LIBYA: More laughs, not many surprises in WikiLeaks releases on Moammar Kadafi

Libyan leader Moammar Kadafi sees no reason to submit a passport photo along with his U.S. visa application. After all, one of Kadafi's aides explained to an American diplomat, the colonel's picture is all over Tripoli.

"Any one of hundreds of billboards could be photographed and shrunken to fit the application's criteria," the aide said, according to one of a series of diplomatic cables released by the WikiLeaks website.

In the end, Kadafi was persuaded to have his picture taken, but the exchange is one of numerous illuminating anecdotes to surface from the latest WikiLeaks filing, which includes highly sensitive U.S. diplomatic cables.

As world leaders scramble to deal with the aftermath of the WikiLeaks release, Kadafi stands out not only for the entertainment value of his dossier but also his ability to weather scandal. After all, the same eccentric leader who insists on pitching an enormous bedouin tent in foreign capitals, keeps a cadre of female bodyguards and recently passed out copies of the Koran to an audience of paid Italian models is not going to be embarrassed by the disclosure that his favorite Ukrainian "nurse" accompanies him everywhere.

Although the leaked diplomatic cable listing Kadafi's odd habits was assigned the highest level of secrecy, many of the details were unsurprising or even benign for one of the world's most notoriously unconventional leaders.

According to the document, Kadafi's reputation for being "mercurial and eccentric" is well earned, as revealed in the logistical details of his schedule and travel:

He is afraid of flying over water for long periods of time and insists on staying on the first floor of any accommodation. He is also dependent on a close circle of trusted aides but appears to rely less on his famous female bodyguards, taking just one with him on a trip to the United Nations headquarters in New York. His favorite among four Ukrainian nurses in his employ, a "voluptuous blond" woman named Galyna Kolotnytska, is always by his side and may be involved romantically with Kadafi.

Kadafi's interests, based on a large celebration of his rule held in the capital, include horse racing and flamenco dancing.

The report's conclusions were perhaps surprising, given the strained nature of U.S.-Libyan relations. The diplomat writing the cable stressed that engagement is necessary to "overcome the misperceptions that inevitably accumulated during Kadafi's decades of isolation."

 -- Meris Lutz in Beirut

Photo: Libyan leader Moammar Kadafi during an African Union summit in Uganda in July. Credit: Benedicte Desrus / Reuters

Comments

[Dean Blake]

@ geo88a - yes, Arabs are trying to occupy Israel, that's why there is no peace in the ME!
The most recent pronouhcement by the PA is that Jews have no religious claim nor attachment to the Western Wall of Herod's 2d Temple. That's a good example of their position re Jews and the Holy Land. If Jews don't have that, they have no claim at all to anyting in Arab eyes. They've throw out the Bible they claim to revere as much as they revere the NT or Koran.

[Youcif Almegaryaf]

@geo88a Qadhafi has tried to colonize his neighbors. Starting with Chad. The Libyan army is too weak to try to colonize any of the other neighbors around him and Tunisia is protected by France, so that's a no go. In addition, I recently met with a Sudanese Member of Parliament and he confirmed to me that it is known by the Sudanese government that Qadhafi is the one that's fueling the entire Darfur conflict. Qadhafi is arming both sides (same as he does in many other countries throughout Africa, supporting both the government and rebels) and watches them kill each other. Also, most Libyans were against kicking out Libyan Jews. I have asked many Libyans who lives amongst Jews in Libya and I still haven't heard one bad thing about them. This guy is a Tyrant who is responsible for the death and displacement of millions of people all around the world!

[geo88a]

@barryel
Violence begets the same. In my view the Israelis are the aggressors.
What would you do if the same happened to Israel? People from neighboring countries, started to occupy Israel? Huh?

[barryel]

Geo
How about Palestinian Hamas and other groups rocketing Israeli cities ?

[Dean Blake]

@ Tired of Jingoman - please list the six countries. I'm under the impression the Iranian airliner was an accidental shot down adjascent to a war zone, whle the BA jet was exploded from within with an altitude detonator while on landing approach over friendly Lockerby, Scottland.
The banking system is everyone's responsibility.
Kadafi and his family stole all the assets and property and lands of and expelled its Jewish citizens who pre-dated Arab invasions of that country, a 2,600 year old community.
Bush only gave back to the president of Japan what they served him. That doesn't make Busha murderous tyrant.

[geo88a]

@deanblake
khadafy might be everything that you've mentioned, and a lot more. But, not even this despot, has set out to colonized his neighbors. Nor has he built illegal settlements. and terrorized Palestinian men, women, and children. The way Israel has, has he?

[etaylorg]

I don't mind flying over large bodies of water as long as my Ukrainian nurse is with me.

[Tired of Jingoman]

Dean,

Our own government looks so good in comparison; in the time Kadafi has been in power, the US shot down an Iranian airliner, invaded/bombed at least six countries, crashed the global banking system, and one of our presidents vomited on the president of Japan. Top that, Libya.

[Dean Blake]

This article makes light of the quirks of a demonic tyrant minimizing his actions in the world. A happy-go-lucky characterization of Hitler would be just as amusing.
This is the murderer who ordered to the downing of a British Airways jet with hundreds of passangers. This is the tyrant President Reagan targeted for assasination (and our airmen missed the target). This is the tyrant who controls the low sulfur oil Italy needs to sustain its economy and blackmails them into giving him $ 6 billion in WWII reparations to jump start his stagnent economy. This is the whacko who gave a rambling speech at the UN while his ambasador held his head in his hands while everyone walked out for lunch. Why publish this article when you can just photoshop him into a Santa Clause suit and use that for his photo? This is no nice guy and he doesn't deserve good PR.

[Jill]

Uh, I also HATE flying over large bodies of water for a long time, It's sooooo boring. Is that a "quirk" or is it an opinion shared by most flyers?