(CNN) — Eight days into protests that have cost him control of eastern Libya and the support of some prominent Libyan officials worldwide, leader Moammar Gadhafi delivered a defiant, rambling speech today, refusing calls to step down.
“This is my country, the country of my grandfathers,” Gadhafi said in remarks carried live on Libyan state television. He vowed to die “a martyr” in his country.
Blaming the unrest on “rats” who are “agents” of foreign intelligence services, Gadhafi read from a book of laws and said people found to be cooperating with outside forces fomenting discord, and those who carry weapons against the country, will be executed.
The 68-year-old, who has been in power for nearly 42 years, spoke from a compound that the United States bombed in 1986, the Jamahiriya News Agency of Libya reported. The United States attacked the compound after it implicated Libya in a bombing in West Berlin that resulted in the death of a U.S. service member.
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Gadhafi’s characteristically lengthy remarks, lasting well over an hour, came after a brief appearance early Tuesday on Libyan state TV in which he rejected rumors that he may have fled to Venezuela.
An opposition leader said young people were physically dragged onto the streets to watch the speech in what Libyan state TV presented as crowds of supporters.
But even as he called on Libyans who “love and support him” to go out on the streets and demonstrate for him, Gadhafi’s grip on power appeared to be weakening.
