Here is what Wiki says about Gaddafi:
The 27-year-old Gaddafi, with a taste for safari suits and sunglasses,
then sought to become the new "Che Guevara of the age".[9] To
accomplish this Gaddafi turned Libya into a haven for anti-Western
radicals, where any group, supposedly, could receive weapons and
financial assistance, provided they claimed to be fighting imperialism.
[9]

I remember campus radicals expousing both Mao's "Little Red Book" and
Gadaffi's "Little Green Book" and making banners with the thoughts of
Gaddafi.
Of course, Gaddafi is best buds with Chavez, another darling of the
left.
Now, Libs try to rewrite their history of liking Gaddafi as he now
turns to mass murder. If we did not have instant video of such, the
left would still be trying to deny it was happening just like they
tried to deny Stalin's or Mao's crimes.

Leftism inevitably leads to mass murder.