“All my people love me, will die to protect me,” says Gaddafi

TRIPOLI - Libyan dictator Colonel Muammar Gaddafi has laughed off international pressure to step down, saying the western leaders have “no morals,” and insisted that the citizens of his country love him, and would do anything to protect him.

“All my people love me. They would die to protect me,” The Guardian quoted Gaddafi, as saying.

He turned down international leaders’ demands that he should step down immediately, saying: “As if anyone would leave their homeland.”

Gaddafi also said that he had no official position from which he could resign, adding: “It’s honorary. It has nothing to do with exercising power or authority. In Britain who has the power, is it Queen Elizabeth or is it David Cameron?”

He even went to the extent of denying that there have been any demonstrations against his 41-year regime.

During an interview, he had repeated claims that al-Qaida was behind the uprising and said that young people involved in it had been given drugs, which were now beginning to wear off, the paper said.

The Libyan leader further accused western countries of abandoning his government in its fight against terrorists, and said that he felt betrayed by the United States.

“I’m surprised that we have an alliance with the west to fight al-Qaida, and now that we are fighting terrorists they have abandoned us. Perhaps they want to occupy Libya,” Gaddafi added.

Although he described Barack Obama as a “good man”, the Libyan leader said that the US President appeared misinformed about the situation in Libya.

“The statements I have heard from Obama must have come from someone else. America is not the international police of the world,” the dictator said.

Earlier, US President Barack Obama had said that Gaddafi ‘had lost the legitimacy to rule’ Libya because he was only using ‘mass violence’ to cling on to power, and asked him step down immediately. (ANI)