'Will Not Leave Libya, Will Die Here As A Martyr'

Even by Col Gaddafi's standards, it was an extraordinary speech, full of melodramatic defiance against almost everyone, divorced from reality, delusional, long-winded and rambling, asserting that he had not authorised the army to use force. This when the opposition claims that over 500 people have been killed and more than 1,000 missing. Human Rights Watch (HRW) has said that at least 62 people have been killed in the Libyan capital Tripoli in clashes between demonstrators and security forces since Sunday. 

The following tweets from AlArabiya_Eng's twitter-feed are a summary of the Libyan leader's speech in English. The last time he appeared on state TV for a speech on Thursday, deploying a great grey umbrella, it had lasted merely 40 seconds. Today, his speech went on for over 40 minutes

• Gaddafi says in a televised speech that he is not a president so he cannot step down, but he is the leader of a revolution 
• Gaddafi says will not leave Libya “ will die here as a martyr”
• Gaddafi says we resisted US, Britain in the past, will not surrender 
• Gaddafi blames unrest on youths who he says are copying events in other Arab countries 
• Gaddafi says no force has yet been used [“When I do, everything will burn”] but if necessary force will be applied according to international and Libyan laws
• Gaddafi describes protesters as gangs, rats, mercenaries [“drug-taking rats” in one translation] who do not represent the Libyan people 
• Gaddafi says protesters want to turn Libya into an Islamic state “a new Afghanistan” 
• Gaddafi tells Libyans to take to streets on Wednesday to support him 
• Gaddafi says under Libyan law the protesters deserve the death sentence 
• Gaddafi orders police and army to crush uprising, says “I will not let Libya be like Fallujah” 
• Gaddafi: "Do you want America to occupy you, like Afghanistan and Iraq?
• Protesters want to transform Libya into an Islamic emirate, we reject to be ruled by Bin laden followers 
• Gaddafi orders army and police to crush the protesters 
• I lead the people’s revolution as head and I will show them, Gaddafi says in his speech 
• Gaddafi says Libyans can have whatever constitution or legal system they want 
• Starting tomorrow there will be committees defending the people’s revolution 
• The republic TV station will have a come back at the ‘dirty’ Arab stations, Gaddafi says 
• It us up to the Libyans to have any constitution or judiciary system they wish for
• Peaceful demonstration is one thing, but ‘cutting’ one piece of the country is another
• Gaddafi denounces the killing of the interior minister in Benghazi 
• We will choose force in accordance to the international law, Gaddafi says
• Whoever uses weapons against the government will have a death sentence and in accordance to Libya’s penal code
• We are free to use force: Gaddafi 
• Gaddafi parallels his willingness to crush the uprising by the likes of Tiananmen Square and the Russian parliament bombing

Mr Gaddafi also brought in the American air strike of 1986 which had killed his adopted daughter, and after maintaining that “Muammar el-Gaddafi is not a normal person that you can poison or lead a revolution against,” he went on to add:

Muammar Gaddafi is the history, the resistance, freedom, honor, revolution…. When the bombs were bombing this area and killed my children, where were you at the time, where were you people? Now they’re talking in the dark about me!… This is Muammar Gaddafi. This is the house of Muammar Gaddafi"