Topic: POLITIK - on February 28, 2011 at 2:40:00 PM CET
Dealing with Dictators: My Meeting with Muammar
About a year and a half ago, I spent some time with Muammar Gaddafi. He was in New York City to address the U.N. General Assembly and was staying in a nondescript concrete building on Manhattan's East Side. Through the American p.r. firm that managed his Western press coverage, Gaddafi had agreed to be interviewed by Michael Elliott, the editor of TIME International, and me. Michael and I made our way through a gauntlet of machine-gun-toting cops, secret-service agents and assorted swarthy tough guys. While we waited for Gaddafi, members of his all-female praetorian guards paced the room, dressed in desert khakis, black berets and leopard-skin stiletto heels. We were given only one ground rule for the interview: when directing questions to Gaddafi, we were to refer to him as "Brother Leader."
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