By JOHN HEILPRINAssociated Press Writer
UNITED NATIONS -- Inside the General Assembly's cavernous chamber, as leaders began filling nearly every seat and aisles were standing-room only, the light-colored robes of some African and Mideast leaders dotted a sea of dark business suits. Polite applause followed the opening remarks of U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and General Assembly President Ali Treki.
Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, in his first U.N. appearance, arrived just in time for Wednesday's leadoff speech by Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Gadhafi sat in a seventh-row aisle seat, off the left side.
Dressed in flowing brown and tan Bedouin robes, and a black beret that he self-consciously patted at times, he listened through a translation earpiece in his right ear and fiddled with the cord in his left hand. Occasionally he looked around the room.
Aides huddled around him; he kept his glasses, a red handkerchief and a rumpled yellow folder in front of him on the desk. Then he removed his earpiece to jot a note to himself and put it into the yellow folder. He joined the applause at one point. Then he flipped through the handwritten pages of flowing rows of bold Arabic characters inside the folders.
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A commotion swept the room as President Barack Obama appeared. Everyone tried to see him. Gadhafi joined in the light applause that greeted Obama, then listened raptly with the earpiece held to his left ear.
From his fifth-row aisle seat near the chamber's center, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad also listened to Obama, but without an earpiece. The Iranian leader seemed relaxed. He was tieless. Ahmadinejad kept regularly checking the watch on his left wrist while peering at Obama. Next to him, Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki and Iran's U.N. Ambassador Mohammad Khazee each listened with earpieces.
As Obama gestured and read from the TelePrompTer, speaking of the dangers of nuclear proliferation, the Iranians listened intently. Ahmadinejad leaned to his right and said something to Mottaki.
Ahmadinejad and Gadhafi both refrained from joining applause for Obama's comments on Sudan, the Middle East and other U.S. pledges for peace and world security. But Gadhafi joined in clapping when Obama ended his speech. Ahmadinejad didn't. Obama didn't get a standing ovation, but he got warm applause. Many of the delegates in the room abruptly left moments after Obama spoke.
That included the entire U.S. delegation of prominent figures including White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice, National Security Adviser Gen. Jim Jones, Obama adviser Samantha Power and Assistant Secretary for International Organization Affairs Esther Brimmer. Lower-level U.S. delegation staff remained.
It wasn't clear if this was a protest or if they were merely following Obama from the room.
After Gadhafi was introduced as the "king of kings" by his fellow Libyan, Treki, he remained in his seat for at least five minutes. Gadhafi was supposed to be in a holding area off the stage. He took no notice of protocol.
Gadhafi was surrounded by aides and confusion seemed to take over. Half the seats emptied as delegates wandered the aisles without any direction from Treki or Ban.
Gadhafi kept shaking hands as delegates left. Treki finally tried to gavel the place to order. Gadhafi paid no attention, putting the red handkerchief to his mouth. He leaned back in his chair, seeming to have not a care in the world, and received advice from aides. He smiled broadly, enjoying the moment - the world waiting to hear from him.
Finally, Gadhafi rose, swept his robes over him and strode to the stage. He needed the handrail on his way up. He laid the shabby yellow folder on the podium, and pulled out some of the handwritten pages. There was scattered applause.
By then the chamber was half-empty. Gadhafi, in his first speech to the U.N., held up a copy of the U.N. Charter. He wore big, shiny rings on each hand. For a moment, it seemed as if he were lost in thought. He stopped and sorted through the pages of his yellow folder.
It seemed he was winging the speech. Evidently, he had jotted a set of ideas in bold letters which he had before him on the handwritten pages. But there was no prepared text. He was not reading from the TelePrompTer.
As he gestured, a black pin in the shape of Africa, with a white outline, reflected light from his right chest where it was attached to his robe. He began railing against the U.N. power structure, which is tilted toward the five permanent members of the Security Council. He called the General Assembly "the parliament of the world" - a body that should be dictating decisions to the Security Council.
"How can we be happy about the world security if the world is controlled by four or five powers?" he complained. "We are just like a decor." After several minutes of rambling remarks, that last comment won him scattered applause.
At one point he called the General Assembly "the master of the world ... this is democracy and then we put an end to the Security Council ... this is terrorism in itself."
He slightly ripped the U.N. Charter book when he was done with it.
Delegates began walking out at that point. People's faces registered amazement and disbelief. Others laughed or smiled, perhaps in embarrassment or not knowing how to respond. Many spoke among themselves. By now at least half the assembly - that he called the supreme leader of the world - was deserting Gadhafi.
And he was simply emptying his mind, without the least self-consciousness, before a gathering of world leaders.
In place of the sea of business suits were dozens of empty blue and beige seats. People kept wandering out as Gadhafi spoke of "feudalism."
"It should not be called the Security Council, it should be called the Terror Council," he said.
At that, another wave of delegates dashed out. Gadhafi failed to note that his nation now held a Security Council seat. "Terror and sanctions - it is used against us only," he said.
And with Treki chairing the assembly, there was no stopping Gadhafi, also the head of the African Union, as he railed against what the U.N. has or hasn't done about 65 wars he said have erupted around the world since the organization was founded in 1945.
Gadhafi then demanded a permanent AU seat on the Security Council. Even Ahmadinejad had left by now.
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Safe to say that toward the end of his speech, more than half the seats were empty.
"Obama is a glimpse in the dark for the next four or eight years, and I'm afraid we may go back to square one" after he steps down," Gadhafi said. When he suggested Obama stay on as leader indefinitely, there was scattered applause.
He kept holding up the handwritten pages in front of him, at one point reading from it in his diatribe against the U.N. power structure. He also railed against former President George W. Bush's policy of trying to build democracy in Iraq.
Then Gadhafi got more personal. "It is clear that all of you are lacking the energy because of traveling a long way," he said, adding he had woken up at 4 a.m. in New York. It was tantalizingly unclear where he was going with this.
By then the chamber was half-empty. Gadhafi, in his first speech to the U.N., held up a copy of the U.N. Charter. He wore big, shiny rings on each hand. For a moment, it seemed as if he were lost in thought. He stopped and sorted through the pages of his yellow folder.
It seemed he was winging the speech. Evidently, he had jotted a set of ideas in bold letters which he had before him on the handwritten pages. But there was no prepared text. He was not reading from the TelePrompTer.
As he gestured, a black pin in the shape of Africa, with a white outline, reflected light from his right chest where it was attached to his robe. He began railing against the U.N. power structure, which is tilted toward the five permanent members of the Security Council. He called the General Assembly "the parliament of the world" - a body that should be dictating decisions to the Security Council.
"How can we be happy about the world security if the world is controlled by four or five powers?" he complained. "We are just like a decor." After several minutes of rambling remarks, that last comment won him scattered applause.
At one point he called the General Assembly "the master of the world ... this is democracy and then we put an end to the Security Council ... this is terrorism in itself."
He slightly ripped the U.N. Charter book when he was done with it.
Delegates began walking out at that point. People's faces registered amazement and disbelief. Others laughed or smiled, perhaps in embarrassment or not knowing how to respond. Many spoke among themselves. By now at least half the assembly - that he called the supreme leader of the world - was deserting Gadhafi.
And he was simply emptying his mind, without the least self-consciousness, before a gathering of world leaders.
In place of the sea of business suits were dozens of empty blue and beige seats. People kept wandering out as Gadhafi spoke of "feudalism."
"It should not be called the Security Council, it should be called the Terror Council," he said.
At that, another wave of delegates dashed out. Gadhafi failed to note that his nation now held a Security Council seat. "Terror and sanctions - it is used against us only," he said.
And with Treki chairing the assembly, there was no stopping Gadhafi, also the head of the African Union, as he railed against what the U.N. has or hasn't done about 65 wars he said have erupted around the world since the organization was founded in 1945.
Gadhafi then demanded a permanent AU seat on the Security Council. Even Ahmadinejad had left by now.
---
Safe to say that toward the end of his speech, more than half the seats were empty.
"Obama is a glimpse in the dark for the next four or eight years, and I'm afraid we may go back to square one" after he steps down," Gadhafi said. When he suggested Obama stay on as leader indefinitely, there was scattered applause.
He kept holding up the handwritten pages in front of him, at one point reading from it in his diatribe against the U.N. power structure. He also railed against former President George W. Bush's policy of trying to build democracy in Iraq.
Then Gadhafi got more personal. "It is clear that all of you are lacking the energy because of traveling a long way," he said, adding he had woken up at 4 a.m. in New York. It was tantalizingly unclear where he was going with this.
We should thank America, and we thank America. ... We want to make America secure," he said, talking about whether the U.N. is a terrorist target, and invoking worries of another 9/11. "We want to relieve America from this worry."
But now it seemed Gadhafi was perhaps suggesting that the U.N. and the General Assembly should be relocated to Tripoli, the Libyan capital where he has tried to locate AU headquarters.
"We don't have to come to New York and be subjected to all these measures," he said, referring to the heavy security around the U.N. and issues getting U.S. visas.
He seemed to be referring, but did not directly mention, his struggle to pitch a Bedouin tent, as is his practice when he travels, in the New York area. There also was no mention of his ill will toward Switzerland because of his son's arrest there.
"You will thank me for not having to travel for 20 hours to this place," he added. "America will thank you for alleviating the hardship of America. ... This place is targeted by terrorists."
His litany of injustices then extended to "3 million victims of the Vietnam War" and the U.S. actions in Panama, Grenada and Somalia, among other places and conflicts.
"How this can be done with impunity?" he asked. "Can we trust the Security Council?"
Gadhafi then demanded more investigation into the deaths of Dag Hammarskjold, John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King and others that he saw as unsolved murders and conspiracies.
"These are crimes. We cannot keep quiet. We cannot keep silent," he intoned, shaking and peering down at the handwritten pages. He also attempted a defense of Somali pirates as ex-fishermen protecting their wealth, and said he had spoken to the pirates.
Gadhafi also made a pitch for his own Web site, with speeches on it for people to read. Someone handed him a piece of paper, perhaps to get him to stop speaking. He crumpled it up.
He had worn out even the translators - a woman's voice replaced the man who had been speaking. He paid no attention to the red light to the right of the lectern, which had long ago told him the speech should be at an end.
Gadhafi seemed to be making up for all his 40 years of missed appearances at the United Nations.
And when he finally ended, after 1 hour and 36 minutes of stream-of-consciousness on the world's stage, delegates lightly applauded, and no one stood. But Gadhafi clasped his hands above him and waved in triumph as he left.
President Kikwete in High-Level Meetingon Better Health Services for Women
and Children ...Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon(centre)attends a high-level meeting on the theme,Investing in Our Common Future:Healthy Women,Healthy Children,chaired by Gordon Brown(second from right),Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland,and Robert Zoellick (second from left),President of the World Bank.The event was hosted by the Taskforce on Innovative International Financing for Health Systems,also co-chaired by the Prime Minister and Bank President.Also at the meeting was Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete (left),President of the United Republic of Tanzania.Photo Mark Garten
If fate had taken a different turn, Heather Frederiksen might well have won an Olympic gold medal for Britain in Beijing along with her friend, Rebecca Adlington, and had dreams about her own pair of Jimmy Choos.Moving moment:
Heather Frederiksen's gold is an extraordinary achievement - Moving moment: Heather Frederiksen's gold is an extraordinary achievement
Instead, Frederiksen’s gold medal came at the Paralympics, and it was not expensive footwear that was on her mind – it was the memory of the hospital consultant who told her that she would never be able to swim again. “I’ve proved some people wrong,” she said.
Prior to her accident, Heather had won both the British 10km Open Water Championship and 4.5 km British Grand Prix on the same day. One year on from the accident Heather teamed up again with coach John Stout of the City of Salford Club, and now competes in the S8 (backstroke and freestyle), SB7 (breaststroke) and SM8 (medley) classifications. Her first senior swim meet came at the 2007 German Open, in Berlin.
PHOTOS:Ayoub mzee
Instead, Frederiksen’s gold medal came at the Paralympics, and it was not expensive footwear that was on her mind – it was the memory of the hospital consultant who told her that she would never be able to swim again. “I’ve proved some people wrong,” she said.
Prior to her accident, Heather had won both the British 10km Open Water Championship and 4.5 km British Grand Prix on the same day. One year on from the accident Heather teamed up again with coach John Stout of the City of Salford Club, and now competes in the S8 (backstroke and freestyle), SB7 (breaststroke) and SM8 (medley) classifications. Her first senior swim meet came at the 2007 German Open, in Berlin.
PHOTOS:Ayoub mzee
