Libyan Uprising
Allied Intervention Against Qadhafi
Since 1969, Libya, an oil-rich nation in North Africa, has been subject to the erratic and iron-fisted rule of Maummar al-Qadhafi. One of the world’s longest-serving leaders, Qadhafi came to power in a bloodless coup at a time when the country was still emerging from Italian colonization and established a system of government unique to Libya called the “Jamahiriya,” or state of the masses. Since then, Qadhafi has been the de facto leader, though he holds no formal office. Long considered a pariah by the West, Qadhafi’s government has been widely denounced for its censorship, extreme surveillance, torture and execution…
