Some Surprising Facts You Don't Know about Moammar Ghadafi of Libya: elite Amazon bodyguards, Ukranian nurses, and more
68Introduction
Now that the dictator of Libya, Moammar Ghadafi is dead, all sorts of interesting details have emerged about his life, and there's a lot of juicy tidbits.
I mean, who'd have known that he had a crush on... Condeleeza Rice? (No, I'm NOT joking!)
Here are some interesting facts about this dictator, who had sure lived an interesting life. I hope you enjoy learning about these facts as I had digging them up.
Amazonian Bodyguards
- Ghadafi has a group of female virgin bodyguards, graduated from his special military academy.
- The number of bodyguards vary, but is believed to number two hundred or more
- Ghadafi considers the bodyguards 'empowering' for women in generral
- Yes, they are all virgins, and they swore celibacy (not to marry or to have sex)
- Yes, they all swore an oath to protect him with their lives.
- They train daily in various soldier skills, from guns to hand-to-hand combat to physical training
- Some do wear high heel boots and designer sunglasses, others wear normal boots
- All are supposedly hand-picked by Ghadafi himself.
The Ukrainian Nurses
- Ghadafi is always accompanied by at least one Ukrainian nurse, usually Galyna Kolotnytska (38 years old). In fact, he refuse to travel without her.
- There are at least four Ukrainian nurses. Somehow, Ghadafi don't trust Libyan nurses (but does accept Libyan female bodyguards... weird).
- This fact was among one of the thousands of diplomatic cables leaked by Wikileaks, where Ms. Kolotnytska was described as "voluptuous blonde".
- Another Ukrainian nurse that was identified was Oksana Balinskaya, who wrote a series of articles about her experiences as Ghadafi's nurses for Newsweek. She's 24.
- The nurses swear that Ghadafi never have sex with them. They hated the newspapers that called the nurses "Ghadafi's Harem".
- Oksana said Ghadafi just likes to hire beautiful people (he picked her out of a lineup)
And a few more surprises...
- Apparently has a crush on... Condeleeza Rice... yes, the former American Secretary of State
- Calls Rice his "darling black African woman", after her visit to Tripoli in 2008
- Reportedly gave Rice $200000 worth of gifts during the visit
- Soldiers who stormed Ghadafi's palace reportedly found a photo album full of Rice's photos.
- Refused to travel without his special bullet-resistant tent, which is so heavy it must be carried in a separate transport plane
- Refused to walk up more than 35 steps, hates upper floors and is deathly afraid of elevators.
- Refused to fly more than 8 hours at a time, ALWAYS schedules a rest stop on long trips
- Enjoys horse racing and... flamenco dancing. Made an unscheduled stop in Spain to catch a Flamenco performance.
- Hands out gold watches with his picture to his staff every year, always on September 1st. (And they are worth a bit of money).
Conclusion
I hope you've enjoyed this little expose of Moammar Ghadafi and his secret habits and phobias.
I knew that he only liked to keep female bodyguards and all were trained in his special military academy but didn't knew that they all are virgin. In fact I saw in news that one of the female bodyguard claimed that the commander or I don't know who was that guy, raped her many times. This might be a quite common internal thing. I mean maybe other victims did not had the courage to come forward. Who knows what goes on internally. I like this hub. Enjoyed reading the secrets. :-)
Hey kschang, a different and very interesting take on Moammar. Wonder how many virgin bodyguards are still around?
I don't blame him for having a crush on Condeleesa Rice.
She is a fascinating woman. Having female body guards doesn't sound that kooky. As for bringing a bullitt proof tent and not flying longer than 8 hours straight, makes good sense.
@Man from Modesto -- people who are rich like to remind themselves with beautiful things, and that includes... women. This is true all over the world. And yes, human trafficking is a huge problem in Eastern Europe.
@Sneha Sunny -- did read about that alleged rape, but it appears to have only started late in this regime. After all, those bodyguards are trained in the deadly arts, yes?
@Alastar Packer -- clearly they can't all have died... So expect to see memoirs soon! :D
@ruffridyer -- Condie is a fine woman. Female guards is kooky by modern standards. It makes as much sense as having Eunuchs in the palace. :D
@kschang...hmmmm... that's also true....
Anything can be said about a person, after the person is dead ... Memoirs are a good source of income, for the jobless guards after their master is dead ... and essentially composed of the "dictated' rubbish.
But I hate posthumous propaganda, that tries justifying, a brutal Political act, that serves someone else's Strategic Purpose.
I say ... Leave the man alone ... not that I am a fan of Gaddafi ... but because, you've got what you wanted ... and all the kings horses and all the kings men, cannot put Gaddafi, back again !
@Shahid Bukhari -- all of the above were discovered when he was still alive, so there's hardly posthumous propaganda. The only surprising part was his had a photo album of Condie Rice. :)
OK Pal ... But you see, I don't follow these things as closely as you do, will therefore, agree that all stood "discovered" while he was still alive ...
Therefore, it would be fair to assume, that necessary "spadework" that could justify ... what finally happened to Gaddafi in the hole ... was under way, much earlier than common folks came to know of it.
@Shahid Bukhari -- so what you're saying is these facts were released as a coordinated negative publicity campaign against Khadaffi, is that correct?
Man from Modesto Level 6 Commenter 7 months ago
Saudi Princes also hire Ukrainian women to just stand around. I met one of those young women in Ukraine. She also said that the princes don't have sex with the women. They are there only for conversation, or to do small tasks- if requested. Otherwise, they just dress very well in formal clothing... or lounge at the pool, take saunas. She described it as a very well-paying vacation. Seems to be a strange mideast custom.
However, young ladies should not risk such work. Many eastern European women are abducted and forced to work as sex slaves in Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and other nations.