Gaddafi's 'Amazonian' bodyguards' barracks quashes myth of glamour

[Turborama]

Source: The Guardian

Tripoli living quarters belonging to Libya dictator's elite cadre reveals a picture of ruthless control and shattered lives

Martin Chulov in Tripoli

In Europe they were known as the Amazons. In north Africa, they were admiringly dubbed Haris al-Has – the private guards.

They were the elite cadre of female bodyguards who surrounded Colonel Muammar Gaddafi for more than 20 years, becoming almost synonymous with his idiosyncratic dictatorial rule.

Now, nearly three weeks after Tripoli fell, the dictator's ravaged compounds are finally shedding light on the enigmatic unit. And like much else in Gaddafi's Libya, the myth of glamour and steadfast devotion is at odds with a reality of ruthless control and illusion.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/sep/07/gaddafis-amazonian-bodyguards-barracks

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Gaddafi with a couple of his private guards, known as Amazons,
on a visit to Italy. Photograph: Alessandro Bianchi/Reuters/Corbis

[eShirl]

1. OK, now I get the Condoleezza Rice obsession.

[dipsydoodle]

2. Maybe one of them will be his dance partner

'I must leave Libya. I've agreed to appear on Strictly Come Dancing'

See Matt cartoon on this page : http://www.telegraph.co.uk/

[lunatica]

3. It's good to be dictator

It looks like that's what he's thinking in that photo.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

4. What a fucking cartoonish James Bond villain wannabe ass clown. nt