ZAKHO, Kurdistan Region - Former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, once a staunch exponent for the rights of the Kurds, was taught military lessons by a Kurd at an Iraqi college.
“I remember once, 40 students from Arab countries, who were above 18, were admitted to the Rustamiyah College in Baghdad which was a developed region at the time in terms of military training. One of them was Muammar Gaddafi. Graduates of this school were awarded Bachelor’s degrees in military science,” recalled Mohamed Karim Mohamadamin, who currently resides in the town of Zakho, near the Kurdistan Region’s border with Turkey.
Mohamadamin was born in Kirkuk in 1927 and joined the Iraqi army at the age of 21. In 1956, he became a military trainer at Rustamiyah College, which was established in 1924 and is the oldest military school in the Arab world.
Speaking of the pro-Kurdish former Libyan leader, Mohamadamin said: “He was a strong man, and the most articulate out of all the students I had in the class.”
“Gaddafi would get very angry if he didn’t like something. He wasn’t following the trainers’ instructions if he didn’t like them, and was closer to me than other mentors.”
The college had 20 military trainers teaching different military aspects. Mohamadamin was the only Kurdish teacher in the school.
He spoke highly of Gaddafi’s intelligence. “He graduated as a first lieutenant in the training course, and was accompanied by his cousin who also successfully completed the military education.”
The deposed Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and the Sudanese leader Omar al-Bashir also studied at the college.
Gaddafi rose to power in a military coup in 1969 and ran the country for 42 years. He was ousted when people mounted an uprising against him in 2011. His own people caught him and finally killed him.
He was an outspoken advocate for the Kurdish nation, and helped their revolutions in 1980s.
“Arab students were turning to me, saying that Libya’s Gaddafi believed that Kurds were a nation whose rights had been denied by the Arabs and that they should give their rights back to them. I didn’t know why he was so supportive of the Kurds. I never discussed this subject with him,” Mohamadamin said.
“Gaddafi was a great man. I was so saddened when I saw him forced out of power and inhumanely killed. Sometimes I cannot sleep when I think about him,” he added.
Mohamadamin is now 89 and has 13 children. He was first married to woman from the Iraqi city of Kirkuk and then remarried to a lady from Zakho where he presently lives.
“Mohamed often recounts his memories with Gaddafi whom he admired. He was deeply saddened by his death,” Ramzia Saeed, his wife said.
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