Monday, Jan. 09, 2012

Muammar Gaddafi's Everything

Muammar Gaddafi was a tyrant in buffoon's clothing. Until his gruesome death in 2011, the eccentric megalomaniac ruled over Libya for some four decades, adopting for himself the quixotic title "Brother Leader" of the Libyan masses. Responsible for years of torture, killing and terrorist scheming, he was also culpable for some of the most absurd outfits to appear on the geopolitical stage. Military uniform with way too many medals and a large picture of a slain Libyan revolutionary on the lapel? Check. Casual fatigues imprinted with the image of Egypt's former President Gamal Abdel Nasser? Check. Outsize shades, leopard-print hat and gold scepter? Check, check and check. Voluminous wizard robes? Check. There were worse miseries suffered under the Gaddafi dictatorship, but sartorial outlandishness will forever define the tyrant, a man crazed by power.