In debut speech, Gadhafi trashes U.N. and praises Obama

Thursday, September 24, 2009 • Gadhafi speaks and speaks and speaks at the UN Gadhafi speaks and speaks and speaks at the UN

Inside the General Assembly's cavernous chamber, as leaders began filling nearly every seat and aisles were standing-room only, the light-colored robes of some African and Mideast leaders dotted a sea of dark business suits. Polite applause followed the opening remarks of U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moonBan Ki-moon and General Assembly President Ali Treki.

Libyan leader Moammar GadhafiMoammar Gadhafi, in his first U.N. appearance, arrived just in time for Wednesday's leadoff speech by Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da SilvaLuiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Gadhafi sat in a seventh-row aisle seat, off the left side.

Dressed in flowing brown and tan Bedouin robes, and a black beret that he self-consciously patted at times, he listened through a translation earpiece in his right ear and fiddled with the cord in his left hand. Occasionally he looked around the room.

• Gadhafi in grand UN performance Gadhafi in grand UN performance

After 40 years of shunning U.N. appearances, Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi evidently had a lot to get off his chest.

So he stepped to the world's stage, armed with a yellow folder of handwritten notes, and basically emptied his mind.

For a mind-boggling 1 hour and 36 minutes on Wednesday, the so-called king of kings was winging it.

• U.N. session will test Obama's effectiveness U.N. session will test Obama's effectiveness

President Barack ObamaBarack Obama is about to make his first pilgrimage to the United Nations, where he'll be under scrutiny from fellow world leaders, much as he is domestically, to see whether he can deliver results as well as rhetoric.

Obama took office eight months ago and made a sharp turn in foreign policy, stretching out a proverbial hand to Iran, striking a different tone with the Muslim world and promising cooperation with other countries. Just last week, he scaled back a European missile-defense system that Russia bitterly opposed.

The shifts have won plaudits from governments and publics across much of the world. Now, however, it's crunch time, said foreign diplomats, policy analysts and others. Can Obama deliver results on the world's toughest issues?

• UN prepares for week with new faces UN prepares for week with new faces

Among the world leaders gathering this week at the United Nations to tackle problems ranging from climate change to the spread of nuclear weapons will be many new faces, including the presidents of the United States, Russia and China.

Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi will also be making his first U.N. appearance after 40 years as ruler of the oil-rich north African nation, an appearance which has generated widespread interest and controversy.

Demonstrators have announced protests against Gadhafi over Scotland's controversial recent release of Libyan Abdel Baset al-Megrahi, the only person convicted of the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 which killed 259 people on the plane and 11 others on the ground.

• AP: Ahmadinejad urges Obama to see Iran as friend AP: Ahmadinejad urges Obama to see Iran as friend

Iranian President Mahmoud AhmadinejadIranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad urged President Barack Obama to see Iran as a potential friend instead of a threat ahead of addresses both leaders will give to the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday.

The Iranian leader also said in a wide-ranging Associated Press interview Tuesday that he expects "free and open" discussion of nuclear issues at a meeting next week with six world powers, but stressed that his country would not negotiate on its own nuclear plans.

He sought to open a wider nuclear dialogue with the West, and said the onus should be on the United States and other major nuclear powers to give up their weapons and to expand opportunities for all countries to make peaceful use of nuclear power.

By WARREN P. STROBEL

UNITED NATIONS -- He read from a small pale-blue copy of the United Nations charter, before tossing it aside and rifling through scrawled notes on yellow notepaper.

He talked - and talked - about the 1963 assassination of John F. KennedyJohn F. Kennedy, the deposing of Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega, the U.S. invasion of Grenada, the International Criminal Court, Iraq, Afghanistan and Vietnam.

He blew through the 15-minute time-limit set for speeches, and then through the one-hour mark, wearing out his first translator before clocking out at 96 minutes.

In a world of vain, brutal and unpredictable leaders, Libyan President Moammar Gadhafi has often been called quirky during his 40 year in power, and on Wednesday he proved why again with his debut speech at U.N. headquarters. In the process, he justified White House fears about the behavior of a mercurial man who had hoped to pitch a Bedouin-style tent in suburban New Jersey for the U.N. meeting before the State Department nixed the idea.

Despite the high hopes President Barack Obama expressed Wednesday for the U.N., and the changes of recent years, the world body often lives up to its reputation as a windy talk shop, where dictators large and small share equal (or more) time with democratically elected leaders.

This year, leaders the U.S. considers less than palatable received a mixed welcome.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who claimed victory in June elections that opponents say were stolen, leading to protests that were violently suppressed, drew more protesters from across North America to New York. Mostly of Iranian descent, they demanded democracy in Iran. Some wore T-shirts bearing the picture of Neda SoltanNeda Soltan, the young woman whose shooting death on a Tehran sidewalk was beamed, via Twitter around the world.

Ahmadinejad also has had a hard time finding a venue for a speech outside the U.N. A nonprofit advocacy group, United Against Nuclear Iran, says it has successfully pressured the New York Helmsley hotel and Gotham Hall, a banquet facility, to cancel events where the Iranian leader was to speak.

The Iranian leader gave a relatively muted U.N. speech late Wednesday, and appeared to welcome Obama's stated desire for U.S.-Iranian talks. "Our nation is prepared to warmly shake all those hands that are warmly extended to us," he said.

Speaking to a cavernous hall that was nearly two-thirds empty, Ahmadinejad didn't mention Iran's nuclear program orvoice his recently repeated denial of the Holocaust. Hestuck to familiar denunciations of capitalism and "Zionist" world influence.

The spotlight, however, was on Gadhafi, who took the floor after Obama, and held it.

Asked if there was any protocol for gaveling down a world leader, a U.N. official replied dryly: "Absolutely nothing at all. Just wait." The official wasn't authorized to speak for the record.

Dressed in a brown embroidered shirt bearing a pin in the shape of Africa, over which he'd thrown a copper-colored toga-like robe, Gadhafi had warm words for Obama, if not for the U.S.

He hailed the 44th president as "our son," referring to Obama's African roots from his Kenyan father, and suggested Obama should be ruler-for-life of the U.S.

"How can we guarantee America after Obama?" he said. "I'm afraid we may go back to square one."

However eccentric his delivery, Gadhafi's basic complaint about the U.N. is one many developing nations share, and which other world leaders echoed Wednesday.

The power to deal with issues of war and peace, and to impose sanctions, resides in the 15-member Security Council, whose five permanent, veto-holding members - Britain, China, France, Russia and the U.S. - were the victors of World War II, which ended 64 years ago.

Yet only Gadhafi, perhaps, would mock the world dignitaries' relative impotence as they sat in their seats.

"You are like Hyde Park. . . . You just make a speech, and then disappear," Gadhafi told them, referring to the London park, where on Sundays anyone who wants to can mount a soapbox at Speakers' Corner and talk.

Gadhafi's speech wasn't the longest at the U.N. General Assembly. The unofficial record appears to be held by Cuba's Fidel CastroFidel Castro, who spoke for four and a half hours in 1960. And the longest U.N. speech of any kind was given by V.K. Krishna Menon, who spent nearly eight hours in January 1957, defending India's position on the disputed Kashmir region to the Security Council.

U.S. officials tried to brush off the Libyan leader's rant. Said White House press secretary Robert Gibbs: "It was Gadhafi being Gadhafi."

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Inside the General Assembly's cavernous chamber, as leaders began filling nearly every seat and aisles were standing-room only, the light-colored robes of some African and Mideast leaders dotted a sea of dark business suits. Polite applause followed the opening remarks of U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and General Assembly President Ali Treki.

Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, in his first U.N. appearance, arrived just in time for Wednesday's leadoff speech by Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Gadhafi sat in a seventh-row aisle seat, off the left side.

Dressed in flowing brown and tan Bedouin robes, and a black beret that he self-consciously patted at times, he listened through a translation earpiece in his right ear and fiddled with the cord in his left hand. Occasionally he looked around the room.

• Gadhafi in grand UN performance Gadhafi in grand UN performance

After 40 years of shunning U.N. appearances, Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi evidently had a lot to get off his chest.

So he stepped to the world's stage, armed with a yellow folder of handwritten notes, and basically emptied his mind.

For a mind-boggling 1 hour and 36 minutes on Wednesday, the so-called king of kings was winging it.

• U.N. session will test Obama's effectiveness U.N. session will test Obama's effectiveness

President Barack Obama is about to make his first pilgrimage to the United Nations, where he'll be under scrutiny from fellow world leaders, much as he is domestically, to see whether he can deliver results as well as rhetoric.

Obama took office eight months ago and made a sharp turn in foreign policy, stretching out a proverbial hand to Iran, striking a different tone with the Muslim world and promising cooperation with other countries. Just last week, he scaled back a European missile-defense system that Russia bitterly opposed.

The shifts have won plaudits from governments and publics across much of the world. Now, however, it's crunch time, said foreign diplomats, policy analysts and others. Can Obama deliver results on the world's toughest issues?

• UN prepares for week with new faces UN prepares for week with new faces

Among the world leaders gathering this week at the United Nations to tackle problems ranging from climate change to the spread of nuclear weapons will be many new faces, including the presidents of the United States, Russia and China.

Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi will also be making his first U.N. appearance after 40 years as ruler of the oil-rich north African nation, an appearance which has generated widespread interest and controversy.

Demonstrators have announced protests against Gadhafi over Scotland's controversial recent release of Libyan Abdel Baset al-Megrahi, the only person convicted of the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 which killed 259 people on the plane and 11 others on the ground.

• AP: Ahmadinejad urges Obama to see Iran as friend AP: Ahmadinejad urges Obama to see Iran as friend

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad urged President Barack Obama to see Iran as a potential friend instead of a threat ahead of addresses both leaders will give to the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday.

The Iranian leader also said in a wide-ranging Associated Press interview Tuesday that he expects "free and open" discussion of nuclear issues at a meeting next week with six world powers, but stressed that his country would not negotiate on its own nuclear plans.

He sought to open a wider nuclear dialogue with the West, and said the onus should be on the United States and other major nuclear powers to give up their weapons and to expand opportunities for all countries to make peaceful use of nuclear power.

By WARREN P. STROBEL McClatchy Newspapers

UNITED NATIONS -- He read from a small pale-blue copy of the United Nations charter, before tossing it aside and rifling through scrawled notes on yellow notepaper.

He talked - and talked - about the 1963 assassination of John F. Kennedy, the deposing of Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega, the U.S. invasion of Grenada, the International Criminal Court, Iraq, Afghanistan and Vietnam.

He blew through the 15-minute time-limit set for speeches, and then through the one-hour mark, wearing out his first translator before clocking out at 96 minutes.

In a world of vain, brutal and unpredictable leaders, Libyan President Moammar Gadhafi has often been called quirky during his 40 year in power, and on Wednesday he proved why again with his debut speech at U.N. headquarters. In the process, he justified White House fears about the behavior of a mercurial man who had hoped to pitch a Bedouin-style tent in suburban New Jersey for the U.N. meeting before the State Department nixed the idea.

Despite the high hopes President Barack Obama expressed Wednesday for the U.N., and the changes of recent years, the world body often lives up to its reputation as a windy talk shop, where dictators large and small share equal (or more) time with democratically elected leaders.

This year, leaders the U.S. considers less than palatable received a mixed welcome.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who claimed victory in June elections that opponents say were stolen, leading to protests that were violently suppressed, drew more protesters from across North America to New York. Mostly of Iranian descent, they demanded democracy in Iran. Some wore T-shirts bearing the picture of Neda Soltan, the young woman whose shooting death on a Tehran sidewalk was beamed, via Twitter around the world.

Ahmadinejad also has had a hard time finding a venue for a speech outside the U.N. A nonprofit advocacy group, United Against Nuclear Iran, says it has successfully pressured the New York Helmsley hotel and Gotham Hall, a banquet facility, to cancel events where the Iranian leader was to speak.

The Iranian leader gave a relatively muted U.N. speech late Wednesday, and appeared to welcome Obama's stated desire for U.S.-Iranian talks. "Our nation is prepared to warmly shake all those hands that are warmly extended to us," he said.

Speaking to a cavernous hall that was nearly two-thirds empty, Ahmadinejad didn't mention Iran's nuclear program orvoice his recently repeated denial of the Holocaust. Hestuck to familiar denunciations of capitalism and "Zionist" world influence.

The spotlight, however, was on Gadhafi, who took the floor after Obama, and held it.

Asked if there was any protocol for gaveling down a world leader, a U.N. official replied dryly: "Absolutely nothing at all. Just wait." The official wasn't authorized to speak for the record.

Dressed in a brown embroidered shirt bearing a pin in the shape of Africa, over which he'd thrown a copper-colored toga-like robe, Gadhafi had warm words for Obama, if not for the U.S.

He hailed the 44th president as "our son," referring to Obama's African roots from his Kenyan father, and suggested Obama should be ruler-for-life of the U.S.

"How can we guarantee America after Obama?" he said. "I'm afraid we may go back to square one."

However eccentric his delivery, Gadhafi's basic complaint about the U.N. is one many developing nations share, and which other world leaders echoed Wednesday.

The power to deal with issues of war and peace, and to impose sanctions, resides in the 15-member Security Council, whose five permanent, veto-holding members - Britain, China, France, Russia and the U.S. - were the victors of World War II, which ended 64 years ago.

Yet only Gadhafi, perhaps, would mock the world dignitaries' relative impotence as they sat in their seats.

"You are like Hyde Park. . . . You just make a speech, and then disappear," Gadhafi told them, referring to the London park, where on Sundays anyone who wants to can mount a soapbox at Speakers' Corner and talk.

Gadhafi's speech wasn't the longest at the U.N. General Assembly. The unofficial record appears to be held by Cuba's Fidel Castro, who spoke for four and a half hours in 1960. And the longest U.N. speech of any kind was given by V.K. Krishna Menon, who spent nearly eight hours in January 1957, defending India's position on the disputed Kashmir region to the Security Council.

U.S. officials tried to brush off the Libyan leader's rant. Said White House press secretary Robert Gibbs: "It was Gadhafi being Gadhafi."

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