Ugandan Dictator Idi Amin: The Last King of Scotland, Lord of All the Beasts of the Earth and Fishes of the Sea . .

Americans of advanced middle age will remember the late '60s and '70s as a time of worldwide social upheaval. Airplane highjackings and bombings were beginning to seem as commonplace as coffee in the morning. You embarked for Paris in the morning and, before you could say toute-de-suite, you'd land in Libya or some other terrorist destination a few hours later. A favored target of fanatical left-wing terrorists was the commercial jet.

Highjackings had reached epidemic proportions as airline security organizations shored up their ranks and tightened their procedures. But just as electricity follows the path of least resistance, so did the highjacking establishment when lax security in Athens Greece permitted terrorists to seize Air France flight 139. The plane, its crew, and full compliment of passengers was forced to fly first to Libya and then to Entebbe Airport which, as nobody now or then knew, was in Uganda.

If people had not heard of Entebbe, they would certainly have heard of Idi Amin (Dada), the surrealistic, maladroit dictator of Uganda, who assisted the terrorists. Idi Amin's exploits had captivated the press and the public imagination in a way that few people could. Idi was said to have a taste for human flesh. Idi bought his nine year old son a real airplane and would let the kid fly it around the palace. Idi craved attention and was desperate for acclaim and it didn't matter to him a whit how he got it.

His litany of self-bestowed titles wouldn't fit on a hundred gravestones. Amin's official title was 'His Excellency President for Life, Field Marshal Al Hadji Doctor Idi Amin, VC, DSO, MC, Lord of All the Beasts of the Earth and Fishes of the Sea, and Conqueror of the British Empire in Africa in General and Uganda in Particular'.