Gadhafi began his speech like many other leaders, welcoming President Obama as the leader of the host nation of the General Assembly and congratulating him on his first General Assembly session. Obama spoke immediately before Gadhafi and left the hall before the Libyan leader took the stage.

The diplomatic niceties ended there. Speaking without a text and referring only to a few handwritten pages, Gadhafi launched into a blistering attack on the Security Council, and he blamed the United Nations for failing to prevent more than six dozen wars since the world body was founded in 1945.

'It should not be called the Security Council, it should be called the 'terror council,' ' Gadhafi said. The Council should 'implement the will of the General Assembly,' which should be a 'world parliament,' he said.

Gadhafi railed against what he called 'inequality' of UN member states, quoting from a copy of the UN charter, which calls for equality of nations.