Often we wear masks to disguise who we really are. In society, we must act a certain way, belie a particular idiom, or hypocritically deny our own fundamental nature. The closeted kinksters out there know what I’m talking about. Sometimes we live among fellows who can never know how we feel. Sometimes we must appear strong, when inside all we want is to be laid low…

Soon-to-be deposed despot Muammar Gaddafi knows what I mean too. Outwardly, he was a brutal dictator who would not balk at hiring armies of foreign mercenaries to gun down his own people. His iron hand ordered military jet aircraft to fire on unarmed civilian protesters. He fancied himself the leader of a pan-African unification movement despite Libya’s meager population of around 6 million people. To the world he was a violent and eccentric dictator though he always strove to appear to be a strong national and continental demagogue.

As the Rebel Alliance liberated Tripoli this week, they made some interesting finds in Gaddafi’s ostentatious palaces. Among them was a glossy laminated scrapbook of photographs of former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. This discovery shed light on a Gaddafi proclivity, and imbued new meaning into strange comments and actions of his from the past. Now a new picture emerges of the tribal warlord’s true self, the one he hid behind the mask of an unrelenting tyrant.

All the pieces are falling into place. To me at least, it’s obvious that Colonel Muammar Gaddafi is a closet sub who wants nothing more than to be dominated by strong women, especially Condoleezza Rice. Consider his platoon of badass sexy female bodyguards. That may have been more than just eye candy. They varied in size, shape, and color but they all had one aspect in common- all of them were tough and stoic. To his subjects and his enemies, the female bodyguards were meant to show his dominance over women, but in his twisted black heart, he really wanted their dominance over him.

Looking back, there was evidence of Gaddafi’s infatuation with Condoleezza Rice. According to a State Department report, Gaddafi gave her over $200,000 worth of gifts, including a locket with a picture of himself, and “Wonder Woman-esque bracelets.” (I’m terribly sorry, loyal readers, but I have been all over the web and I cannot find a picture of these.) In 2007, he told an Al-Jazeera reporter, “I support my darling black African woman, admire and am very proud of the way she leans back and gives orders to the Arab leaders. … Leezza, Leezza, Leezza. … I love her very much. I admire her, and I’m proud of her, because she’s a black woman of African origin.”

The discovery of the scrapbook confirms it to me. Gaddafi was in love with Condoleezza Rice because of her power and authority. His brutal repression of his own people was only a symptom of his hidden duality. It was a cover perhaps, an overcompensation for this own desire to be sexually dominated by a strong woman. How many lives could have been saved if Gaddafi had only found FemDom.com?

A scene from Gaddafi's dreams.