Gadafi addresses the UN General Council

[Savonarola]

The Sheik of Shriek returns:

Gaddafi slams UN Security Council 
 
Gaddafi said that the Security Council should be reformed to make it more representative [EPA]

Libya's president has attacked the permanent members of the United Nations' Security Council during his first ever address to the UN General Assembly.

In a one-and-a-half hour speech in New York on Wednesday, Muammar Gaddafi said the veto-wielding nations of the Security Council were ignoring the views of the full 192 members of the General Assembly and the principles of the UN charter.

"The preamble [of the charter] says all nations are equal whether they are small or big," Gaddafi said in his address.

But he accused the permanent members of the council of undermining other states.

"The veto [held by the five permanent UN members] is against the charter, we do not accept it and we do not acknowledge it," Gaddafi said.

"Veto power should be annulled."

'Terror and sanctions'

In a speech that far exceeded the 15-minute slot he was allocated, the Libyan leader read aloud sections from a paperback copy of the UN charter, before throwing it over his shoulder on several occasions.

"The Security Council did not provide us with security but with terror and sanctions," he said.

He said the council, comprising the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China, had failed to prevent or intervene in 65 wars that have taken place since the United Nations was established in 1948.

He called for $7.77 trillion in compensation to be paid to Africa from its past colonial masters, and one point questioned the assassination of US President John F Kennedy.

"The assassination of Kennedy in 1963 - we want to know, who killed him? Lee Harvey? Why was Harvey killed?" he said, referring to the man who was arrested in connection with Kennedy's murder and shot dead while being transferred between jails.

Mohamed Ben-Madani, editor of the Maghreb Review, told Al Jazeera's that Gaddafi's speech was a "disaster" for the African Union and Arab and Muslim delegations at the UN General Assembly.

"I think the Libyans deserve much better than this. It is a disaster for Arab world opinion. Tearing up the UN Charter is shocking, but this should have been expected from the beginning," he said.

"He said nothing about Libyan human rights and better education [for Libyans]. He said nothing about climate change or the enviroment."

'No respect'

The five permanent members should lose their veto, or the UN should expand the council with additional member states, Gaddafi also said.

"It should not be called the Security Council, it should be called the 'terror council'," he said, adding that the permanent members treat smaller countries as "second class [and] despised" nations.

"Now, brothers, there is no respect for the United Nations, no regard for the General Assembly," he said.

As Gaddafi spoke, the US senate approved a resolution condemning the "lavish" welcome-home ceremony that Libya gave last month for Abdel Basset al-Megrahi, who was convicted of the bombing over a US passenger aircraft over the Scottish town of Lockerbie in 1989.

The US senate demanded that Tripoli apologise for the celebration, which came after Scotland's justice minister released al-Megrahi, a former agent, on compassionate grounds.

Libya has a temporary seat on the Security Council until the end of 2010.

[Josquius]

No, Africa should pay US 7.77 trillion.

[The Brain]

It's easy to laugh at him but if you live in a country without a single grassy knoll how can you know?

[Caliga]

It's like somebody let senile old Grandpa tell his war story for the 80th time at Thanksgiving dinner and smiled politely while he ranted and raved about the goddamn Japs.

[KRonn]

Too funny... he spoke a long time.

I wonder though, did he have a book list for President Obama, try to out do Chavez maybe? 

[Neil]

He said the council, comprising the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China, had failed to prevent or intervene in 65 wars that have taken place since the United Nations was established in 1948.

But it helped prevent the one war that it was designed to help prevent, so good work UN.

[DontSayBanana]

But it helped prevent the one war that it was designed to help prevent, so good work UN.

Not to mention that the ones involved in those wars were usually the ones trying to go around the security council anyway.

[Caliga]

But it helped prevent the one war that it was designed to help prevent, so good work UN.

...with a little assist from M.A.D.

[Neil]

But it helped prevent the one war that it was designed to help prevent, so good work UN.

...with a little assist from M.A.D.

More than a little.

[ulmont]

$7.77 trillion is an odd number; anybody got information on how he picked that one out?

[Neil]

$7.77 trillion is an odd number; anybody got information on how he picked that one out?

Lucky number 7.  And because trillion is the new billion, that set the magnitude.

Frankly, I'm surprised he did't use quadrillion.  Every single person who thinks Africa deserves a dime of Western money is certifiable.

[Savonarola]

Too funny... he spoke a long time.

I wonder though, did he have a book list for President Obama, try to out do Chavez maybe?

He's written a couple books; maybe he could give one of those to Obama.  IIRC Gadafi  denounces milk and eggs in shampoo as imperialist ideas in one of his books. 

[Neil]

He should give Obama an iPod full of his (Khadaffi's) speeches, so that Obama knows how it feels to be given a gift by a total egomaniac douche.

[Admiral Yi]

He's written a couple books; maybe he could give one of those to Obama.  IIRC Gadafi  denounces milk and eggs in shampoo as imperialist ideas in one of his books.

The one area I'm willing to cede his expertise is hair care products.

But he does have a funny notion of how a leader who has just come in out of the cold and rejoined the international community is supposed to act.

[Sheilbh]

But he does have a funny notion of how a leader who has just come in out of the cold and rejoined the international community is supposed to act.

He's given up WMD.  Libya and South Africa are the only countries to have ever done so transparently and voluntarily.  He basically gets a free pass for a while.