Following are excerpts from a public address delivered by Libyan Leader Mu'ammar Al-Qadhafi, which aired on Al-Jamahiriya TV (Libya) on March 15, 2011.
To view this clip on MEMRI TV, visit http://www.memri.org/legacy/clip/0/0/0/0/0/0/2861.
Mu'ammar Al-Qadhafi: "The truth is that there is no problem in Libya. Nothing significant had happened, so at the beginning, we did not even report this. We concealed what happened, and considered it a reckless act.
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"It happened several times in the past. It happened in 1982, when several stray dogs infiltrated Libya. We caught them in several apartments. You remember this. The masses ransacked the place, and trampled them underfoot. We thought that the same rodents and dogs had infiltrated this time...
"But this time... We realized that this was not about these rodents from within Libya. There were people who took advantage of this insignificant action. [...]
"We confronted them before, but the media of today is not the media of 1982. They took advantage of the media and portrayed the situation to the world in a way that does not exist within Libya. They said that there were demonstrations, even though there was not a single demonstration in Libya. They said that there was gunfire, but not a single demonstrator was shot, because nobody was demonstrating. They said that there were thousands of fatalities, when there were only 200 dead among the police, the army, and these rodents who attacked the police station. [...]
"Lo and behold, France has begun to raise its head, talking about striking Libya. You think attacking Libya is an easy thing, you idiot?
"We will strike you. We struck you in Algeria, we struck you in Vietnam... We struck you. You will strike us?! Just come and try it. [...]
"They began saying that Al-Qadhafi must resign. Resign from what?! You should resign, you criminals, you colonialists. You resign! I dare them to grant their people freedom, like the freedom I granted the Libyan people. I dare them to. I dare them to. I dare them to grant freedom to the American, the British, and the French peoples. Let's see them give up their seats. Let's see them resign and let their people govern themselves. They should never do it. "They rule their people through dictatorial means: a republican party, a democratic party, a Christian party, a centrist party, a right-wing party, a left-wing party... These are dictatorial, capitalist means that grind peoples. [...]
"We will fight to protect our oil to the very end. You will never manage to take control of this oil, because the Libyan people will be entirely annihilated before you get to the oil. This oil is our life, and we will never allow the oil – the ports, the oilfields, the pipelines – to be tampered with by any irresponsible party. These must be under the complete control and ownership of the Libyan people." [...]
