Gaddafi: Obsessed By a Ruthless, Messianic Vision

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To Anwar Sadat, the posturing was a sign not of eccentricity but of lunacy. The Egyptian leader once described Gaddafi as "100% sick and possessed of the devil." What Gaddafi is possessed by is a desire for vengeance. "He seems to be motivated by a strong desire to take revenge," says a CIA analyst. "But revenge in the historic-religious sense rather than in a practical order. Revenge not so much for what we did to him last year or two weeks ago but for the humiliation of Islam, for the cultural and actual conquest of the Middle East." Whatever his motive, whether it is the quest for pan-Islam or only a greater audience for himself, he will not rest until he has struck back or been struck down.

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