Decent Into the Abyss: the Rise and Downfall of Libyan Tyrant Muammar Ghadafi

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INTRODUCTION All through the ages human societies have been plagued with tyranny and the abuse of power. Perhaps since the dawn of civilization and government, because long before democracy existed there were only absolute monarchies. People worked together to form the soundest methods of government. Eventually it would lead us to democracy. This cooperation is in our nature and a key factor that separates us from animals that rely solely on primal instinct. It is also human nature to yearn for absolute power and control. Suffice to say we are all greedy, prideful and envious of those above us in the social hierarchy (i.e. kings, presidents, and bosses). But once a member of the populace is exposed to this power over his fellow man, his senses and values have the potential to mutate and become tyrannical. Both male and females of any ethnic or cultural backgrounds are vulnerable to this anomaly and once affected are capable of inciting atrocities. Muammar Ghadafi was born into squalor to illiterate parents in a country dominated by European powers. He died in his palace at the hands of his own people. He gained and lost power during revolutions. The following documents Muammar Ghadafi’s decent into control, madness and the metaphorical abyss. EARLY LIFE Muammar al-Qaddafi was born in 1942 in the town of Surt , in western Libya . Raised in a Bedouin tent in the Libyan desert, he came from a tribal family called the al-Qadhafah. Both parents were nomadic Bedouin, and being illiterate, they kept no birth records thus Gaddafi's date of birth is not known with any certainty. Numerous sources have situated his birth in either 1942 or in the spring of 1943. He was his parents' only surviving son, but had three older sisters. Raised as a Bedouin in the desert, Gaddafi's upbringing would influence his personal tastes for the rest of the life, as he repeatedly expressed

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