SOLLOUG, Libya (Reuters) - Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi warned the United States on Sunday it could fall into a Soviet-style quagmire in Afghanistan if it retaliated there for devastating terror attacks on New York and Washington. (Read photo caption below)
Gaddafi, who has often assailed Washington for its policies in the Middle East and elsewhere, said the United States had the right to respond militarily to the unprecedented attacks in which thousands are feared to have died.
But he urged restraint in the fight against terrorism. ''The United States has the right to seek revenge,'' Gaddafi said at a public rally in the small town of Soloing, 30 miles south of the country's second city of Benghazi in eastern Libya.
``The United States is a strong and powerful country, but would it be bravery to attack Afghanistan, a country already destroyed, without roads or factories and where people move around on donkeys or in horse-drawn carts. Would that solve the problem?'' he asked
President Bush, declaring the United States was ``at war,'' said on Saturday Saudi-born Islamic militant Osama bin Laden, long accused of waging an anti-American campaign from Afghanistan, was ``a prime suspect'' in Tuesday's attacks.
Libya itself has long been on a State Department list of countries it accuses of sponsoring terrorism.
Gaddafi. recalling that 20,000 Soviet soldiers died in Afghanistan following the 1979 Soviet invasion and 10-year occupation of the rugged country, urged the United States to be patient in its hunt for the perpetrators and ``show maturity.''
TERRORISTS COULD BE ANYWHERE
``Terrorists are like booby-trapped (explosive) devices. They could be in Libya, in Egypt. Its a disaster because we don't know where they are and what destruction they will cause next.''
The veteran Libyan leader, in power for 32 years, reiterated his condolences to the American people ``because America suffered from this aggression.''
But he added that Americans now suffered ``like other people in Africa and elsewhere (have suffered). Terrorism is evil but so is colonialism.''
Ordinary Libyans have expressed sympathy with the victims of Tuesdays attacks and strident anti-Americanism seems no longer the norm in the North African country.
A person at Sundays rally who started to shout anti-American slogans was immediately booed and shouted down by the crowd.
PHOTO CAPTION:
Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi makes a fist during his speech in Solloug, 60 kilometers east of Benghasi, September 16, 2001. Gaddafi said, that he understands America's wish for revenge but warned them not to make the same mistake as the Russians in Afghanistan. He urged for an international conference on terrorism. REUTERS/Michael Dalder
- Sep 16 3:56 PM ET