a coup that overthrew King Idris I and proclaimed Libya an Arab republic. As chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council, he acquired dictatorial powers. He used Libya's vast oil wealth to support Palestinian guerrillas against Israel; he also aided other insurrectional and terrorist groups, from Philippine Muslim rebels to the Irish Republican Army. He promoted various fruitless schemes for merging Libya with other Arab countries. At home, Qaddafi launched a cultural and social revolution that blended religious fundamentalism with Arab nationalism and aspects of the welfare state. Having instituted the so-called jamahiriya (“state of the masses”) in 1977, Qaddafi in 1979 gave up all formal posts in the administration but remained Libya's unquestioned leader. In the mid-1980s, widely regarded in the West as the principal financier of international terrorism, he was the target of stepped-up military and diplomatic campaigns. Qaddafi was injured and his infant daughter killed in April 1986 when the U.S. bombed Libyan sites in response to terrorism allegedly traced to Libya.