http://www.smh.com.au/world/gaddafi-folds-up-his-tent-but-keeps-on-talking-20090924-g4sq.html
Gaddafi folds up his tent but keeps on talking ANNE DAVIES HERALD CORRESPONDENT September 25, 2009 How much more ... Ali Abdussalam Treki, General Assembly president, and Colonel Gaddafi Photo: AFP NEW YORK: He called the US President ''our son Obama'', suggested swine flu might have been made by the military in a lab so companies could make money on the vaccine and called the Iraq war the mother of all evils. After all these years, Muammar Gaddafi can still make the world's leaders squirm. Because it was Libya's turn to chair the United Nations General Assembly, Colonel Gaddafi had a prime speaking spot, after Barack Obama, and he used it to berate the world for 96 minutes. He might have been tolerated at the UN, where his envoy is chairing this 64th session of the General Assembly, but the residents of Bedford, New York, where he planned to pitch a large tent for the duration of the General Assembly, have successfully driven the Libyan dictator out. After a day of protest by residents, rabbis, human rights groups, and families of the victims of the Lockerbie terrorist attack, many waving signs calling him a murderer, Colonel Gaddafi literally began packing his tent, after receiving a stopwork order. The tent had been pitched on land owned by the billionaire Donald Trump and leased to the United Arab Emirates. Colonel Gaddafi himself was believed to have been staying with the Libyan ambassador and had planned to use the tent for functions. Anger at the Libyan strongman, who of late has been more friendly towards the US, was reignited after the Scottish Government released a convicted Libyan terrorist, the Lockerbie bomber, Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, on humanitarian grounds. But when Megrahi, who has cancer, was given a hero's welcome by the Libyan Government, many saw red. By Wednesday afternoon, the Trump organisation issued a statement saying the tent was coming down. As the residents of Bedford had no time for their Libyan visitor, so too some UN delegates, including the Americans, chose not to stay to hear his speech. Those who did were treated to Colonel Gaddafi's views on a broad range of subjects. He called the US president ''our son Obama'', which no doubt delighted Mr Obama's minders, and treated bemused diplomats to his views about the assassination of John F. Kennedy, suggesting that the Israelis were behind it because Kennedy wanted to investigate their nuclear plant. The only comments which seemed to draw some broader support beyond Libya's usual supporters was his critique of the UN Security Council. They might have seen his efforts to rename it the ''terror council'' as over the top, but the criticism that it is too narrowly based resonated with many members. In fact, Colonel Gaddafi's idea that the membership should be expanded to include a permanent seat for the African Union, Latin America and perhaps someone else - he suggested Australia - certainly struck a chord. ''Maybe we can assign a permanent seat will be given to them by rotation every six months [inaudible] . Perhaps Japan, Australia, maybe outside any union or Australia, or any other country [sic],'' he said. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
