Fidel Castro vs. Osama Bin Laden - Term Paper Example

 Fidel Castro vs. Osama Bin Laden Abstract Castro was born in the home of a rich plantation owner in 1926. He had charismatic and dynamic personality that helped him to rule his country for more than four decades. Osama Bin Laden has his own personality but like Castro, Osama was also a charismatic leader. Osama and Castro were both hard fighters against the rulers of their soils but had different leadership qualities and skills from each other. Castro joined political parties and adopted guerrilla warfare to eradicate the government. Castro introduced reforms after coming in power but soviet collapse was most damaging for Cuba. Osama bin Laden was fighting for religion with a foreign power in his country but Castro Fought with a dictator. Osama was killed in 2011 but Castro handed over government to his brother due to bad health. This paper analyzes the personas of Fidel Castro and Osama Bin Laden against each other. Fidel Castro vs. Osama Bin Laden Introduction Castro was born near the town Biran in Cuba on 13 august 1926. His father was a sugar plantation owner from Spain. Fidel’s name was changed from Ruz to Castro when he was only 18. Cuban political environment drew his attention towards politics. He joined political party in 1947 to stand against corruption in Cuba. Batista took hold of government and gained US support (Coltman, 2003). Castro attacked Moncada base to over through Batista’s government. He started guerrilla war in 1956. He became Cuban prime minister in 1959. Castro projected anti American sentiments in Cuba and got closer to Russia. Russia and America almost reached to a nuclear war due to crisis in Cuba. Cuba flourished a lot under his revolutionary ideas. Collapse of Soviet Union affected Castro’s revolution. He handed over all the official affairs to his brother Raul due to bad health (Fuentes & Kushner, 2010). Castro had a dynamic and charismatic personality. His sense of humor, lifestyle and dedication made him a powerful leader. People loved his every word due to attractive leadership. Many international companies invested in Cuba on his request. Osama was born in Saudi Arabia in 1957. Bin Laden joined Afghanistan resistance on the outbreak of cold war in 1979. Then he formed Al Qaida network that worked against western interests and finally attacked twin towers in New York (Bergen, 2006). Osama had different lifestyle and a different approach to threaten western powers as compared to Fidel Castro. Comparison of both leaders is also carried out in this paper. Fidel Castro and Osama Bin Laden Castro was born in 1926 near Biran in Cuba. He studied in Jesuit schools in his early stage. He was more interested in sports than education. Castro got law education from university of Havana in 1945 and became more active in Cuban politics. Castro and Bin Laden both were gifted students in their early education. Osama being Muslim focused on pure Islamic studies. Osama received a degree in public administration from university of King Abdul Aziz in 1981 (Bergen, 2006). Castro joined anticommunist political party to reform corruption in Cuba. In 1948, Castro showed his ambitions for a seat in Cuban parliament but general Batista set himself as a dictator and got hold of the country. Castro with the help of 150 supporters attacked Moncada military barracks to defeat Batista but Castro was captured and sent to jail for 15 years but later on he was freed in 1955 (Coltman, 2003). On the other hand, Osama bin Laden never gave any importance to political activities, instead joined religious groups, and consulted many Islamic scholars on different religious matters (Gunaratna, 2003). Castro decided to start guerrilla warfare to over through the Batista government. In 1956, Castro again attacked with 81 supporters but could not succeed. Slowly Castro managed to gain some control over the provinces by controlling their agricultural products. After numerous blows, finally, Castro succeeded and Batista government collapsed in 1959. Castro became prime minister of Cuba in same year (Leonard, 2004). Therefore, Castro appeared as a great leader with charismatic leadership qualities and ruled Cuba for next four decades. Castro made a lot many changes in Cuba after becoming the prime minister. American owned business was ceased and education, health and industry were given special attention to uplift country’s economy and raise the living standards of people. Castro opened new schools and raised the literacy rate up to 98%. Opposition was dealt severely by forced emigrations. Castro joined hands with Soviet Union and ignored USA. US agencies made many plots to assassinate Castro but could not succeed (Mallin, 1994). Cuba became centre of concentration in 1962, when US discovered construction of soviet Missile nuclear sites in Cuba. This was an alarming stage where two great powers were at verge of a nuclear war in the region. President Kennedy demanded removal of these sites and instructed navy to monitor sea route leading to Cuba (Leonard, 2004). Castro was a charismatic leader and people used to pay respect to his words. His sense of humor and convincing approach made him a hero. Castro got public admiration because of his sense of strength and this is his main charismatic appeal of Castro (Mallin, 1994). Castro showed destructive charismatic. US 10 million-sugar quota was decreed in 1970. Strong will was required to force Cuban people to accept it. This act of Castro greatly distorted the economy. International companies invested in Cuba due to reforms introduced by Castro but collapse of Soviet Union really damaged Cuban economy (Coltman, 2003). All sorts of trade with Soviet Union were almost stopped and his revolution saw a decline. Osama bin laden also played very active role in the Afghan war. He raised funds for Jihadist organizations and joined them to counter Soviet invasion. He used American aid under the CIA operation cyclone. He trained mujahedeen that is a group of Islamic fundamentalists. Osama encouraged other Arabs to join afghan people in their fight against the soviet invasion (Gunaratna, 2003). Therefore, he fought against the Soviet Union with the help of US aid. He got fame from war of 1979 but Castro had different approach and tactics to handle America. Osama never initiated any revolution against any big power. Castro faced the worst crisis after the soviet collapse in his 40 years revolutionary leadership. Soviet Union had to abandon Cuba to crisis in country and war with Afghanistan. Cuba faced isolation in world community that is he evidence that his revolution had failed in Cuba and abroad as well (Post & George, 2004). On the other hand, soviet defeat in Afghanistan earned a lot of respect for Bin laden. After the war, he was considered a hero in Saudi Arabia. He was never wanted American presence in Saudi Arabia being the holy place for Muslims of the world. Therefore, he criticized American presence and Saudi government. Therefore, he was exiled from Saudi Arabia in 1992 (Scheuer, 2011). He became more aggressive and announced a global war against all American and Jews in 1998. He formed Al Qaida and recruited so many young Muslims for future training. Al Qaida started targeting American embassies across the world. He was accused of targeting twin towers in 2001 and was supposed to be in Afghanistan after the attacks (Bergen, 2006). After the war on terror for almost over a decade, allied forces managed to kill him in Pakistan in 2011. During 1990s, Castro faced health deteriorations and temporarily handed over the government to his brother Raul. In 2008, Castro permanently handed over the presidency to his brother due to his bad health when he was 81 years old. Finally, his 76 years old brother became the president of the country and Fidel got the honor of being the first secretary of the communist party (Fuentes & Kushner, 2010). Summary Castro had great revolutionary ideas but could not manage to see a fruitful end of the revolution. Despite introducing huge reforms and economic prosperity of the country, he lost popularity in Cuban nation for executing people and forcing them to leave Cuba. He was a charismatic leader who rightly joined hands with Soviet Union but collapse of Soviet Union was the major setback for the Cuba and Fidel Castro. On the other hand, Osama supported America against the Soviet Union. He got a lot of fame due to his achievements in the war. He gathered many people, gave them training and raised funds for them. He threatened US and western embassies worldwide. Conclusion In my opinion, Castro and Osama had the quality to convince people for supporting them. Castro adopted revolutionary approach to lesser dependence on US and Osama fought against US across the world. Castro did good job but many Cubans disliked his policies. His policies are the reason of failure of his aging revolution. References Bergen, Peter. (2006). The Osama Bin Laden I Know: An Oral History of Al Qaeda's Leader. New York: Simon & Schuster. Coltman, Leycester. The Real Fidel Castro. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2003. Fuentes, Norberto & Kushner, Anna. The Autobiography of Fidel Castro. New York: Norton & Co, 2010. Gunaratna, Rohan. (2003). Inside Al Qaeda (3rd ed.). London: Berkley Books. Leonard, Thomas M. Fidel Castro: A Biography. London: Greenwood Press, 2004. Mallin, Jay. Covering Castro: Rise and Decline of Cuba's Communist Dictator. New York: Transaction Publishers, 1994. Post, Jerrold M. & George, Alexander. (2004). Leaders and their followers in a dangerous world: the psychology of political behavior. New York: Cornell University Press. Scheuer, Michael. (2011). Osama Bin Laden. London: Oxford University Press. Read More