The Qaddafi Files

How much do we really know about the private life of Muammar al-Qaddafi? Foreign Policy digs deep into the secret archives and family photo albums of Libya’s toppled tyrant to consider his legacy. In this special section, FP presents an exclusive collection of never-before-seen pictures and documents from Qaddafi’s private homes and state intelligence ministries, collected by Human Rights Watch emergencies director Peter Bouckaert and photographed by freelance photojournalist Michael Brown. These images range from intimate portraits of Qaddafi with family members to shocking photos of torture victims; from a lean, handsome revolutionary, beaming in the early days after the coup, to the grizzled, bloated outcast he would become. It’s a unique, behind-the-scenes look at the curious and dynamic dictator, and we invite readers to assist us in identifying individuals and events in this rare trove of images.

• When They Were Kings

• Qaddafi’s Family Scrapbook

• The Brother Leader’s War Machine

• Qaddafi’s Arms Smugglers, a Mystery

• The Young Qaddafi

• Qaddafi’s Close-Ups