April 1st, 2011, 07:56
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/06/11/article-1192117-054A69D7000005DC-421_634x374.jpg
Berlusconi and Gaddafi with a photograph of Omar Al-Mukhtar (centre) who was executed by the Italians.
"Colonial policy under Fascism: Initially the Fascist regime took a hard line against Libyan Arab nationalists who had been fighting a guerrilla war, mainly in Cyrenaica, for many years under the leadership of Omar Mukhtar.
Ironically considering his later career, when Italy originally embarked on the 1911 war to conquer Libya, the future dictator Benito Mussolini - at the time a radical Socialist - strongly denounced it as "an imperialist war" and spent five months in prison for that opposition.
On that, as on other issues, Mussolini's views underwent a complete reversal after his founding the Fascist Party and taking dictatorial power. He sent Rodolfo Graziani to lead military forces to crush Mukhtar's resistance. The Arab resistance movement was violently crushed and Mukhtar was executed in 1931. In the aftermath of the violence, Mussolini attempted to improve the image of his government to Libyan Arabs and pursued policies to woo the trust of Arab leaders there. He and Italo Balbo were successful to the point that in 1940 nearly 30,000 Libyan Arabs and Berbers joined the Italian Army and fought bravely for the Fourth Shore of Greater Italia between 1940 and 1943."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_Libya
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodolfo_Graziani
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omar_Mukhtar
"Lion of the Desert is a 1981 Libyan historical action film starring Anthony Quinn as Libyan tribal leader Omar Mukhtar, a Bedouin leader fighting the Italian army in the years leading up to World War II and Oliver Reed as Italian General Rodolfo Graziani, who attempted to defeat Mukhtar. It was directed by Moustapha Akkad and funded by Muammar al-Gaddafi's government. Released in May 1981, the film was liked by critics and audiences but performed poorly in making money, bringing in just $1 million dollars net worldwide, a financial disaster followed by Gaddafi's infamous actions during the 1980s." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lion_of_the_Desert
Moustapha Akkad: Lion of The Desert, Omar Al-Mukhtar
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... 146427019# (http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6099926771146427019#)
The Making of Lion of the Desert:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... 4260259982 (http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6099926771146427019#docid=-2667399334260259982)
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0002160/bio
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/ ... etmoviedat (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/6305020094/internetmoviedat)
http://www.tripolipost.com/articledetail.asp?c=1&i=2335
http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2011/ ... 40959.html (http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2011/03/10/140959.html)
Berlusconi and Gaddafi with a photograph of Omar Al-Mukhtar (centre) who was executed by the Italians.
"Colonial policy under Fascism: Initially the Fascist regime took a hard line against Libyan Arab nationalists who had been fighting a guerrilla war, mainly in Cyrenaica, for many years under the leadership of Omar Mukhtar.
Ironically considering his later career, when Italy originally embarked on the 1911 war to conquer Libya, the future dictator Benito Mussolini - at the time a radical Socialist - strongly denounced it as "an imperialist war" and spent five months in prison for that opposition.
On that, as on other issues, Mussolini's views underwent a complete reversal after his founding the Fascist Party and taking dictatorial power. He sent Rodolfo Graziani to lead military forces to crush Mukhtar's resistance. The Arab resistance movement was violently crushed and Mukhtar was executed in 1931. In the aftermath of the violence, Mussolini attempted to improve the image of his government to Libyan Arabs and pursued policies to woo the trust of Arab leaders there. He and Italo Balbo were successful to the point that in 1940 nearly 30,000 Libyan Arabs and Berbers joined the Italian Army and fought bravely for the Fourth Shore of Greater Italia between 1940 and 1943."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_Libya
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodolfo_Graziani
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omar_Mukhtar
"Lion of the Desert is a 1981 Libyan historical action film starring Anthony Quinn as Libyan tribal leader Omar Mukhtar, a Bedouin leader fighting the Italian army in the years leading up to World War II and Oliver Reed as Italian General Rodolfo Graziani, who attempted to defeat Mukhtar. It was directed by Moustapha Akkad and funded by Muammar al-Gaddafi's government. Released in May 1981, the film was liked by critics and audiences but performed poorly in making money, bringing in just $1 million dollars net worldwide, a financial disaster followed by Gaddafi's infamous actions during the 1980s." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lion_of_the_Desert
Moustapha Akkad: Lion of The Desert, Omar Al-Mukhtar
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... 146427019# (http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6099926771146427019#)
The Making of Lion of the Desert:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... 4260259982 (http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6099926771146427019#docid=-2667399334260259982)
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0002160/bio
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/ ... etmoviedat (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/6305020094/internetmoviedat)
http://www.tripolipost.com/articledetail.asp?c=1&i=2335
http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2011/ ... 40959.html (http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2011/03/10/140959.html)