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Gadaffi is an interesting leader, to be sure. At one time, he was easy to caricature, and there's no doubt he did a lot of bad things. But he may not have been as crazy as he seemed; he played that role during the Cold War because he thought it would be to his advantage, but decades of isolation worked on Libya where it didn't work on Cuba, Iran, or North Korea. He finally "saw the light" post 9/11 and is changing his ways, one of the few success stories of the Bush Administration. Plus he's managed to remain in power and relatively popular, no small feat in any third world country.
Still, the US "party line" is still factual, and there's nothing wrong with it except in what it leaves *out*. But any non-Western biography of the man undoubtedly leaves out other things as well. So you need to be widely read if you truly want a complete picture.
Still, there are other, dare I say, more "admirable" dictators that are worth reading about than Gadaffi.
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