CNN news 2011-10-24
CARL AZUZ, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, I`m Carl Azuz. As we wrap up the week here on CNN Student News, we`re talking about earthquakes and basketball.
You`re going to hear some students` advice on staying safe when you`re behind the wheel, and we`re going to share some of your opinions from a story we aired earlier in the week.
But we`re beginning in Libya, with news of the country`s former leader. Moammar Gadhafi is dead. He was killed Thursday by revolutionary forces who were finally able to get control of Sirte. That`s Gadhafi`s hometown.
Reaction to the news came in from all over the world.
AZUZ (voice-over): .President Obama saying Gadhafi`s death, quote, "marks the end of a long and painful chapter for the people of Libya, who now have the opportunity to determine their own destiny.
Many of those people were out on the streets celebrating yesterday. Cars were honking their horns. Some people fired shots into the air. They weren`t just celebrating the news about Gadhafi. They were also cheering what`s probably the end of their country`s civil war.
AZUZ: That started as an uprising back in February. Protesters spoke out against Gadhafi. They wanted him out of power. Security forces started fighting with the protesters, and eventually the violence and tension boiled over into an all-out civil war.
The rebels were supported by military forces from other countries, including the United States. And now that the war is ending Libya still has a long road ahead.
BAN KI-MOON, U.N. SECRETARY GENERAL: Clearly, this day marks a historic transition for Libya. n In the coming days, we will witness scenes of celebration, as well as grief for those who lost so much. Yet let us recognize, immediately, that this is only the end of the beginning.
AZUZ: Now Libya`s new leaders will have to figure out how they want to rebuild their country and its government. Before we look ahead,
HALA GORANI, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: (voice-over): As a 27-year- old army officer, Moammar Gadhafi overthrew Libya`s king in 1969, and then set about wiping all foreign influence from the country, including all vestiges of communism or capitalism, publishing his personal philosophy in a three-volume "Green Book."
Gadhafi always said that his goal was to change the world. But it was the way he set out to do it that amused, confused and often infuriated. But while he sometimes appeared a clown on the world stage, his actions were often deadly.
In the mid `80s he funneled money and weapons to support the Palestine Liberation Organization`s fight against Israel; the Irish Republican Army`s efforts to defeat British rule in Northern Ireland; and he viciously targeted Americans.
In 1986, Libyan agents were accused of bombing a Berlin nightclub, killing two Americans and a Turk. U.S. President Ronald Reagan responded by bombing Tripoli, targeting Gadhafi`s house. The raid killed more than 100 people, including Gadhafi`s own daughter.
Two years later, Pan Am Flight 103 blew up over the tiny village of Lockerbie, Scotland, raining debris and taking 270 lives. Investigators traced the attack to Libya. When Libya refused to turn over the suspects, the U.N. imposed tough sanctions, leaving the country isolated and increasingly destitute.
After 11 years as an international outcast, Gadhafi cut a deal. He gave up the Lockerbie bombing suspects for trial, and after the U.S. invaded Iraq, he surprised the world by agreeing to destroy all of his chemical, nuclear and biological weapons.
Gadhafi soon welcomed Western oil companies like BP and Total into Libya. But questions lingered about whether some Western oil contracts were traded for Scotland`s release of one of the convicted Lockerbie bombers.
Back home, patience was running thin. After more than 40 years, rebellion bubbled up in the eastern part of the country, quickly spreading across Libya. As his government disintegrated, he addressed the nation from the same house bombed by the U.S. in 1986.
MOAMMAR GADHAFI, LIBYAN LEADER (through translator): This is my country, the country of my grandfathers.
GORANI: He vowed to die a martyr in Libya.