When Muammar met Ronald: With Qaddafi’s influence and interference growing in the region, the United States became increasingly worried about his regime. U.S. President Ronald Reagan, determined in his conviction that Qaddafi was a “mad dog” of Africa, closed the U.S. Embassy in 1980 and shot down Libyan planes over disputed territory in the Gulf of Sidra. Just 15 days after Reagan bombed the capital, Tripoli, and the city of Benghazi in 1986 in retaliation for the La Belle bombings and new terrorist attacks on Israeli air counters in Rome and Vienna (for which the American president blamed Libya’s leader), Qaddafi responded by throwing a press event on the birthday of Nasser. “Shit, shit on Reagan,” shouted an angry audience at the event.