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and something like this 856 00:59:56,720 --> 01:00:03,640 and it has nothing to do with any military things. 857 01:00:03,640 --> 01:00:05,560 But no-one believed him. 858 01:00:05,560 --> 01:00:09,280 Journalists warned that Gaddafi was really preparing to attack Europe, 859 01:00:09,280 --> 01:00:12,160 vividly dramatising the new danger. 860 01:00:12,160 --> 01:00:13,720 That is something like this 861 01:00:13,720 --> 01:00:15,960 which goes that way to put something into space. 862 01:00:15,960 --> 01:00:18,840 But the same device tilted, say, to an angle of 45 degrees 863 01:00:18,840 --> 01:00:21,800 could, of course, become something very different - 864 01:00:21,800 --> 01:00:24,240 a missile possibly carrying a warhead. 865 01:00:24,240 --> 01:00:28,120 That would put Libya within range of an enormous area. 866 01:00:28,120 --> 01:00:31,920 A chilling proposition with its range of 2,000km. 867 01:00:32,960 --> 01:00:36,200 The Americans and Gaddafi now became locked together 868 01:00:36,200 --> 01:00:38,480 in a cycle of mutual reinforcement. 869 01:00:40,160 --> 01:00:43,280 In the process, a powerful new image was created 870 01:00:43,280 --> 01:00:46,880 that was going to capture the imagination of the West. 871 01:00:46,880 --> 01:00:50,200 Gaddafi became a global supervillain, 872 01:00:50,200 --> 01:00:53,360 at the head of what was called a "rogue state" - 873 01:00:53,360 --> 01:00:56,640 a madman who threatened the stability of the world. 874 01:00:57,840 --> 01:01:00,920 And Gaddafi was loving every minute of it. 875 01:01:00,920 --> 01:01:02,760 So, you think, in the past, 876 01:01:02,760 --> 01:01:07,440 his decisions sometimes have been taken too quickly... 877 01:01:07,440 --> 01:01:10,560 Maybe, maybe. ..on world affairs? Maybe. 878 01:01:12,400 --> 01:01:15,800 I think, sometimes, that is what has made people in the world 879 01:01:15,800 --> 01:01:17,720 nervous of you, perhaps? Maybe. 880 01:01:19,720 --> 01:01:22,720 HE CHUCKLES 881 01:01:37,880 --> 01:01:40,480 Then, there was another terrorist attack 882 01:01:40,480 --> 01:01:42,600 at a discotheque in West Berlin. 883 01:01:46,560 --> 01:01:50,920 A bomb killed an American soldier and injured hundreds. 884 01:01:50,920 --> 01:01:54,040 The Americans released what they said were intercepts 885 01:01:54,040 --> 01:01:56,040 by the National Security Agency 886 01:01:56,040 --> 01:01:59,800 that proved that Colonel Gaddafi was behind the bombing 887 01:01:59,800 --> 01:02:03,280 and a dossier that they said proved that he was also the mastermind 888 01:02:03,280 --> 01:02:05,560 behind a whole range of other attacks. 889 01:02:07,400 --> 01:02:09,920 President Reagan ordered the Pentagon 890 01:02:09,920 --> 01:02:12,280 to prepare to bomb Libya. 891 01:02:12,280 --> 01:02:13,960 But again, there were doubts - 892 01:02:13,960 --> 01:02:17,120 this time, within the American Government itself. 893 01:02:18,920 --> 01:02:21,800 There were concerns that analysts were being pressured 894 01:02:21,800 --> 01:02:24,520 to make a case that didn't really exist... 895 01:02:25,560 --> 01:02:29,560 ..and to do it, they were taking Gaddafi's rhetoric about himself 896 01:02:29,560 --> 01:02:33,040 as a global revolutionary and his manic ravings 897 01:02:33,040 --> 01:02:35,400 and then re-presenting them as fact. 898 01:02:36,680 --> 01:02:38,360 And, in the process, together, 899 01:02:38,360 --> 01:02:43,520 the Americans and Gaddafi were constructing a fictional world. 900 01:02:43,520 --> 01:02:48,480 {\an8}The analysts were certainly, I'm convinced... 901 01:02:48,480 --> 01:02:53,160 {\an8}pressured into developing a prima facie case 902 01:02:53,160 --> 01:02:55,320 {\an8}against the Libyan Government. 903 01:02:55,320 --> 01:03:01,240 {\an8}From the somewhat incoherent ravings of a maniac, 904 01:03:01,240 --> 01:03:06,120 {\an8}both interceptions of a clandestine nature 905 01:03:06,120 --> 01:03:11,960 and interceptions of an open radio broadcast or whatever, 906 01:03:11,960 --> 01:03:15,360 as well as other sources, quotations of his, 907 01:03:15,360 --> 01:03:19,760 one can assemble a neatly-put-together package 908 01:03:19,760 --> 01:03:24,600 demonstrating that the man had violent interests 909 01:03:24,600 --> 01:03:28,000 against the United States and its European allies. 910 01:03:28,000 --> 01:03:30,320 The European intelligence agencies 911 01:03:30,320 --> 01:03:32,560 told the Americans that they were wrong, 912 01:03:32,560 --> 01:03:36,400 that it was Syria that was behind the bombing, not Libya. 913 01:03:36,400 --> 01:03:39,040 But the Americans had decided to attack Libya 914 01:03:39,040 --> 01:03:42,000 because they couldn't face the dangerous consequences 915 01:03:42,000 --> 01:03: