Libyan dictator “Col.” Muammar Gadafi, the Man of Many Spellings with the all-girl bodyguard squad, says that when Libya gave up its nuclear program (following the invasion of Iraq), they were on the brink of producing a nuclear bomb.

I’ve realized that what seems like total insanity in Muammar Gadafi is actually … well, partly total insanity, but also a very canny politician who knows how to exploit the Middle East and Islam. He’s a rebel. He has a female bodyguard squad, he wears colorful clothes with funny hats, and he does lots of other things that probably drive the Islamists nuts. (A short drive.) He’s the James Dean of Islam, except that he’s not acting and he really does murder people.

(Courtesy of MEMRI TV.)

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We are the owners of the world. We are the world. The U.N. used to consist of four countries – the United Nations against Hitler. But the U.N. of today is not the U.N. of World War II. Today, the U.N. consists of 190 countries, and we are 118 countries. Hence, we are the U.N. We must not feel inferior. We must not beg for alms from anyone. We are the ones who should say “yes” or “no” and determine the future of the world.
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All hell broke loose because of Iran’s uranium enrichment. This is wrong. All hell should break loose over nuclear weapons – if there is a program for producing a nuclear bomb. But if there is a program for uranium enrichment, it should be encouraged and applauded as a scientific accomplishment. We should help countries so they can enrich uranium.
After the uranium enrichment stage, there are two channels – red and green. We should not allow them to pass through the red channel, because in this channel, uranium is turned into a nuclear weapon, and we do not want more nuclear weapons in the world. We want to get rid of those that exist today. This is logical. But to block both channels?! What’s the point? This is injustice. This is stupidity. This is denial of knowledge. If Iran had said that it was enriching uranium to produce a nuclear bomb, we would all be against it and would ask Iran to stop. We would be against such a program. But if Iran says it is enriching uranium for peaceful purposes, we should encourage it. We should not stand in its way.
[…]
Libya reached the stage of uranium enrichment, and chose the red channel. Libya was on the brink of producing a nuclear bomb. But we began this when the revolution in Libya took place. It took us decades to reach the stage where we could produce a nuclear bomb. By the time we reached this stage, the world had changed. Even our way of thinking had developed. The world had changed, alliances had changed, the world map had changed – against whom would we use the nuclear bomb? We searched and couldn’t find an enemy worthy of us using the nuclear bomb on. In addition, we thought: How will we protect this nuclear bomb? How will we dismantle it and hide each part separately? How will we assemble it when necessary? If there is a target – how will we protect the transportation of the bomb to the target? We found that the expenses and problems would endanger Libya more than [the bomb] would protect its security. Therefore, we decided to voluntarily shut down our nuclear program.