gaddafi and the airliners image copyright afp pan am flight 103 from london to new york destroyed by a bomb on 21 december 1988 over lockerbie , scotland , killing 259 people abdelbaset al - megrahi ( pictured ) , was jailed for the bombing in 2001 , released in august 2009 suffering from cancer and died in may 2012 on 9 september 1989 uta flight 772 was travelling from brazzaville to paris when it was blown up over the sahara desert .
but now a new film , with unprecedented access to those close to gaddafi , provides a comprehensive study of libya 's brutal and contradictory long - time leader .
advertisement continue reading the main story libya ’s last two tons of chemical weapons were dwarfed by the 1,300 tons that syria has agreed to destroy .
“ even though libya ’s chemical stockpile was relatively small , the effort to destroy it was very difficult because of weather , geography and because it ’s a dangerous area with warring tribes , increasing the risks of theft and diversion , ” he said .
but american and international arms experts say the need for easily transportable and efficient technology to wipe out the libyan arms became a model for the syria program now underway .
“ it ’s a big breakthrough , ” said paul f. walker , an arms control expert with the environmental group green cross international who has helped in efforts to demilitarize the american and russian chemical weapons stockpiles since the 1990s .
advertisement continue reading the main story the image copyright other since muammar gaddafi seized power
asked about the american efforts to destroy the chemical weapons , libyan security officials in tripoli initially issued sweeping denials .
for libya ’s fragile transitional government , such collaboration with the west on security matters is a delicate issue .