Qaddafi insists "millions" still on his side

TRIPOLI, Libya - Muammar Qaddafi says his regime is still alive in Libya and is calling his opponents' takeover of all but a few pockets of the country a charade.

Qaddafi got the message out on a Syrian-based satellite station that has become his main mouthpiece. Al-Rai TV released written excerpts of his remarks on Tuesday.

The deposed leader says what is happening is a "charade" imposed on Libyans through NATO air strikes, which he said would not last forever. He has used the channel numerous times to put out messages urging his supporters to fight on.

His whereabouts remains unknown.

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"I have no regime to be toppled... The regime is that of the Libyan people," says the ousted Libyan strongman, who ruled the country with an iron fist for 42 years. "It's not possible to topple this regime because it represents millions of Libyans."

Qaddafi claimed he had no real authority in Libya since 1977, when he says he "handed the rule to the people and the people's republic was created."

Anti-Qaddafi Libyan fighters are still vying to wrest control of several towns from his loyalists, but the international community -- even nations which lagged in their backing of the rebels and their Transitional National Council, the closest thing Libya has to a government at present - have begun the process of reestablishing order in the majority of the Arab nation.