JFK Conspiracies, Fish Flu, And A Love Letter To Obama: The Highlights Of Qaddafi’s UN Speech

Libyan Leader Muammar Qaddafi
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi – who John McCain once called an ‘interesting man’ in a tweet – addressed the General Assembly of the UN today following President Obama’s speech. Given that he talked for a full 96 minutes, it’s hard to pick out the best parts – but we’ll do our best.

#10: The UN is useless because it’s failed to stop “65 wars” since its founding.

“The charter states in the preamble that we shall not resort to military force unless there is a common interest,” Qaddafi said, “but after that what happened? Sixty-five wars broke out after the UN was established. It was not in the interest of all nations.”

#9: I love the preamble, but I hate the UN Charter!

The preamble says “that all nations are equal whether they are small nations or whether they are big,” Qaddafi noted as he waved around a small copy of it. But the fact that a member of the five-nation Security Council can veto a resolution is “against the charter.” The African Union, which Qaddafi currently chairs, ought to have a seat on the Security Council, he said.

#8: The UN Security Council = Terrorism

The apparent tyranny of the Security Council’s veto power was likened to terrorism: “We do not accept it and we do not acknowledge it…this is terrorism! We cannot allow the nations of the Security Council to rule … this is terrorism in itself.” He went on to compare this veto to Julius Caesar. We can’t say it better than the writers at New York Magazine: “We scanned his face to see the irony of this, an unelected despot who has for 40 years ruled a nation that freely hands out weapons to terrorists at will, and we found no trace of it.”

Read more, including his love letter to Obama, his comparison of the Taliban to the Vatican, and his musings on who killed JFK, after the jump.

#7: Don’t admit more members to the UN, but let’s have a G100

Another prescription: We should have a “forum of small states…coming together in what may be called the G100,” he proposed, ahead of the G20 summit in Pittsburgh. But “we should close admission of more member states” to the United Nations. Makes sense, as they’d apparently “crush” the opinions of the third world countries already in the General Assembly.

#6: Obama Should Be President Forever

Qaddafi’s love letter to Obama, which conservatives are already having fun with: “Obama is the beginning of change, he is a glimpse in the dark and I am afraid we might go back to the dark…We are content and happy if Obama can stay forever as a President of the United States of America.” At the beginning of his speech, he congratulated “our son” Obama.

Watch Fox News discuss this today:

#5: ‘We Shall Send You The Rolling Thunder!’

It’s just a great turn of phrase. We’re not sure exactly who he’s referring to – there were vague phrases to historical instances of ‘rolling thunder’ in Vietnam and Iraq, though he did clarify “we shall punish anyone whether they like it or not, if they should be against us.” Crystal clear.

#4: The Iraq War Is ‘The Mother Of All Evils’

Well, some anti-war activists may be able to get on board with that statement, but Qaddafi kind of ruined the effect with more rambling. “Who sentenced the president of Iraq to death? Do we know that? Who hanged the president?” That would be the Iraqi Special Tribunal who doled out that sentence.

#3: …The Evils Of Jetlag

When bemoaning how hard it is for all the world leaders to travel to New York and saying how he’d like to take the hardship of conference planning off of America’s back, he stopped at one point and noted, “All of you are tired with jetlag, are very tired. Physically speaking you are very low. All of you are asleep.” Also doubles as an attempt at justifying why people in the audience were asleep (couldn’t be the running time of 96 minutes).

#2: Taliban = Vatican

Railing against the war in Afghanistan: “Why are we against the Taliban? If the Taliban wants to make a religious state, what’s wrong? It’s like the Vatican.”

#1: Who Killed JFK?

Who killed JFK? Qaddafi wondered aloud, apropos of nothing – “Seriously, we do not know.” He then mumbled something about Lee Harvey Oswald that may or may not have been ruminations on who killed him as well.

And lines that we just couldn’t fit in: Qaddafi calling for the release of Manuel Noriega; rejecting a two-state solution for Israel-Palestine; and ‘perhaps tomorrow we will have a fish flu.’ Let’s hope not — we don’t want to miss any more Qaddafi ramblings from the rest of the conference.

Latest News
Comments
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Associate Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: