ABSTRACT
Even as a youth, Mu‘ammar al-Qadhdhafi was admired by his fellow students at the Sabha secondary school for his passionate interest in politics and his ability to stir students to action by his impassioned speeches. Mme Bianco has with great discernment recognized the qualities in Mu’ammar al-Qadhdhafi’s character. Colonel Qadhdhafi regards Islam as a complete civilization the soul of which is its faith in the One God. If Nasser, therefore, served as an immediate model for his revolutionary dreams, he considered the glorious past of Muslim history his goal and trust. Colonel Qadhdhafi reflects in his memoirs, written after the revolution, on the mood of the group on 31 August, the last day before the 1 September revolution. Mu’ammar al-Qadhdhafi and Mustafa al-Kharrubi were anxiously waiting for the decisive moment to Radio Cairo concluding its programmes. Long after the end of the Italian colonization of Libya, important economic affairs remained in the hands of Italian nationals living in the country.
