ISRAELI AGENTS PUT QADDAFI ON THE COUCH

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000505250076-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 2, 2010
• Sequence Number: 76
• Publication Date: March 9, 1982
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/09/02 : CIA-RDP90-00552R000505250076-3
ALE APPEARED
ON PACT
Israeli Agents
Put Qaddafi
On the Couch
THE WASH I i'IGTON POST
9 March 1982
The Israelis' conclusion is that with such stability,. without our
Qaddafi is not crazy. Representing being witness to repeated outbreaks
him as mentally ill "is of no help to of illness."
an understanding of him and does Qaddafi's mercurial temper and j
not fit the facts," the secret profile bouts of the blues may be partially
concludes. - explained by the man's catalog of
Among the juicier suggestions in -painful physical - ailments. ' He had
the various intelligence reports an- tuberculosis as a child, underwent an
There is a tendency in Washing- alyzed by the Israelis was that Qad- appendectomy in 1970'and report
ton to refer to Libyan dictator dafi's behavioral quirks were the re- edly suffers from- a stomach ulcer,
aiuammar Qaddafi as a crazy man. sult of brain damage from,venereal- gallstones and kidney colic, enough
Armchair psychologists justify the disease. But the profile says this pos- to make anyone moody and irritable.-
glib label by pointing to his fanatic sibility cannot be verified. "Apart It is also quite possible that Qad-
extremism, his failure to put realistic from mental problems that could be- dafis strangeness tot Western
limits on boastful pronouncements associated with syphilis, there is no eyes at least-is simply the result of.
and his periodic fits of deep depres- evidence that Qaddafi suffers from his personal background. A shepherd-
sion, when he retreats to the desert symptoms matching the disease." ., boy who was 16 before: he completed
and broods in a tent. There have been reports that the sixth grade, he had a dream of
But beyond the egomania that af- Qaddafi suffers from schizophrenia, Islamic .revolution and, pursued' it
flicts most political leaders, is Qad- paranoia; hysteria and serious psy- with sin-le-;minded zeal: .
dafi mentally aberrant? Is he truly choneurotic disturbances. But the By the- time Qaddafr was 16 ' his
deranged? profile concludes: Available - evi- charisma and revolutionary fervor"
Israeli intelligence is. a highly re- dence is insufficient to confirm or had made him a leader. Copying thef
deny definitely whether he has a successful methods- of Egypt s pan:,
spected group of professionals with a mental illness. Arab revolutionary leader, Gamal
particularly keen interest in the Lib The profile says, "There: is.. much Abdel Nasser, Qaddafi sought power,
yen strongman. Qaddafi's oil billions, information about his strangeness, through the military.-He persuaded
combined with his implacable hos- -lack of stability and emotional dis- schoolmates to.enroll with.him in' d
tility toward Israel, make him in turbances... [and he] does apparent- military officers' school, and they.
many ways the beleaguered nation's . ly suffer from a psychological distur- managed to . win over. successive
most dangerous enemy. It is vital for bane that can be characterized as. A classes. of, cadets to their cause.
the Israelis to know whether they are character disturbance." In 1969 the "Free.Officers Move
dealing with a madman. But the analysis points out. that ment" overthrew. King- Idris, by.. .an
After years of research, picking Qaddafi "has been functioning as the Arabian Nights ruse. They invited.
the brains. of medical experts to as- leader of Libya for 12 years, and it is . the king's police to a party and, Kati
sess the information gathered by difficult to believe that a man suf-. the-peak of the festivities, took them,
'their agents;., Israeli intelligence of- fering from maniacal depressive psy I prisoner. At 27,.Muammar Qaddafi,
ficials have compiled a psychological choses would be capable of with- the Bedouin shepherd, became ruler
profile of Qaddafi. My associate Indy - standing the pressures that he has of Libya, eager to make- his youthful
Badhwar has seen a copy, been under for such a Iona time and dreams of glory, come true. ` ~..._
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/09/02 : CIA-RDP90-00552R000505250076-3