Mad Dog: Gaddafi's Secret World

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0:00:02 > 0:00:08This programme contains some violent scenes and some scenes viewers may find disturbing

0:00:08 > 0:00:15This mad dog of the Middle East has a goal of a world revolution.

0:00:26 > 0:00:28We came, we saw,

0:00:28 > 0:00:30he died. THEY CHUCKLE

0:00:30 > 0:00:33RAPID GUNFIRE

0:00:35 > 0:00:38He would have people killed or he would blow up aircraft.

0:00:40 > 0:00:43He made it very, very clear, if you didn't take his money

0:00:43 > 0:00:46and treat him as a leader, that he'd kill you.

0:00:46 > 0:00:50He was an original thinker, he was very much an original thinker.

0:00:50 > 0:00:53I think he thought his grand conquests would include Europe

0:00:53 > 0:00:57and bringing down the empire of the United States, you know,

0:00:57 > 0:00:59transform the world.

0:00:59 > 0:01:01Killing people was just another means to an end.

0:01:01 > 0:01:03He was untouchable.

0:01:05 > 0:01:08The way he presented himself, he was just amazing.

0:01:09 > 0:01:12The way he carried himself, which was absolutely graceful.

0:01:14 > 0:01:16- Graceful?- Yes.

0:01:16 > 0:01:19He smelt very nice.

0:01:19 > 0:01:23You know, you do want to touch him because it felt so pure.

0:01:23 > 0:01:24Was he charming?

0:01:25 > 0:01:28AFRICAN MUSIC

0:01:33 > 0:01:36Muammar Gaddafi was one of the world's

0:01:36 > 0:01:38longest-serving heads of state.

0:01:38 > 0:01:41- GADDAFI ADDRESSES THE CROWD - The money came from oil,

0:01:41 > 0:01:44a trillion dollars by the time he died -

0:01:44 > 0:01:46one billion a week.

0:01:48 > 0:01:50He believed in aliens

0:01:50 > 0:01:52and blew up planes.

0:01:53 > 0:01:55'He'd gotten away with Pan Am 103.'

0:01:55 > 0:01:58He'd gotten away with everything.

0:01:59 > 0:02:02His vast oil reserves made the West forgive him.

0:02:04 > 0:02:06HE compromised us?

0:02:06 > 0:02:08Yes, of course.

0:02:08 > 0:02:11The Gaddafis led a perfect dictator's lifestyle.

0:02:14 > 0:02:18One son wanted a cruise liner with its own shark pool.

0:02:23 > 0:02:28When Gaddafi went abroad, his tent was flown ahead with camels

0:02:28 > 0:02:29to put outside.

0:02:29 > 0:02:32A bulletproof tent, by the way.

0:02:33 > 0:02:35He dreamed of ruling Africa.

0:02:36 > 0:02:42He had a vision, a united Africa being spearheaded by him.

0:02:42 > 0:02:46Thousands would die in wars he paid for.

0:02:46 > 0:02:47I'm General Death.

0:02:47 > 0:02:49Presidents have said to me that they

0:02:49 > 0:02:52believe that he did try to kill them, yes.

0:02:52 > 0:02:57Cannibalism, rape, torture, the forces of hell

0:02:57 > 0:03:02that Muammar Gaddafi unleashed on really a wonderful people.

0:03:02 > 0:03:07Those who served Gaddafi are still reluctant to talk.

0:03:07 > 0:03:08And there was a bed here?

0:03:08 > 0:03:11Especially about his sexual abuse of teenagers.

0:03:11 > 0:03:13Gaddafi's bedroom.

0:03:13 > 0:03:17He'd go to schools and orphanages to look for victims.

0:03:18 > 0:03:23Some were brought to this secret apartment at the university.

0:03:24 > 0:03:27In a room leading off the bedroom, they'd be medically checked.

0:03:30 > 0:03:32Our journey was to find the men

0:03:32 > 0:03:37and women who actually served Gaddafi or gave shape to his dreams.

0:03:37 > 0:03:43Arms dealers, members of an international nuclear black market,

0:03:43 > 0:03:49security men or female bodyguards who were supposed to die for him.

0:03:49 > 0:03:52This is their story.

0:03:52 > 0:03:55WOMAN: All dictators, they look alike.

0:03:58 > 0:04:01All of them, they killed with cold blood.

0:04:02 > 0:04:06HE SPEAKS ARABIC

0:04:07 > 0:04:09They meant well, maybe...

0:04:10 > 0:04:12..but gradually...

0:04:13 > 0:04:17they became obsessed with their power

0:04:18 > 0:04:19and the money.

0:04:19 > 0:04:22PANICKED VOICES AND GUNSHOT

0:04:22 > 0:04:24And they're all killed by their own people.

0:04:24 > 0:04:26RAPID GUNFIRE AND EXPLOSIONS

0:04:34 > 0:04:35SIREN WAILS

0:04:35 > 0:04:37It was the early '80s.

0:04:37 > 0:04:40Afraid of long jail terms in New York,

0:04:40 > 0:04:43two arms dealers fled the United States.

0:04:44 > 0:04:47In the Middle East, there was money to be made.

0:04:49 > 0:04:52In Libya, Colonel Gaddafi was equipping terrorists

0:04:52 > 0:04:54to attack the West.

0:04:54 > 0:04:56There in the doorway was Gaddafi.

0:04:59 > 0:05:02He was an impressive person, he was very friendly.

0:05:02 > 0:05:08They were interested, during my visit, in strictly buying poison.

0:05:08 > 0:05:12They wanted various types of deadly poisons.

0:05:14 > 0:05:16Were they to kill quickly or slowly?

0:05:16 > 0:05:18No, they were to kill, I mean, we got nicotine here,

0:05:18 > 0:05:22we got injectable chemicals that would stop the heart.

0:05:22 > 0:05:24They bought the poisons in America.

0:05:25 > 0:05:28- What could nicotine do?- Kill you.

0:05:28 > 0:05:32Slightest bit of pure nicotine you are done, if it gets in your system.

0:05:32 > 0:05:34- How long?- I don't know, quick.

0:05:36 > 0:05:39Gaddafi wanted everything a terrorist might need.

0:05:40 > 0:05:45He wanted ten briefcases rigged up with explosives and timers.

0:05:46 > 0:05:50I said, "We are against terrorism..."

0:05:50 > 0:05:52Along with weapons,

0:05:52 > 0:05:57Gaddafi needed military experts to show his terrorists how to use them.

0:05:59 > 0:06:01They approached Americans,

0:06:01 > 0:06:02serving Green Berets,

0:06:02 > 0:06:05members of the Special Forces.

0:06:06 > 0:06:10SAT NAV: 'Turn right, then you have reached your destination.'

0:06:10 > 0:06:13They were offered large sums of money

0:06:13 > 0:06:15to go to Libya to train terrorists.

0:06:15 > 0:06:19OK. It'd indicating that the street we're turning on is the...

0:06:19 > 0:06:22The men who went are reluctant to talk.

0:06:24 > 0:06:27There. That... That's it. That's it.

0:06:27 > 0:06:30One told us to forget we even knew his name.

0:06:30 > 0:06:35OK. All right, stop, stop, stop, stop. OK, fine. Right, there.

0:06:35 > 0:06:37This is Captain Martyr Mahmud.

0:06:38 > 0:06:42We are going to execute

0:06:42 > 0:06:44all the passengers.

0:06:49 > 0:06:52They had exactly the skills the Libyans wanted -

0:06:52 > 0:06:56silent killing and letter bombs.

0:06:56 > 0:06:59I saw the demolition lab with the explosives

0:06:59 > 0:07:03and the necessary material to make booby traps.

0:07:05 > 0:07:07The Green Berets say they were given tickets to Libya

0:07:07 > 0:07:09at this hotel in Washington.

0:07:13 > 0:07:19In transit in Zurich, they met a man who said he was from the CIA.

0:07:19 > 0:07:22They were led to believe it was a secret CIA mission

0:07:22 > 0:07:25to get close to Gaddafi.

0:07:25 > 0:07:27They told me we were working for the agency

0:07:27 > 0:07:30and the thing that is really strange is

0:07:30 > 0:07:32the agency never denied it.

0:07:33 > 0:07:35They gave them leave

0:07:35 > 0:07:38from the US military to go to Libya,

0:07:38 > 0:07:40and they knew that's where they were going.

0:07:47 > 0:07:52We set out to find the former palace where the Green Berets were taken.

0:07:53 > 0:07:56It once belonged to King Idris of Libya,

0:07:56 > 0:07:59who Gaddafi overthrew in 1969.

0:08:03 > 0:08:06They found vast quantities of explosives...

0:08:07 > 0:08:09..smuggled in from the United States.

0:08:11 > 0:08:15There was C4 explosive but there was also the stuff that

0:08:15 > 0:08:16was on the floor - liquid.

0:08:16 > 0:08:19There was nitro-glycerine that was actually running,

0:08:19 > 0:08:21not a lot, but running across the floor.

0:08:21 > 0:08:27Any device needed to make a booby trap, a lamp, an ashtray,

0:08:27 > 0:08:30a pack of cigarettes, anything that you could make into a bomb.

0:08:31 > 0:08:35The world's most wanted terrorist, Carlos the Jackal,

0:08:35 > 0:08:36was supplied from here.

0:08:36 > 0:08:39He had a luxury villa in Libya.

0:08:39 > 0:08:42You say that you were not informed of the OPEC attack

0:08:42 > 0:08:44yet, immediately afterwards, you allowed the man

0:08:44 > 0:08:46who led the guerrilla group,

0:08:46 > 0:08:48a man called Carlos Sanchez, to come to Libya.

0:08:49 > 0:08:51No, he didn't come here.

0:08:51 > 0:08:53Where he is now?

0:08:56 > 0:08:58Carlos was one.

0:08:58 > 0:09:00We had the Irish IRA there.

0:09:00 > 0:09:06I didn't consider them terrorists, they were freedom fighters to me.

0:09:08 > 0:09:13We found Frank Terpil in Cuba on the run from the FBI.

0:09:15 > 0:09:17As well as supporting terrorists,

0:09:17 > 0:09:19he says Gaddafi wanted to kill

0:09:19 > 0:09:22his political opponents living abroad.

0:09:22 > 0:09:26The only one that could give the order for the assassinations

0:09:26 > 0:09:28were Gaddafi. Gaddafi,

0:09:28 > 0:09:31the boss himself and the actual order.

0:09:35 > 0:09:39This is the first interview Terpil has given for 30 years.

0:09:42 > 0:09:44We quietly filmed him in Havana

0:09:44 > 0:09:46without the knowledge of the Cuban government.

0:09:50 > 0:09:53He told us they ran Gaddafi's Murder Incorporated,

0:09:53 > 0:09:56killing his enemies worldwide.

0:09:56 > 0:10:00I would say Murder Incorporated. Yeah, murder for hire.

0:10:02 > 0:10:05Gaddafi thought that if anybody was a dissident

0:10:05 > 0:10:07they were going to be eliminated.

0:10:07 > 0:10:10He had contracts out on a bunch of people in London.

0:10:11 > 0:10:15Another victim, Terpil says, was a Libyan student studying in America.

0:10:17 > 0:10:20He stood up and tried to hit me.

0:10:20 > 0:10:26I blocked the hit and he right away pulled the gun and shot me.

0:10:26 > 0:10:28The first hit, which was here.

0:10:31 > 0:10:34It cut the optic nerve

0:10:34 > 0:10:39and I became blind at first in the right eye.

0:10:39 > 0:10:41He shot the guy but the guy didn't die,

0:10:41 > 0:10:44he was critically injured but he didn't die.

0:10:45 > 0:10:48They looked for more reliable assassins in America.

0:10:49 > 0:10:52- Which one is it?- It's the yellow.

0:10:52 > 0:10:57They included two brothers from Miami with old CIA connections.

0:10:59 > 0:11:02One received us warmly but wouldn't go on camera.

0:11:02 > 0:11:03Nobody home.

0:11:05 > 0:11:07They were summoned to a hotel in Geneva.

0:11:09 > 0:11:12They'd been told the target was Carlos the Jackal -

0:11:12 > 0:11:14a terrorist the CIA wanted dead.

0:11:15 > 0:11:18Only when they got there, did they discover the real target

0:11:18 > 0:11:23wasn't Carlos at all, it was an enemy of Gaddafi called Maheshi.

0:11:24 > 0:11:26They say they turned the job down.

0:11:27 > 0:11:29Yes, I was in Geneva.

0:11:29 > 0:11:32Saif Gaddafi then opened up a letter of credit

0:11:32 > 0:11:35for 1 million for Maheshi's demise,

0:11:35 > 0:11:40on the caveat that his head be delivered back in a cooler

0:11:40 > 0:11:46to Libya, so Gaddafi could actually look at the results of the work.

0:11:46 > 0:11:51Gaddafi's former foreign minister Mansour Kikhia vanished in Cairo.

0:11:51 > 0:11:53I said,

0:11:53 > 0:11:56"Well, do we know what happened to him?" They said,

0:11:56 > 0:11:58"Well, yes, I mean,

0:11:58 > 0:12:02"we believe that he was abducted by the Libyans,

0:12:02 > 0:12:08"tortured, killed, and put in a vat of acid and dumped in the desert."

0:12:08 > 0:12:10I was openly accusing Gaddafi.

0:12:10 > 0:12:14I said, "Gaddafi, ou est mon mari?"

0:12:14 > 0:12:16"Where is my husband?"

0:12:16 > 0:12:18ARABIC SONG IN BACKGROUND

0:12:18 > 0:12:21After that, immediately he sent for me.

0:12:21 > 0:12:22And what time of day was this?

0:12:22 > 0:12:2411 at night.

0:12:24 > 0:12:28As you walked in, what did you hear?

0:12:28 > 0:12:32Music. A song about Syria.

0:12:32 > 0:12:34- Where you are from?- Yes.

0:12:34 > 0:12:38Why do you think Gaddafi would play music as you were entering the tent?

0:12:38 > 0:12:40To manipulate.

0:12:41 > 0:12:44But there was no doubt in your mind that you were talking to

0:12:44 > 0:12:46the man who'd killed your husband?

0:12:46 > 0:12:48Of course.

0:12:51 > 0:12:57I said, "OK, I believe that you have dreams

0:12:57 > 0:13:00"like everyone else,

0:13:00 > 0:13:03"what is your dream about Mansour? Where is he?

0:13:03 > 0:13:06"is he dead or alive?"

0:13:08 > 0:13:11He said, "Alive, Insha'Allah."

0:13:13 > 0:13:15I said, "How do you know?"

0:13:16 > 0:13:18He said, "You just said, 'a dream'."

0:13:20 > 0:13:23In fact her husband was very close by -

0:13:23 > 0:13:26dead, in a freezer in Gaddafi's palace.

0:13:29 > 0:13:31Gaddafi - can you just imagine this? -

0:13:31 > 0:13:36he kept their bodies frozen for the last 22, 25 years.

0:13:36 > 0:13:38Masour Kekhabadi

0:13:38 > 0:13:42was found in the hospital, er, freeze.

0:13:47 > 0:13:52He'd keep his victims in the refrigerators to see them

0:13:52 > 0:13:57once in a while, visit them when they were dead.

0:13:59 > 0:14:02Terrorist leaders and foreign prostitutes alike

0:14:02 > 0:14:03flocked to the palace.

0:14:03 > 0:14:05Everybody wanted something.

0:14:07 > 0:14:09It was a vast, extraordinary complex

0:14:09 > 0:14:12several miles across.

0:14:12 > 0:14:14His vision for himself

0:14:14 > 0:14:17was grandiose beyond all imagining.

0:14:17 > 0:14:20'His grandiosity was really stunning.'

0:14:21 > 0:14:26'We were welcomed very nicely by his bodyguards.'

0:14:26 > 0:14:28They were all female bodyguards dressed in black.

0:14:28 > 0:14:32And he chose them very well because they were very beautiful.

0:14:33 > 0:14:36They took us down into... We went down, down. I don't know

0:14:36 > 0:14:39if you'd call it a bunker or not but we went...

0:14:39 > 0:14:42We were just taking steps there was no lift or anything.

0:14:42 > 0:14:47We went down very far down into... down into the ground.

0:14:50 > 0:14:53The surroundings were like, there was a kitchen,

0:14:53 > 0:14:55you could see a living room that side.

0:14:55 > 0:14:58So it looked like probably somebody lived there.

0:14:59 > 0:15:01Or it was his home I don't know.

0:15:01 > 0:15:04So he had a sort of house deep under the ground?

0:15:04 > 0:15:07Yes, very nice. Very, er...

0:15:07 > 0:15:11It looked very, very posh and very expensive.

0:15:11 > 0:15:16Pictures of him with many people he has met, many heads of state,

0:15:16 > 0:15:19kings and everybody he had ever met.

0:15:20 > 0:15:22Across, you could see the kitchen

0:15:22 > 0:15:25that was so very big and huge marble everything,

0:15:25 > 0:15:30you know, all very nicely done and nicely decorated.

0:15:30 > 0:15:33Above ground, purveyors of chemical

0:15:33 > 0:15:36and biological weapons waited to meet the leader.

0:15:38 > 0:15:41For very little money the regime could develop

0:15:41 > 0:15:44some very, very disruptive machinery and weapons,

0:15:44 > 0:15:47certainly chemical weapons.

0:15:48 > 0:15:51Those waiting to see Gaddafi included plastic surgeons,

0:15:51 > 0:15:53a nuclear smuggler -

0:15:53 > 0:15:56who brought what he said was bomb-grade uranium -

0:15:56 > 0:16:00and a brilliant German rocket scientist, Lutz Kayser.

0:16:07 > 0:16:11It took us six months, but eventually we found Kayser.

0:16:14 > 0:16:16He has his own private island in the Pacific.

0:16:20 > 0:16:22It doesn't rain, it pisses.

0:16:22 > 0:16:26And you are the first Englishman since Captain Cook here.

0:16:26 > 0:16:29He offered Gaddafi long-range rockets.

0:16:29 > 0:16:32COUNTDOWN IN GERMAN

0:16:39 > 0:16:42Gaddafi, he sent a colonel and offered us

0:16:42 > 0:16:45the Sahara as a launching place.

0:16:45 > 0:16:49We had a real nice sand beach of 800km

0:16:49 > 0:16:51all around us, it was lovely.

0:16:51 > 0:16:53In the Sahara?

0:16:53 > 0:16:55Yes, and of course I had my horses there.

0:16:55 > 0:17:00He built the rockets at a secret military base in the desert.

0:17:00 > 0:17:03They can be assembled by one man.

0:17:03 > 0:17:06The remnants he brought here to his island.

0:17:06 > 0:17:10He was a very nice, modest person

0:17:10 > 0:17:18and I had the impression that he was hiding his weakness behind a facade.

0:17:22 > 0:17:27You know, Gaddafi was such a charming, extremely polite man.

0:17:28 > 0:17:30First of all,

0:17:30 > 0:17:32he had a face looking like a Greek God

0:17:32 > 0:17:33on a coin.

0:17:35 > 0:17:38He was so honest and, you know,

0:17:38 > 0:17:42he could charm a bird out of the tree, he knew it.

0:17:42 > 0:17:44He had charisma,

0:17:44 > 0:17:47he was very intelligent, he read a lot.

0:17:47 > 0:17:49He had it all.

0:17:49 > 0:17:53He told us also he wants reconnaissance satellites

0:17:53 > 0:17:55because, at that time at least,

0:17:55 > 0:17:59it was not easy for these countries to get

0:17:59 > 0:18:03observation satellites from different countries.

0:18:04 > 0:18:09Kayser says Gaddafi had no serious interest in a nuclear weapon.

0:18:09 > 0:18:12In fact, before the Kaysers even arrived in Libya,

0:18:12 > 0:18:16he'd spend hundreds of millions of dollars to get the bomb.

0:18:16 > 0:18:19'They were equally obsessed with the nuclear.'

0:18:19 > 0:18:23They were obsessed with missiles. They were obsessed with nuclear.

0:18:23 > 0:18:25Yeah, they tried all the avenues to get

0:18:25 > 0:18:27nuclear capability.

0:18:29 > 0:18:33What turned on Gaddafi about the bomb?

0:18:33 > 0:18:36People would listen to him. His dreams that he would become

0:18:36 > 0:18:40this Arab leader would have been realised overnight.

0:18:40 > 0:18:43The Pakistanis were well on their way to building

0:18:43 > 0:18:44the first Islamic bomb.

0:18:47 > 0:18:49He became Pakistan's chief foreign backer.

0:18:51 > 0:18:55Because he wanted to be a superpower in a Muslim world,

0:18:55 > 0:18:57he wanted to show them who he was.

0:18:57 > 0:18:59He was the new Saladin.

0:19:02 > 0:19:06Gaddafi was acutely jealous of other people's bombs.

0:19:06 > 0:19:09He didn't want to just liberate Libya, he wanted to liberate

0:19:09 > 0:19:13the entire Arab world and Africa

0:19:13 > 0:19:17and Europe in bringing down the empire of the United States.

0:19:20 > 0:19:22I saw him. He rides the white stallion

0:19:22 > 0:19:25and he's like a great Bedouin warrior.

0:19:25 > 0:19:26And it confers this

0:19:26 > 0:19:31glow and this power and this sense of fate, you know?

0:19:36 > 0:19:38A former German intelligence official says

0:19:38 > 0:19:42he believes Kayser did offer Gaddafi a long-range missile.

0:19:44 > 0:19:48Some Western companies really they don't care as far as they get

0:19:48 > 0:19:50the business, you know? For example, it's a German

0:19:50 > 0:19:54who tried to supply Gaddafi with the technology

0:19:54 > 0:19:56to have the rocket industry and all this.

0:19:56 > 0:19:58Well, the whole point was

0:19:58 > 0:20:01that these rockets were supposed to be innocent.

0:20:01 > 0:20:04There is no innocent rocket.

0:20:05 > 0:20:09The Israeli Prime Minister warned them to stop.

0:20:09 > 0:20:13The German people must never forget what was done

0:20:13 > 0:20:17under the National Socialist regime.

0:20:17 > 0:20:19And if they should provide

0:20:19 > 0:20:24deadly weapons which may be turned against Israel,

0:20:24 > 0:20:26it would be a crime against humanity.

0:20:28 > 0:20:31German intelligence files we managed to obtain

0:20:31 > 0:20:37suggest the contract may have been worth 350 million.

0:20:37 > 0:20:40Absolutely untrue, says Kayser.

0:20:40 > 0:20:44- So, there was no military contract? - No.

0:20:44 > 0:20:46- No.- You never built military vehicles?

0:20:49 > 0:20:51For whatever reason,

0:20:51 > 0:20:54Gaddafi and the Kaysers became extraordinarily close.

0:20:55 > 0:20:59Because we were both crazy about horses

0:20:59 > 0:21:01I called him Alexander,

0:21:01 > 0:21:04like Alexander the Great, because he also changed the world.

0:21:06 > 0:21:11When the Kaysers remarried in Libya he gave them a wedding gift.

0:21:11 > 0:21:12Yes, I do.

0:21:12 > 0:21:15He allowed the bells of the Catholic church in Tripoli

0:21:15 > 0:21:18to ring for the first time since the revolution.

0:21:22 > 0:21:26Sometimes Gaddafi talked to them of being an Arab Caesar,

0:21:26 > 0:21:28other times he seemed in despair.

0:21:28 > 0:21:32He treated them as confidants.

0:21:32 > 0:21:37- SUSI:- He was wearing the most gorgeous Italian Armani outfits.

0:21:38 > 0:21:41Sometimes I thought, "He does it for me."

0:21:42 > 0:21:46The Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat would drop in.

0:21:46 > 0:21:53He, Gaddafi, jointly with Arafat and I, we would sit on the floor

0:21:53 > 0:21:56together with Lutz, drink Coca Cola

0:21:56 > 0:22:01and talk about his failures.

0:22:01 > 0:22:06He always said, "I can't make them."

0:22:06 > 0:22:09"Them" was always the Libyans.

0:22:09 > 0:22:12The Libyans didn't want to do what he wanted them to do.

0:22:15 > 0:22:19But they were not ready. They were coming out of the Stone Age.

0:22:20 > 0:22:24The ideas he had for the country, for the women, they are good ideas.

0:22:24 > 0:22:26For hospitals.

0:22:26 > 0:22:30He would spend money for schools

0:22:30 > 0:22:31but having no teachers.

0:22:33 > 0:22:37So his ideas of an orderly, proper country

0:22:37 > 0:22:40where everyone is highly educated,

0:22:40 > 0:22:44it was Utopia - he couldn't achieve it.

0:22:44 > 0:22:45- Utopia?- Yes.

0:22:47 > 0:22:50He told the Kaysers about his childhood in the desert

0:22:50 > 0:22:52looking after goats and camels.

0:22:52 > 0:22:55He gave them a book he'd written himself.

0:22:57 > 0:23:00The book is called Escape To Hell.

0:23:00 > 0:23:03His true home was not his grand palace

0:23:03 > 0:23:05but a place other people called hell.

0:23:05 > 0:23:07The boiling Sahara.

0:23:08 > 0:23:11He hated cities teeming with people.

0:23:12 > 0:23:15"I will tell you the story of my experiences

0:23:15 > 0:23:16"when I made that journey,

0:23:16 > 0:23:18"that escape to hell,

0:23:18 > 0:23:23"fleeing from you to save myself. Your breath chases me like

0:23:23 > 0:23:27"a rabid dog, its saliva dripping in the streets of your modern city.

0:23:27 > 0:23:30"The path to hell is not what you might expect.

0:23:31 > 0:23:34"Those two nights were amongst the most beautiful I have ever spent."

0:23:41 > 0:23:45As a young man, Gaddafi had joined the army and trained in England.

0:23:47 > 0:23:48HE SPEAKS ENGLISH

0:24:17 > 0:24:21He was just like any other devout young Bedouin officer

0:24:21 > 0:24:25who'd overthrown a king and eventually found himself with

0:24:25 > 0:24:28an oil revenue of 1 billion a week.

0:24:30 > 0:24:33'He meant well in the beginning, of course.

0:24:33 > 0:24:35'He was a normal young man.'

0:24:36 > 0:24:38But he changed.

0:24:39 > 0:24:42Gradually he became the monster.

0:24:44 > 0:24:46I would like in the beginning to introduce myself.

0:24:46 > 0:24:49I am Ali El Akermi...

0:24:50 > 0:24:52ex-political prisoner.

0:24:52 > 0:24:55I spent three decades in prison.

0:24:55 > 0:24:57Your whole life was taken away.

0:24:57 > 0:24:59Yes, yes exactly.

0:24:59 > 0:25:04Gaddafi banned political parties and threw their leaders in jail.

0:25:04 > 0:25:06ALI EL AKERMI SPEAKS ENGLISH

0:25:25 > 0:25:26You mean they were white-hot?

0:25:31 > 0:25:32SLAPS AND SCREAMING

0:25:37 > 0:25:40- To break you? - To break you. To break us.

0:25:43 > 0:25:45The dogs would bite you or what would they do?

0:25:45 > 0:25:47Yes, yes, exactly. Yes.

0:25:47 > 0:25:50So they were trained to cause the maximum pain?

0:25:50 > 0:25:51Yes, exactly.

0:25:53 > 0:25:57GADDAFI'S SPEECHES PLAY IN BACKGROUND

0:26:06 > 0:26:08HE SPEAKS ARABIC

0:26:16 > 0:26:18A loudspeaker.

0:26:22 > 0:26:23So this voice

0:26:23 > 0:26:25was going on all the time?

0:26:25 > 0:26:29Yes, they are trying to destroy us from inside, you see?

0:26:29 > 0:26:31What was the voice saying?

0:26:33 > 0:26:38He was urging the Revolutionary Committees

0:26:38 > 0:26:42to liquidate all the agents of the United States.

0:26:42 > 0:26:47Every April 7th, students would be hanged.

0:26:47 > 0:26:49Ones Gaddafi's Revolutionary Committees

0:26:49 > 0:26:51thought were American spies.

0:26:52 > 0:26:55They were brought to the universities...

0:26:56 > 0:27:00in the presence of the primary school students.

0:27:00 > 0:27:02To show them?

0:27:02 > 0:27:05To show them what is the result of anyone

0:27:05 > 0:27:08who is against the revolution, you see?

0:27:09 > 0:27:12How old were these kids who would have to watch the executions?

0:27:14 > 0:27:1612 years, 10 years.

0:27:16 > 0:27:19IN TRANSLATION:

0:27:25 > 0:27:29- And they would see people being strung up, hanged?- Yes. Yes.

0:27:29 > 0:27:32IN TRANSLATION:

0:27:39 > 0:27:42CROWD CHEERING

0:27:46 > 0:27:49One student's neck didn't quite break.

0:27:51 > 0:27:54This woman pulled on his legs.

0:27:54 > 0:27:56- You mean she was tugging on his legs?- Yes.

0:27:56 > 0:27:59Pulled them out, to pull him down, to pull him down.

0:27:59 > 0:28:02Gaddafi was delighted.

0:28:02 > 0:28:04She was promoted to be a minister.

0:28:04 > 0:28:05HORNS BEEPING

0:28:05 > 0:28:07So it's rather like the Mafia really,

0:28:07 > 0:28:10- you kill for me and you get the job? - You kill you get the prize,

0:28:10 > 0:28:12you get a chocolate.

0:28:13 > 0:28:17Ali Aujali served the regime for 40 years.

0:28:19 > 0:28:22Finally, he became Gaddafi's ambassador to Washington.

0:28:24 > 0:28:27Libyans didn't have the vote.

0:28:27 > 0:28:29Instead, they expressed their views through committees,

0:28:29 > 0:28:32who supposedly passed them on to Gaddafi.

0:28:36 > 0:28:38But it doesn't matter anyway because Gaddafi

0:28:38 > 0:28:40- is going to make the decision? - Of course, of course,

0:28:40 > 0:28:43when they make changes for a minister, for example,

0:28:43 > 0:28:45it's supposed to be chosen by the people.

0:28:45 > 0:28:47There is no-one chosen by the people.

0:28:48 > 0:28:51He called himself Brother Leader.

0:28:51 > 0:28:57He was influenced by this concept of remaking

0:28:57 > 0:28:58a new man,

0:28:58 > 0:29:02a new revolutionary man.

0:29:02 > 0:29:04He was influenced by Mao.

0:29:05 > 0:29:07It was a bizarre revolution.

0:29:08 > 0:29:12One day, he ordered all the camels in Tripoli shot dead.

0:29:13 > 0:29:15We saw this most horrific sight,

0:29:15 > 0:29:19there were these dead, bloated camels

0:29:19 > 0:29:22lying along the sides of the road.

0:29:24 > 0:29:29He said, "Ah, Brother Leader has decided that camels have no place

0:29:29 > 0:29:32"in a modern society,

0:29:32 > 0:29:35"so he just gave the order to kill all the camels."

0:29:37 > 0:29:39There is only one man who controls everything

0:29:39 > 0:29:43and you realise that if you have any hope of survival,

0:29:43 > 0:29:47you are going to have to reshape your thoughts

0:29:47 > 0:29:48to try and mirror his.

0:29:48 > 0:29:52- Because you don't know how to mirror his thoughts.- No.

0:29:52 > 0:29:55- You don't know if what you are saying is right or wrong?- No.

0:29:55 > 0:29:57And you learn to shift on a dime.

0:29:57 > 0:30:00If he shifts his position on something, you shift.

0:30:00 > 0:30:04You know, people would come to him, especially women, women adored him.

0:30:04 > 0:30:10Who do you admire among other world leaders?

0:30:15 > 0:30:17Gamal Abdel Nasser?

0:30:21 > 0:30:22As a teenager,

0:30:22 > 0:30:26Gaddafi would listen to the radio voice of Egypt's President Nasser

0:30:26 > 0:30:31raging against Israel and the countries who supported her.

0:30:31 > 0:30:33Nasser's successor, Anwar Sadat,

0:30:33 > 0:30:36he hated for trying to make peace with Israel.

0:30:36 > 0:30:39Is there a common front against President Sadat at the moment?

0:30:40 > 0:30:42We don't speak about Sadat or any...

0:30:42 > 0:30:44He was mentally sick, he said.

0:30:44 > 0:30:47HE SPEAKS ENGLISH

0:30:57 > 0:30:59Sadat called him:

0:31:06 > 0:31:10Gaddafi offered 5 million to anyone who would kill Sadat.

0:31:15 > 0:31:19Egypt's Islamic Jihad carried out the assassination.

0:31:39 > 0:31:42By the time Sadat was buried, Gaddafi had barely a single

0:31:42 > 0:31:46friend left amongst Islamic leaders, except one.

0:31:46 > 0:31:50# Idi, Idi, Idi Amin... #

0:31:50 > 0:31:54General Idi Amin Dada, dictator of Uganda, self-appointed

0:31:54 > 0:31:59conqueror of the British Empire, and last King of Scotland.

0:31:59 > 0:32:03Nobody will divide the Africa and Arab.

0:32:03 > 0:32:05They will be strengthened. Thank you very much.

0:32:05 > 0:32:09In Gaddafi's wake came his loyal servant Frank Terpil,

0:32:09 > 0:32:12offering Amin torture equipment.

0:32:13 > 0:32:16Believe it or not, he became a friend.

0:32:16 > 0:32:18He became a friend, a really close friend.

0:32:18 > 0:32:21He was a really funny guy. Well, I thought he was a funny guy.

0:32:21 > 0:32:27Here Amin was torturing thousands of Ugandans he believed opposed him.

0:32:27 > 0:32:32There were so many bodies, they were strewn on the golf course.

0:32:32 > 0:32:34I told him he should stop that. I told him,

0:32:34 > 0:32:38I said, "It's not good for tourism," and he agreed with me.

0:32:38 > 0:32:42Eventually Amin would kill 500,000 Ugandans.

0:32:45 > 0:32:49Hundreds of prisoners were crammed into stifling cells.

0:32:50 > 0:32:54Their choice was to suffocate, jammed against each other, or

0:32:54 > 0:32:59jump into a pool of water outside charged with 500 volts.

0:33:01 > 0:33:05The bodies would be thrown to crocodiles in a lake nearby.

0:33:09 > 0:33:13When Amin was overthrown, Terpil flew him to Libya aboard an old 707.

0:33:15 > 0:33:19On the plane I thought he was bringing cases of AK47 machine guns.

0:33:21 > 0:33:24It was cases of gold.

0:33:24 > 0:33:29To Colonel Gaddafi, Amin seemed to be the deposed liberator of Africa.

0:33:30 > 0:33:33He was the guest of honour among a group of terror leaders

0:33:33 > 0:33:36Gaddafi flew into Tripoli for a conference.

0:33:36 > 0:33:38Gaddafi was getting more and more strident.

0:33:38 > 0:33:40There was less brother leader

0:33:40 > 0:33:45and more avenging angel against a great Satan...

0:33:47 > 0:33:50..and all of the United States and Western Europe.

0:33:50 > 0:33:53He started inviting a lot of people, you know,

0:33:53 > 0:33:55well-known terrorists - Black September,

0:33:55 > 0:33:59Carlos the Jackal, Abu Nidal...

0:34:00 > 0:34:03..and these guys were all like heads of state visiting, you know.

0:34:03 > 0:34:06He'd put on huge receptions for them.

0:34:06 > 0:34:07I thought, "My God," you know?

0:34:07 > 0:34:09I said, "This is a terrorist Woodstock.

0:34:09 > 0:34:12"I've got to see this," you know?

0:34:12 > 0:34:15The terrorists left here with money or arms.

0:34:16 > 0:34:21Virtually every bomb made by the Provisional IRA is thought to

0:34:21 > 0:34:24have contained Semtex shipped from a Libyan port.

0:34:25 > 0:34:28His bitterness, his sense of rejection was

0:34:28 > 0:34:32so great that he really wanted to instil fear in Western Europe

0:34:32 > 0:34:35and the US and any other country that was opposed to him,

0:34:35 > 0:34:39probably the Saudis. I mean, maybe he wanted the Saudis too to think like,

0:34:39 > 0:34:41"Yeah, I can have you assassinated, too."

0:34:45 > 0:34:48The dreams of Muammar Gaddafi were beginning to collapse.

0:34:51 > 0:34:53Libya had a tiny population.

0:34:55 > 0:34:56There was still no nuclear bomb.

0:34:58 > 0:35:04The only Islamic leader who genuinely liked him was a madman.

0:35:05 > 0:35:09The Arabs he wanted to lead began to laugh at him.

0:35:09 > 0:35:12I feel ashamed when Gaddafi is talking about the Arab community

0:35:12 > 0:35:18and the Arab making jokes about him, you know. They really laugh at him.

0:35:18 > 0:35:22They laughed even louder when Gaddafi expressed his philosophy

0:35:22 > 0:35:25in a little green book that children had to learn in school.

0:35:38 > 0:35:41The green book, you read it if you have time and you throw

0:35:41 > 0:35:46it in the garbage, that is the only place. It's ridiculous.

0:35:46 > 0:35:49Gaddafi, he doesn't listen to anybody. He's a thinker,

0:35:49 > 0:35:53he's an engineer, he's the writer, he's the everything.

0:35:55 > 0:35:59He bought 12 billion of weapons from the Soviet Union

0:35:59 > 0:36:01to impress the Arabs - it didn't.

0:36:03 > 0:36:06Who would he have hit, Israel?

0:36:06 > 0:36:08- No.- Who?- No.

0:36:08 > 0:36:13- Cairo?- No. I think just for show, just for show, just for show.

0:36:13 > 0:36:15Just to be a great leader, you have a great army,

0:36:15 > 0:36:18you have weapons, you have technology, you have all this.

0:36:18 > 0:36:23- But he threatened Nato in Naples once.- That is rubbish.

0:36:23 > 0:36:24What he can threaten?

0:36:25 > 0:36:30In the early days the crowds had gone wild,

0:36:30 > 0:36:34now they were under the eye of security guards.

0:36:34 > 0:36:36Because these guys were just fanatics. I mean, they...

0:36:36 > 0:36:39They just, you know, you look in their eyes and, you know,

0:36:39 > 0:36:41I've seen it in cult members.

0:36:42 > 0:36:47In his palace, Gaddafi now seemed a lonely, slightly distracted figure.

0:36:59 > 0:37:03He gave the Libyans cheap apartments, cheaper loans,

0:37:03 > 0:37:06free schools and hospitals - not very good ones.

0:37:07 > 0:37:11Nothing he wanted to have done really worked, nothing.

0:37:11 > 0:37:16Whatever he did sort of got sour. People were unhappy.

0:37:20 > 0:37:23"I love the masses just as I loved my father,

0:37:23 > 0:37:26"yet I fear them in the same way.

0:37:26 > 0:37:28"People snap at me whenever they see me.

0:37:28 > 0:37:31"'Build us a better house, get us a better telephone line,

0:37:31 > 0:37:36"'build us a road upon the sea, kill this dog, buy us a cat.'"

0:37:40 > 0:37:44He could neither bribe nor bludgeon the Libyans into loving him

0:37:44 > 0:37:46the way he wanted.

0:37:46 > 0:37:51Gaddafi controlled the Libyan, not by making them happy,

0:37:51 > 0:37:53but making them miserable.

0:37:53 > 0:37:56His friends, the Kaysers, listened patiently.

0:37:56 > 0:38:03Gaddafi thought Libya was hell on Earth and he was having nightmares.

0:38:03 > 0:38:05The whole country made him a nightmare.

0:38:07 > 0:38:11Because none of his visions had come true,

0:38:11 > 0:38:15none of the ideas he had materialised,

0:38:15 > 0:38:18it was not what he had planned as revolution.

0:38:18 > 0:38:21He said, "We failed utterly."

0:38:24 > 0:38:27He wanted to be king of somewhere else.

0:38:46 > 0:38:50Half-past five in the morning, my phone rang, it was my son,

0:38:50 > 0:38:54he is one of the managers on the farm and he said, "Dad, Dad,

0:38:54 > 0:38:58"Dad, tell me, what's going on on this farm?

0:38:58 > 0:39:02"I just see military uniforms all over the show, the people walking

0:39:02 > 0:39:07"around with AK47 and land mine detectors. Dad, Dad, come on."

0:39:07 > 0:39:11Then I quickly shaved, got dressed, got on to my motorbike

0:39:11 > 0:39:14and drove to where my son was saying that.

0:39:14 > 0:39:18And then I discovered 200 or 300 people walking around,

0:39:18 > 0:39:20military uniforms.

0:39:20 > 0:39:25There was a huge white limousine Mercedes and they just

0:39:25 > 0:39:28drove into the field, stopped, and started pitching a tent.

0:39:29 > 0:39:32All of a sudden, he was standing next to me.

0:39:32 > 0:39:36I nearly landed on my back and he said,

0:39:36 > 0:39:38"Do you know who you're talking to?"

0:39:38 > 0:39:41And I said, "Yes, I know."

0:39:41 > 0:39:44And he was, he was really facing me, close up,

0:39:44 > 0:39:48and he said to me, "You're talking to the golden leader of Africa."

0:39:50 > 0:39:54The golden leader of Africa seemed afraid.

0:39:54 > 0:39:58If he goes out into a desert there mustn't be a human being

0:39:58 > 0:40:00within five miles of him.

0:40:00 > 0:40:04That is why his ministers told me, "He will not come to your house.

0:40:04 > 0:40:08"There are too many trees, this man feels threatened."

0:40:08 > 0:40:10SIREN BLARES

0:40:10 > 0:40:13AFRICAN SINGING

0:40:17 > 0:40:21He said, "I'll lead Africa one day, you must know that."

0:40:24 > 0:40:29"I was 28 years old when I took over the reins in my country.

0:40:30 > 0:40:33"It was a very unhappy nation and today I have five and a half

0:40:33 > 0:40:38"million people living in my country, all very happy citizens."

0:40:46 > 0:40:49Probably the Arabs didn't like him

0:40:49 > 0:40:53and then he wanted to be very popular with the Africans.

0:40:53 > 0:40:56So you're saying that when the Arabs turned their back on him,

0:40:56 > 0:40:58- then he turned to Africa? - To Africa, yes.

0:40:59 > 0:41:04He wanted to... to be the President of the United States of Africa.

0:41:04 > 0:41:08Gaddafi rolled across Africa, charming its leaders,

0:41:08 > 0:41:12radiating power and money on a continent that had neither.

0:41:16 > 0:41:19Buying off heads of state, training individuals that he would

0:41:19 > 0:41:23hope would be his surrogates of various parts of Africa.

0:41:24 > 0:41:27There was this sense that he was a revolutionary.

0:41:27 > 0:41:30I think many fell into that trap,

0:41:30 > 0:41:35the allure of this grand man with his grand buba dress

0:41:35 > 0:41:40and his great ideas about African unity, and it was appealing to them.

0:41:40 > 0:41:45He told Africans the West had raped Africa and stolen her resources.

0:41:49 > 0:41:52He supported Nelson Mandela's struggle in South Africa.

0:41:53 > 0:41:56On land once given to him by Idi Amin,

0:41:56 > 0:42:01he built Africa's largest mosque and opened it himself.

0:42:01 > 0:42:04As a young man, I was just waiting for that day.

0:42:04 > 0:42:09All my mind was glued to get a finish on the mosque.

0:42:09 > 0:42:11It was just glittering.

0:42:11 > 0:42:13You saw Gaddafi arrive?

0:42:13 > 0:42:16I saw him. In fact, even I shook his hands.

0:42:16 > 0:42:19To young Muslims, it was a revolution.

0:42:19 > 0:42:21It was great.

0:42:21 > 0:42:25In fact, I remember it was only touching his both hands

0:42:25 > 0:42:28like this, a sign of African unity.

0:42:28 > 0:42:32And then we say, "Viva Brother Gaddafi.

0:42:32 > 0:42:36"Viva President Gaddafi. Allahu Akbar. Allahu Akbar."

0:42:39 > 0:42:42I saw in him somebody who'll, who'll get us

0:42:42 > 0:42:48from the depth of suffering and misery, and put us to that level.

0:42:48 > 0:42:52Here was a powerful man telling Africans why they were poor,

0:42:52 > 0:42:55promising to make them rich.

0:42:56 > 0:42:58He was a killer with a vision.

0:42:58 > 0:43:00But there was an intellect, though?

0:43:00 > 0:43:02Yeah, oh, definitely. Oh, definitely.

0:43:02 > 0:43:04He was an original thinker.

0:43:04 > 0:43:07He was very much an original thinker.

0:43:07 > 0:43:11Killing people was just another means to an end.

0:43:11 > 0:43:13SIRENS BLARE

0:43:14 > 0:43:20In most African countries there was only room for one dictator.

0:43:20 > 0:43:24Most African leaders felt that he was very dangerous.

0:43:24 > 0:43:28Politicians took his money, but laughed behind his back.

0:43:30 > 0:43:33- That was in fact mockering him. - Mocking him?

0:43:33 > 0:43:38Yes, cos he was only leader of Libya, not for the whole of Africa,

0:43:38 > 0:43:40and after all, he was an Arab.

0:43:44 > 0:43:47He turned instead to Africa's kings and queens

0:43:47 > 0:43:50who had ruled for decades before the politicians.

0:43:55 > 0:44:01Some were so poor that even learned kings had very little.

0:44:04 > 0:44:07He asked a South African musician to write him

0:44:07 > 0:44:10a song declaring he was a king, too.

0:44:10 > 0:44:13# King of kings of Africa... #

0:44:15 > 0:44:19The song salutes Muammar Gaddafi as a great leader,

0:44:19 > 0:44:24as a great visionary, as a philosopher, as a king of kings.

0:44:29 > 0:44:33That was his dream, I mean, his own dream.

0:44:33 > 0:44:35King of kings of Africa.

0:44:35 > 0:44:37# King of Kings of Africa... #

0:44:37 > 0:44:40This was a picture of great power.

0:44:40 > 0:44:43And even financial power.

0:44:45 > 0:44:48He swept through the poor kingdoms of Africa.

0:44:48 > 0:44:53And we thought, "This is an angel from heaven.

0:44:53 > 0:44:56"He's coming, you know, to put us back on the map."

0:44:57 > 0:45:01I never seen any leader who had such security around him.

0:45:04 > 0:45:07But what do you think he was trying to show the people of Uganda?

0:45:07 > 0:45:11I think he was trying to scare them.

0:45:14 > 0:45:17He became entranced by a boy king.

0:45:18 > 0:45:26The youngest king in the world at that time, Oyo, was seven years old.

0:45:26 > 0:45:32To see a young person like this walking with big people,

0:45:32 > 0:45:35putting all of these gowns and whatnot,

0:45:35 > 0:45:40so he was surprised. He said, "Who is this?"

0:45:40 > 0:45:45That is a King. "King?" Yes.

0:45:45 > 0:45:48So you mean he was very struck by this small boy?

0:45:48 > 0:45:52Yes, because he asked President that, "I want to meet the King.

0:45:52 > 0:45:54"I want to meet him now, now."

0:45:55 > 0:46:00Well, Gaddafi had sent a jet, a presidential jet,

0:46:00 > 0:46:03and picked King Oyo and his delegation.

0:46:03 > 0:46:06And what was the flight like, can you remember it?

0:46:06 > 0:46:10Very, very first class. I am telling you, there's beds.

0:46:10 > 0:46:14- A bed?- Yeah, big double bed and dining.

0:46:14 > 0:46:17Really, it was special plane.

0:46:17 > 0:46:20And how did King Oyo feel about that flight?

0:46:20 > 0:46:25Oh, he was very happy. A young man is...he was very happy.

0:46:25 > 0:46:28Was Gaddafi sort of like an uncle to him, or what?

0:46:28 > 0:46:32- Like a friend. - A small friend.- Like a small friend.

0:46:33 > 0:46:35What Gaddafi really thought

0:46:35 > 0:46:38of his new African friends is another matter.

0:46:41 > 0:46:44His former chief of protocol, Nuri al-Mismari,

0:46:44 > 0:46:49one of his closest aides, was reluctant to talk on camera,

0:46:49 > 0:46:51but he did agree to meet a journalist in a hotel.

0:47:33 > 0:47:36The drag queen in him liked all the costumes

0:47:36 > 0:47:39and jewellery and the titles.

0:47:42 > 0:47:45And the Machiavellian part of him

0:47:45 > 0:47:49thought they were easiest to bribe, intimidate, overwhelm.

0:47:50 > 0:47:55He would try to buy you, he would support rebels,

0:47:55 > 0:47:57he would try to assassinate you, anything.

0:47:57 > 0:47:58Presidents have said to me that they

0:47:58 > 0:48:01believe that he did try to kill them, yes.

0:48:01 > 0:48:02GUNSHOTS

0:48:02 > 0:48:05He paid for a genocidal war in West Africa.

0:48:11 > 0:48:15Cannibalism, rape, torture, the forces of hell that

0:48:15 > 0:48:20Muammar Gaddafi unleashed on... really a wonderful people.

0:48:22 > 0:48:25Ex-Liberian president Charles Taylor,

0:48:25 > 0:48:29later convicted of crimes against humanity, ran the war.

0:48:30 > 0:48:33He was trained and funded by Gaddafi.

0:48:33 > 0:48:36If you've ever seen the movie Mad Max Thunderdome,

0:48:36 > 0:48:39this was Mad Max Thunderdome in reality.

0:48:41 > 0:48:43They would come into a village,

0:48:43 > 0:48:46they would tell the children to kill their parents,

0:48:46 > 0:48:48and if they refused to, they would kill the child.

0:48:48 > 0:48:50The boys were the fighters.

0:48:50 > 0:48:54The girls would be worked, bred, branded, traded,

0:48:54 > 0:48:57just like pack animals. And when they were no longer of use,

0:48:57 > 0:49:00would be put down just like beasts of burden.

0:49:00 > 0:49:04The young men would be forced to kill, some of them as young as six.

0:49:04 > 0:49:08These children had never learned right or wrong.

0:49:08 > 0:49:11They didn't understand the idea of mercy.

0:49:11 > 0:49:13I mean, I still have nightmares on the things that I saw,

0:49:13 > 0:49:15the things that I smelled,

0:49:15 > 0:49:18the things I tasted and touched, that these people went through.

0:49:18 > 0:49:22It is truly a horror story beyond imagination.

0:49:24 > 0:49:27The centre point of the West African tragedy

0:49:27 > 0:49:30during the 1990s was Muammar Gaddafi.

0:49:30 > 0:49:34His schemes that caused the murder, rape,

0:49:34 > 0:49:37maiming and mutilation of over 1.2 million human beings.

0:49:39 > 0:49:41This was his African legacy.

0:49:43 > 0:49:48He is being crowned as the King of Kings...

0:49:48 > 0:49:51Nonetheless, not long before he fell,

0:49:51 > 0:49:55he had himself crowned King of Africa.

0:49:57 > 0:50:00He flew a planeload of tribal chiefs to Libya.

0:50:00 > 0:50:04He thought they came to pay homage.

0:50:04 > 0:50:06In fact, they came for money.

0:50:11 > 0:50:15In 1986, the US bombed Libya.

0:50:15 > 0:50:19Terrorists had attacked a nightclub in Berlin used by Americans.

0:50:20 > 0:50:24US military forces this evening have executed a series of air strikes

0:50:24 > 0:50:27against terrorist-related targets in Libya.

0:50:31 > 0:50:34We bear the people of Libya no ill will,

0:50:34 > 0:50:37but if their government continues its campaign of terror

0:50:37 > 0:50:40against Americans, we will act again.

0:50:40 > 0:50:46Gaddafi replied that he might send suicide squads to the United States.

0:50:46 > 0:50:48Good evening. The simple facts are these.

0:50:48 > 0:50:51Pan Am's flight 103 had been in the air for an hour.

0:50:51 > 0:50:53- The 747 went on...- Two years later,

0:50:53 > 0:50:57Pam Am 103 blew up over Lockerbie in Scotland.

0:50:57 > 0:51:00270 people died.

0:51:00 > 0:51:03She got a baby! She couldn't possibly be on this flight...

0:51:03 > 0:51:06Gaddafi was the first suspect.

0:51:07 > 0:51:10He told the father of one of the victims that a giant

0:51:10 > 0:51:14hailstone had knocked the plane out of the sky.

0:51:14 > 0:51:18International sanctions were imposed on Libya.

0:51:18 > 0:51:21Suddenly, Gaddafi was in deep trouble.

0:51:21 > 0:51:26I had the impression Gaddafi was an entirely changed man.

0:51:27 > 0:51:32Sometimes I had even the feeling he was not altogether there.

0:51:32 > 0:51:34He was killed.

0:51:34 > 0:51:35His spirit was killed.

0:51:37 > 0:51:41If you get past the militia guarding Tripoli International Airport,

0:51:41 > 0:51:43there's a road behind the airport

0:51:43 > 0:51:45that runs past old and wrecked planes.

0:51:48 > 0:51:51It leads eventually to one of the strangest

0:51:51 > 0:51:53mysteries of the Gaddafi era.

0:51:54 > 0:51:58Just off the road we found the wreckage of a Libyan 727.

0:52:00 > 0:52:03Ali Aujali, who served the regime at the time, makes

0:52:03 > 0:52:05an extraordinary claim...

0:52:06 > 0:52:09..that Gaddafi brought it down himself.

0:52:10 > 0:52:14Can you even imagine this? His own... He killed his own people, just to...

0:52:14 > 0:52:20- He shot down a Libyan jet?- He shot down the Libyan jet just to prove,

0:52:20 > 0:52:24to tell the world that the sanction has hurt the Libyan lives

0:52:24 > 0:52:27and the Libyan, and he is the one who's responsible for it.

0:52:27 > 0:52:32A Libyan jet on a domestic flight crashed in a field

0:52:32 > 0:52:33near Tripoli airport

0:52:33 > 0:52:38four years, almost to the day, since the crash of Pam Am 103.

0:52:39 > 0:52:43Its flight number was 1103.

0:52:44 > 0:52:47So this was a Libyan Arab Airlines plane?

0:52:47 > 0:52:48Yes, that's right.

0:52:48 > 0:52:51Again, a bomb and a timer.

0:52:51 > 0:52:54Yeah. No, but the bomb does not explode in the middle.

0:52:54 > 0:52:59Then he sent a jet, a military jet to hit it by rocket,

0:52:59 > 0:53:01and it was exploded.

0:53:01 > 0:53:03And how many people died?

0:53:03 > 0:53:05About 160, 60 something.

0:53:05 > 0:53:06Ordinary Libyans?

0:53:06 > 0:53:10Ordinary Libyans, some foreigners flying from Benghazi to...

0:53:10 > 0:53:14- Why did he do that? - Yeah, just to show the people.

0:53:14 > 0:53:17He just want to show to the world that this sanctions is

0:53:17 > 0:53:21affecting the Libyan life, affect the Libyan transportation.

0:53:21 > 0:53:25He want to show that they really need to remove

0:53:25 > 0:53:27the sanctions against Libya.

0:53:27 > 0:53:30So, he tried to make it look as though the plane had fallen

0:53:30 > 0:53:33out of the sky because it needed spare parts or something.

0:53:33 > 0:53:36Service, spare parts, exactly, exactly.

0:53:36 > 0:53:39- Whereas, in fact, he shot it down. - Yes.

0:53:39 > 0:53:42- Are you sure of that? - 100%.

0:53:42 > 0:53:45Do you think Gaddafi was mad?

0:53:45 > 0:53:47In the end, yes.

0:53:48 > 0:53:53Gaddafi's head of protocol remembers a hunting trip to Europe.

0:53:53 > 0:53:55Gaddafi shot a deer.

0:54:21 > 0:54:24I would put it on a par with, say, Albania and North Korea...

0:54:26 > 0:54:30..and the spy network that was extraordinary.

0:54:30 > 0:54:32HE SPEAKS IN OWN LANGUAGE

0:54:34 > 0:54:41And I'd never seen that degree of control over the collective

0:54:41 > 0:54:43mind of an entire nation.

0:54:45 > 0:54:51A look or a smile when Gaddafi spoke was enough to get your child killed.

0:54:51 > 0:54:57Cut her lips off with scissors, just with scissors.

0:54:57 > 0:54:59- And how old was this child? - She was six years old.

0:55:01 > 0:55:05And they'd strapped her behind her back

0:55:05 > 0:55:08and let her bleed to death in a hot car.

0:55:08 > 0:55:11A young man was torn in two.

0:55:11 > 0:55:12They tied his body?

0:55:12 > 0:55:15Yeah, tied the body of this young man between two cars

0:55:15 > 0:55:17and everyone go in different direction.

0:55:18 > 0:55:20And his crime was what?

0:55:20 > 0:55:24His crime, just because he said, "Gaddafi slept with my wife."

0:55:24 > 0:55:26I don't know why I remember this,

0:55:26 > 0:55:32but it was a Volvo estate that she was left to bleed to death inside.

0:55:35 > 0:55:37Gaddafi had female guards

0:55:37 > 0:55:40who were supposed to be willing to die for him.

0:55:41 > 0:55:46After his fall, some would be tortured and killed by the mob.

0:55:46 > 0:55:49We found one who doesn't want her name or whereabouts disclosed.

0:56:08 > 0:56:12She had to wait outside his door till he woke.

0:56:19 > 0:56:22In time, she came to fear him.

0:56:23 > 0:56:28One night at 2am, she was sent to watch the execution of teenagers.

0:56:59 > 0:57:03Another bodyguard is said to have thrown herself over Gaddafi

0:57:03 > 0:57:05to save him from assassination,

0:57:05 > 0:57:08there now being at least three attempts on his life.

0:57:10 > 0:57:13He and Prime Minister Berlusconi of Italy

0:57:13 > 0:57:16shared the same plastic surgeon from Brazil.

0:57:18 > 0:57:21Dr Liacyr Ribeiro left his sunny office in Rio,

0:57:21 > 0:57:24where he specialised in breast enhancement,

0:57:24 > 0:57:28for the bizarre and paranoid atmosphere of the palace.

0:57:30 > 0:57:33He found Gaddafi living in fear of those around him,

0:57:33 > 0:57:35even his closest aides.

0:57:36 > 0:57:40He wanted work done on his face.

0:57:40 > 0:57:44In this case, lipofilling because...

0:57:44 > 0:57:49the bad skin...

0:57:49 > 0:57:52and the hair implant, too.

0:57:52 > 0:57:55He'd inject fat into the crags of Gaddafi's face.

0:57:57 > 0:58:01A very nice man, intelligent man.

0:58:01 > 0:58:04The operation would take place late at night.

0:58:04 > 0:58:08Two o'clock, AM...

0:58:08 > 0:58:10in the morning.

0:58:10 > 0:58:14The operating theatre was in the tunnels under the palace.

0:58:14 > 0:58:17Yes, yes, like a big hospital.

0:58:17 > 0:58:21The surgery room in the bunker, it's very good.

0:58:21 > 0:58:27The operation was performed with

0:58:27 > 0:58:31local anaesthesia only, no sedation.

0:58:32 > 0:58:35He refused general anaesthetic.

0:58:35 > 0:58:39He was afraid that somebody might kill him.

0:58:42 > 0:58:47Those close to Gaddafi feared he was sliding into isolation and madness.

0:58:52 > 0:58:56He didn't believe any more in the revolution.

0:58:56 > 0:59:02He had bodyguards around him. He had bad advisors around him.

0:59:02 > 0:59:05He didn't go any more among the Libyan people.

0:59:06 > 0:59:10The ageing dictator was taking far too many Viagra

0:59:10 > 0:59:13and aphrodisiacs bought from African dealers.

0:59:16 > 0:59:20He began sweeping into schools, looking for teenage girls to abuse.

0:59:23 > 0:59:24The last school he ever visited

0:59:24 > 0:59:27before he fell was this one in Tripoli.

0:59:29 > 0:59:32We're going to the school, it's a little hidden away,

0:59:32 > 0:59:36it's where Gaddafi showed up unannounced.

0:59:36 > 0:59:38Do you think they'll talk to us?

0:59:39 > 0:59:41I hope so.

0:59:41 > 0:59:44'Teachers told us he'd pat girl students on the head to

0:59:44 > 0:59:47'indicate to his henchmen which ones he liked.'

0:59:49 > 0:59:51They picked them up after school.

1:00:55 > 1:00:58Later, the girls would be taken to his palace.

1:01:02 > 1:01:06He is attacking young Libyan girls.

1:01:06 > 1:01:08He raped them,

1:01:08 > 1:01:13and he's living a very dirty life.

1:01:13 > 1:01:17If they didn't know how to satisfy Gaddafi, a woman on his staff

1:01:17 > 1:01:21would show them pornographic films and explain what the leader wanted.

1:01:22 > 1:01:24In these buildings on the palace compound,

1:01:24 > 1:01:26women were held under guard.

1:01:28 > 1:01:30You mean he was turned on by violence?

1:01:30 > 1:01:32Yes, yes.

1:01:32 > 1:01:34Was he a sadist, sexually?

1:01:36 > 1:01:41From knowing the personality of Gaddafi, of course, of course.

1:01:41 > 1:01:44He's maybe more sadist than, er...

1:01:46 > 1:01:48..de Sade himself.

1:01:48 > 1:01:52Other victims were taken to his quarters underground.

1:02:36 > 1:02:39At the university, Gaddafi had a secret apartment.

1:02:39 > 1:02:41Gaddafi's bedroom.

1:02:41 > 1:02:43In a room leading off the bedroom,

1:02:43 > 1:02:47students he'd chosen to abuse would be medically checked.

1:02:50 > 1:02:53Later, if necessary, they'd be given abortions.

1:03:09 > 1:03:13Some of his henchmen followed his lead.

1:03:13 > 1:03:16Some victims of rape were sent to mental institutions

1:03:16 > 1:03:20and declared insane so their stories would be disbelieved.

1:03:20 > 1:03:23This woman claims she was one of them.

1:03:53 > 1:03:57Gaddafi had never given up his nuclear dreams.

1:03:57 > 1:03:59He tried to buy the entire nuclear arsenal

1:03:59 > 1:04:02of the former Soviet state of Kazakhstan -

1:04:02 > 1:04:05100 nuclear bombs.

1:04:05 > 1:04:08According to its former foreign minister,

1:04:08 > 1:04:10he offered many billions of dollars.

1:04:10 > 1:04:12The answer was no.

1:04:14 > 1:04:18Western intelligence agencies began to track Libyan scientists

1:04:18 > 1:04:21and nuclear buyers around European capitals.

1:04:23 > 1:04:27It would be absolute folly to dismiss Gaddafi

1:04:27 > 1:04:31as just some crazy desert fox who's never going to be able to do this.

1:04:31 > 1:04:34That's... That is the height of arrogance.

1:04:34 > 1:04:37- So he could have got there in the end?- Absolutely.

1:04:37 > 1:04:41In Vienna, an official of the International Atomic Energy Agency

1:04:41 > 1:04:45got a phone call from a woman with an American accent.

1:04:45 > 1:04:50She asked them to meet her in a Starbucks near the Opera House.

1:04:50 > 1:04:52Who was this woman?

1:04:52 > 1:04:55Ah, I think that, er, she has to tell.

1:04:55 > 1:04:59- An American?- Yeah, she has to tell that one as well.

1:04:59 > 1:05:03You know, certainly the person had to do with the national security.

1:05:03 > 1:05:06He was told to go to the Vienna Intercontinental,

1:05:06 > 1:05:09where three Swiss men waited to meet him.

1:05:09 > 1:05:14They were part of an illegal nuclear supplier network.

1:05:14 > 1:05:17Were they absolutely central to the network?

1:05:17 > 1:05:19I think so. They were doing the most,

1:05:19 > 1:05:22or they were supposed to do the most delicate part.

1:05:24 > 1:05:27Incredibly, they were members of the same Swiss family -

1:05:27 > 1:05:31a father and two sons he'd drawn into the family business.

1:05:32 > 1:05:37They'd recently been turned by the CIA and British intelligence.

1:05:37 > 1:05:42It's really one of the most amazing stories in intelligence.

1:05:42 > 1:05:46They had homes and offices in three villages in the same Swiss valley.

1:05:48 > 1:05:52They were called the Tinner family.

1:05:52 > 1:05:54What nobody here knew was that they worked

1:05:54 > 1:05:59for the world's worst nuclear proliferator, AQ Khan of Pakistan,

1:05:59 > 1:06:02who was helping Gaddafi get the bomb.

1:06:02 > 1:06:07He played the father and the two sons beautifully.

1:06:07 > 1:06:12Libya probably was AQ Khan's largest client.

1:06:12 > 1:06:15Estimates are anywhere between 100 and 200 million.

1:06:15 > 1:06:20To start with, Urs Tinner said he had no idea who Khan was

1:06:20 > 1:06:23or what he was doing for Gaddafi.

1:06:23 > 1:06:25I know today. I know what it's...

1:06:25 > 1:06:26No, but by then, you must have realised

1:06:26 > 1:06:29that he was a nuclear proliferator.

1:06:29 > 1:06:31No. No, I didn't.

1:06:31 > 1:06:33No, I didn't.

1:06:34 > 1:06:37Why didn't you just turn your back on it?

1:06:37 > 1:06:39Sometimes I-I believed there was no escape.

1:06:39 > 1:06:41Did you think something could have happened to you

1:06:41 > 1:06:44- if you tried to leave? - I think so, yeah. Why not?

1:06:45 > 1:06:50Once you're in the Khan nuclear network, you cannot just get out?

1:06:50 > 1:06:51I don't think so.

1:06:51 > 1:06:53You're afraid.

1:06:53 > 1:06:56You're afraid that you are in danger.

1:06:56 > 1:06:59Investigators found that part of the operation

1:06:59 > 1:07:01was hidden away in South Africa.

1:07:02 > 1:07:05The Pakistanis arranged for a company here

1:07:05 > 1:07:09to manufacture part of a centrifuge system for Gaddafi.

1:07:09 > 1:07:12It could enrich uranium to weapons grade.

1:07:13 > 1:07:16He would have been able to produce maybe 40 kilos

1:07:16 > 1:07:17of high enriched uranium per year.

1:07:17 > 1:07:20When you say high enriched uranium, to what percentage?

1:07:20 > 1:07:23- Yeah, it's 90%. - 90% enriched uranium.

1:07:23 > 1:07:26So he would have been able to produce,

1:07:26 > 1:07:28depending how they set up and all this,

1:07:28 > 1:07:32maybe enough material for two to three nuclear weapons per year.

1:07:34 > 1:07:39They were ready to sell Gaddafi the actual design for a bomb.

1:07:39 > 1:07:42Was that design actually in your laptop?

1:07:42 > 1:07:45The design? Some design was on my laptop, right.

1:07:47 > 1:07:51He claims he told the CIA that a ship was on its way to Libya

1:07:51 > 1:07:54with final parts for the centrifuge plant.

1:07:54 > 1:07:58Just in time, the CIA intercepted the ship.

1:07:58 > 1:08:01Gaddafi had been caught red-handed.

1:08:01 > 1:08:03It was fairly dramatic.

1:08:05 > 1:08:11It allowed the US and the UK to go to Libya and force their hand.

1:08:13 > 1:08:15Either he gave up his nukes

1:08:15 > 1:08:18or he'd face the same fate as Saddam Hussein.

1:08:19 > 1:08:23We, effectively, led him to believe that he was next.

1:08:28 > 1:08:32We were conning them into believing they could be invaded

1:08:32 > 1:08:34unless they gave up their WMD,

1:08:34 > 1:08:37any links to terrorism.

1:08:37 > 1:08:39There was no such plans by the Americans or ourselves

1:08:39 > 1:08:43to invade at all at any stage. However, he didn't know that.

1:08:43 > 1:08:48He wanted to survive and he knew that there was nowhere else to run.

1:08:48 > 1:08:52He had to survive in Libya or, essentially, he was dead

1:08:52 > 1:08:54and his family was dead.

1:08:54 > 1:08:56Gaddafi was cornered.

1:08:56 > 1:08:59His economy was crippled by sanctions imposed

1:08:59 > 1:09:01after the bombing of Pan Am 103.

1:09:03 > 1:09:06Western oil companies were equally desperate

1:09:06 > 1:09:08to resume trade with Libya.

1:09:08 > 1:09:12The CEO of one particular oil company came in

1:09:12 > 1:09:16and said, "Are you going to lift sanctions now? US sanctions?"

1:09:16 > 1:09:18And we said, "No, we couldn't."

1:09:18 > 1:09:21We weren't going to, not at this point.

1:09:22 > 1:09:24And the CEO started to cry.

1:09:25 > 1:09:29And, er... we handed him a Kleenex, a tissue.

1:09:35 > 1:09:38To placate the west, Gaddafi had already handed over

1:09:38 > 1:09:43two men the FBI and Scottish police held responsible for Pan Am.

1:09:44 > 1:09:48Like the oil companies, foreign leaders like Tony Blair

1:09:48 > 1:09:50pressed the White House to lift US sanctions.

1:09:52 > 1:09:56Gaddafi was worth too much money to be left out in the cold any longer.

1:09:59 > 1:10:05Clearly powerful people behind the scenes wanted sanctions lifted.

1:10:05 > 1:10:09She claims she was summoned to a meeting at the State Department.

1:10:09 > 1:10:11To some in Washington,

1:10:11 > 1:10:15the Pan Am families stood in the way of his rehabilitation.

1:10:15 > 1:10:21One person in the meeting piped up, "How about if we, er...

1:10:21 > 1:10:25"announce to the media, or remind them, that the victims' families

1:10:25 > 1:10:31"accepted insurance pay-outs from Pan Am after the flight?

1:10:33 > 1:10:36"And then we'll show them up as being money-grabbers

1:10:36 > 1:10:38"and then they'll be discredited."

1:10:39 > 1:10:42And I spoke up. I said, "This is shocking.

1:10:42 > 1:10:45"We work for the American people.

1:10:45 > 1:10:50"These are... These are our citizens who were killed by this man

1:10:50 > 1:10:52"and we're sitting in a room here,

1:10:52 > 1:10:56"I'm listening to you coming up with ideas on how to make

1:10:56 > 1:11:01"a grieving family be further discredited, for what?

1:11:02 > 1:11:05"So that we can rehabilitate Gaddafi?"

1:11:05 > 1:11:09I had seen us sell out foreign allies.

1:11:09 > 1:11:13I had never seen our government sell out Americans.

1:11:13 > 1:11:18One day in 2003, a group of British and American spies

1:11:18 > 1:11:21met at London's discreet Travellers Club.

1:11:21 > 1:11:25They were joined by the Libyan foreign minister.

1:11:25 > 1:11:26Gaddafi was giving in.

1:11:28 > 1:11:32Today in Tripoli, the leader of Libya,

1:11:32 > 1:11:36Colonel Muammar Al Gaddafi,

1:11:36 > 1:11:42publicly confirmed his commitment to disclose and dismantle

1:11:42 > 1:11:45all weapons of mass destruction programmes in his country.

1:11:45 > 1:11:49Finally, he agreed to pay up for Pan Am.

1:11:49 > 1:11:52They were just going to haggle about it and we said,

1:11:52 > 1:11:54"No, that's the amount. You pay it."

1:11:54 > 1:11:57And the amount was ten million dollars per family?

1:11:57 > 1:12:02And they paid the amount that we finally negotiated.

1:12:03 > 1:12:05Libya has begun a process

1:12:05 > 1:12:09of rejoining the community of nations...

1:12:09 > 1:12:11and Colonel Gaddafi knows the way forward.

1:12:13 > 1:12:16In the general lust to rehabilitate him,

1:12:16 > 1:12:20it was as if the awful landmarks of Gaddafi's rule

1:12:20 > 1:12:22were being airbrushed away.

1:12:22 > 1:12:26Because you knew that Western countries, like the United Kingdom

1:12:26 > 1:12:30and the United States, they knew about your conditions?

1:12:30 > 1:12:31Of course. Of course.

1:12:31 > 1:12:34- They knew prisoners were being... - Of course they...

1:12:34 > 1:12:37- They knew about torture? - Of course. Of course.

1:12:37 > 1:12:40What did Libya have that was more important?

1:12:40 > 1:12:43We have oil. We have gas.

1:12:44 > 1:12:48So you're saying oil always came first?

1:12:48 > 1:12:52Of course. Of course. Not human rights.

1:12:52 > 1:12:55It was as if Gaddafi had never murdered 1,000 inmates

1:12:55 > 1:12:58in Abu Salim jail.

1:12:58 > 1:13:02They were herded into this yard and shot through the steel mesh.

1:13:03 > 1:13:07Machinery was brought inside the prison

1:13:07 > 1:13:10and the cadavers were crushed.

1:13:10 > 1:13:17Put in plastic sacks, put on Zodiac boats, and thrown in the high seas.

1:13:17 > 1:13:18To cement the deal,

1:13:18 > 1:13:22British intelligence trapped one of Gaddafi's enemies overseas

1:13:22 > 1:13:25and flew him to Libya on a private plane.

1:13:27 > 1:13:29My wife was crying.

1:13:29 > 1:13:33My children were crying.

1:13:33 > 1:13:37- And what happened when you arrived in Tripoli?- They put...

1:13:39 > 1:13:43..a black bag on my...face,

1:13:43 > 1:13:49other one on my wife's face also, and they...

1:13:49 > 1:13:53My legs were tied tight.

1:13:53 > 1:13:56According to papers found in a government office,

1:13:56 > 1:13:58the CIA offered to pay some of the cost.

1:14:00 > 1:14:07Were you a sort of a gift, a kind of a present, from the west to Gaddafi?

1:14:07 > 1:14:08I think so.

1:14:10 > 1:14:13That same week, Tony Blair arrived in Libya.

1:14:15 > 1:14:18It was a first visit by a world statesman

1:14:18 > 1:14:20and sealed Gaddafi's makeover.

1:14:20 > 1:14:24So you were saying he compromised us?

1:14:24 > 1:14:28Yes, of course. Yes. And we are really victims.

1:14:29 > 1:14:33Simultaneously, Shell announced a deal with Libya

1:14:33 > 1:14:36that was potentially worth up to a billion dollars.

1:14:39 > 1:14:41HE SIGHS

1:14:41 > 1:14:45With a contradiction, this big contradiction,

1:14:45 > 1:14:51how we accept to put the hands with this tyrant?

1:14:51 > 1:14:54Do you accept to pay this role?

1:14:54 > 1:14:56It's a dirty role.

1:14:56 > 1:14:57Now, we could have bombed him.

1:14:57 > 1:15:00And maybe that would be more acceptable

1:15:00 > 1:15:02because we didn't like him, right, and he's a bad guy,

1:15:02 > 1:15:05so we're not going to talk to him, we're just going to bomb him.

1:15:05 > 1:15:08You can't have it both ways.

1:15:08 > 1:15:13We do not forget the past but we do try,

1:15:13 > 1:15:17in the light of the genuine changes happening, to move beyond it.

1:15:17 > 1:15:20I was doing something, and Blair no doubt did something,

1:15:20 > 1:15:25that he didn't like doing because we believed it was necessary

1:15:25 > 1:15:27and in the interests of Britain.

1:15:27 > 1:15:30When the press had safely gone, Sami al Saadi,

1:15:30 > 1:15:35the West's goodwill gift to Gaddafi, went before a people's court.

1:15:35 > 1:15:39How did they tell you you'd been sentenced to death?

1:15:39 > 1:15:46The judge read the sentence that I have to be executed...

1:15:46 > 1:15:48er, by...shooting.

1:15:48 > 1:15:51- By firing squad? - By firing, yeah.

1:15:52 > 1:15:55Did your wife know about this?

1:15:55 > 1:15:59Later on. A few days later, she knew.

1:16:07 > 1:16:09A triumphant Gaddafi went to see

1:16:09 > 1:16:12the foreign leaders who'd forgiven him.

1:16:12 > 1:16:14A cargo plane would fly ahead,

1:16:14 > 1:16:17carrying a large tent in which he'd sleep in foreign capitals.

1:16:18 > 1:16:21A bulletproof tent, by the way.

1:16:21 > 1:16:25There were the camels that had to go along with the tent.

1:16:25 > 1:16:28Usually, the tent would precede the actual leader

1:16:28 > 1:16:30because it was an enormous construction to put this up.

1:16:30 > 1:16:34And, as I said, it was also bulletproof, so it was quite heavy.

1:16:34 > 1:16:38- So the camels were simply supposed to stand outside the tent?- Exactly.

1:16:40 > 1:16:42He had one man who did nothing

1:16:42 > 1:16:46but keep track of this increasingly bizarre wardrobe

1:16:46 > 1:16:48that Gaddafi carried with him.

1:16:49 > 1:16:53He insisted, wherever he went, when he came to the United States,

1:16:53 > 1:16:56when he went to the European Union, that his whole entourage,

1:16:56 > 1:16:59including these tents and female bodyguards,

1:16:59 > 1:17:00got on the road, so to speak.

1:17:02 > 1:17:05This was the peak of Gaddafi's power.

1:17:06 > 1:17:10He'd given in to the West and wanted his reward.

1:17:13 > 1:17:17The Italian Prime Minister received him most warmly of all.

1:17:18 > 1:17:22Why would Berlusconi kiss Gaddafi's hand?

1:17:22 > 1:17:24You should ask Berlusconi.

1:17:24 > 1:17:29President of America, Barack Obama.

1:17:29 > 1:17:33I think they believed that if they didn't go along with the charade...

1:17:33 > 1:17:35there will be blood.

1:17:37 > 1:17:39So we thought we were containing him,

1:17:39 > 1:17:42but actually he was controlling us more than we were controlling him?

1:17:42 > 1:17:45Yes, absolutely. And, if he had survived, I can...

1:17:46 > 1:17:50..guarantee you that there would have been another downed plane

1:17:50 > 1:17:52once someone stood up to him.

1:17:53 > 1:17:55Even as the negotiations continued,

1:17:55 > 1:17:59he tried to kill the crown prince, now king, of Saudi Arabia.

1:18:02 > 1:18:05At the United Nations, Obama was giving a speech.

1:18:05 > 1:18:08Gaddafi chose that moment to have his picture taken.

1:18:10 > 1:18:13There was actually no room for Obama's entourage

1:18:13 > 1:18:17and Gaddafi's entourage in this, essentially, small corridor,

1:18:17 > 1:18:21so it created a traffic jam of ego.

1:18:21 > 1:18:25He sat down very slowly on the chair

1:18:25 > 1:18:31and this weird defiance permeated the moment.

1:18:31 > 1:18:36You know, the robes, the single hand on his leg with this ring.

1:18:36 > 1:18:40And I went in close, maybe a couple of inches from his nose,

1:18:40 > 1:18:44and I caught this intimacy of his spirit.

1:18:44 > 1:18:47And I remember I could feel his breath on my hand

1:18:47 > 1:18:49as I held on to the lens.

1:18:49 > 1:18:52I mean, the eyes are so dark.

1:18:52 > 1:18:56You can search as much as you want, there's nothing there.

1:18:56 > 1:18:58It's as if the soul has gone.

1:18:59 > 1:19:03I went round the side and watched his speech.

1:19:03 > 1:19:05HE SPEAKS IN OWN LANGUAGE

1:19:05 > 1:19:10And he was ranting and raving, and it went on and on and on for ever.

1:19:10 > 1:19:13I felt, it's like Custer's last stand.

1:19:13 > 1:19:17I felt it is Gaddafi's last stand.

1:19:17 > 1:19:20And the picture that I got is...

1:19:20 > 1:19:22is exactly that feeling.

1:19:22 > 1:19:28Um...a mad man, drawing his line in the sand, saying,

1:19:28 > 1:19:34"Here I am. I'm going to create hell on Earth and I am not budging."

1:19:36 > 1:19:39When the last days of Muammar Gaddafi approached,

1:19:39 > 1:19:43he seemed oddly disconnected at first.

1:19:43 > 1:19:45Within the circle, the family circle,

1:19:45 > 1:19:48there was no real fear that this was the end?

1:19:48 > 1:19:51Oh, no. Oh, no, not, not as the end, no.

1:19:51 > 1:19:52There was fear of the danger

1:19:52 > 1:19:55and the threats and the violence,

1:19:55 > 1:19:57but there was no fear of it ending.

1:20:00 > 1:20:03But then again he was a strong man, very, very strong.

1:20:05 > 1:20:08But this was the Arab Spring.

1:20:08 > 1:20:10- So he was a very brave man? - Of course he was, yes.

1:20:10 > 1:20:13He wouldn't have survived so long if he wasn't.

1:20:13 > 1:20:15He only feared two things -

1:20:15 > 1:20:19Islamic fundamentalism and the Libyan people.

1:20:19 > 1:20:21He'd always warned that if he fell,

1:20:21 > 1:20:24North Africa would be swallowed up by Al-Qaeda

1:20:24 > 1:20:26and the Muslim Brotherhood.

1:20:33 > 1:20:36He turned the army on the Libyan people.

1:20:38 > 1:20:42Many soldiers refused to fire on other Libyans.

1:20:42 > 1:20:47The drivers of the tanks, they'd been tied by chain in the tank.

1:20:47 > 1:20:50- So what happened to them? - They've been killed.

1:20:50 > 1:20:55- They were just burnt to death? - Yeah, they burnt to death, of course.

1:20:55 > 1:20:59Three of Gaddafi's sons were killed. Other members of his family fled.

1:21:01 > 1:21:04When there is no trial, you're dead.

1:21:04 > 1:21:07That's what would have happened to the family.

1:21:08 > 1:21:11His son, Saif, his heir apparent, fled south.

1:21:14 > 1:21:18Gary Peters escorted Saadi Gaddafi and millions of dollars

1:21:18 > 1:21:21in the dead of night to neighbouring Niger.

1:21:21 > 1:21:25Cash, you know, euros, other precious gems, gold.

1:21:25 > 1:21:28They took currency with them, whether it be cash or gems

1:21:28 > 1:21:30or-or-or minerals.

1:21:31 > 1:21:34Gaddafi did not leave.

1:21:34 > 1:21:36Even though he was surrounded by rebels,

1:21:36 > 1:21:40he slipped back to a place he knew well, a city called Sirte.

1:21:41 > 1:21:48Did Gaddafi, in his final days, realise how serious it was?

1:21:48 > 1:21:50Of course he did. Of course he did.

1:21:50 > 1:21:51Gaddafi...

1:21:53 > 1:21:55But he stood to the last.

1:21:55 > 1:21:57He stood to the last that he thought

1:21:57 > 1:22:01that he could possibly reclaim all his status.

1:22:01 > 1:22:04In a small hotel in South Africa,

1:22:04 > 1:22:08mercenaries claim they were hired to rescue Gaddafi.

1:22:08 > 1:22:10According to some, they later discovered

1:22:10 > 1:22:13they weren't going to rescue him at all.

1:22:13 > 1:22:17Their real job was to lure him out of his hiding place

1:22:17 > 1:22:20in a huge convoy of cars.

1:22:20 > 1:22:23My question is, how did people know he was moving?

1:22:23 > 1:22:25Why did they send the drones in?

1:22:25 > 1:22:31Once on the open road, the convoy was pounded by NATO jets and drones.

1:22:31 > 1:22:34So how did NATO get a fix on him?

1:22:34 > 1:22:37Don't know. Somebody has talked.

1:22:37 > 1:22:39Somebody-somebody spoke before the event happened...

1:22:39 > 1:22:42and the convoy was attacked by drones.

1:22:42 > 1:22:46He flung himself out of a burning car, ran to a drain,

1:22:46 > 1:22:48but was caught by the crowd.

1:22:48 > 1:22:52SHOUTING

1:22:52 > 1:22:54It was murder, simple.

1:22:55 > 1:22:58GUNSHOTS

1:22:58 > 1:23:01He really didn't understand any more what was going on

1:23:01 > 1:23:04and why his whole world had collapsed around him.

1:23:07 > 1:23:11He kept saying, "Why have people deserted me?"

1:23:11 > 1:23:13GUNSHOTS

1:23:15 > 1:23:18He couldn't believe that his people, his fellow Libyans,

1:23:18 > 1:23:20would really try to assassinate him.

1:23:24 > 1:23:29One of his staff members actually ended the humiliation,

1:23:29 > 1:23:31the torture, the beating, the degrading of the man.

1:23:33 > 1:23:36He was shot. He was shot in the head.

1:23:41 > 1:23:43Why do you think he didn't run away?

1:23:43 > 1:23:47Because he is full with guilt and problems.

1:23:47 > 1:23:49Run away where?

1:23:51 > 1:23:58God didn't create a child to be evil from the beginning of his life.

1:24:00 > 1:24:04Gradually, he became a monster.

1:24:04 > 1:24:05Gradually.

1:24:08 > 1:24:12I think he was a prisoner of himself.

1:24:14 > 1:24:18They portrayed him as a killer, a monster, you know?

1:24:19 > 1:24:23I still admire him and I pray for his soul,

1:24:23 > 1:24:26and I request the world to forgive him.

1:24:26 > 1:24:28So you think Gaddafi has a mansion in paradise?

1:24:28 > 1:24:30That is what I believe.

1:24:30 > 1:24:34He'd gotten away with Pan Am 103.

1:24:34 > 1:24:36He'd gotten away with everything.

1:24:36 > 1:24:41Has there ever been another tyrant who's been able to compromise us

1:24:41 > 1:24:42in the way that Gaddafi did?

1:24:42 > 1:24:44No, I don't think so.

1:24:45 > 1:24:47I think he was so different

1:24:47 > 1:24:51that we just did not know how to deal with him.

1:24:51 > 1:24:54Perhaps the best way to think about him...

1:24:54 > 1:24:56he was untouchable.