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Fidel Castro and Saddam
Hussein
Jacqueline Alvarez
World History Honors
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Fidel Castro

Political Figure. Born Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz on August
13, 1926, (although some say he was born a year later), near
Birán in Cuba's eastern Oriente province. Fidel Castro was
the third of six children: two brothers, Raul and Ramon, and
four sisters, Antelita, Juanita, Emma, and Augustina. His father,
Angel, was a wealthy sugar plantation owner originally from
Spain. His mother, Lina Ruz Gonzalez, had been a maid to
Angel's first wife, Maria Luisa Argota, at the time of Fidel's
birth.
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Childhood and Teens
-At 17, Fidel was formally recognized by his father and
his name was changed from Ruz to Castro.
-Educated in private Jesuit boarding schools, Castro grew
up in wealthy circumstances amid the poverty of Cuba's
people.
-He was intellectually gifted but more interested in sports
than studies.
-He attended El Colegio de Belen and pitched for the
school's baseball team. After his graduation in late
1945, Castro entered law school at the University of
Havana
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Craze…
-It was then that Castro became law crazy and power crazy.
-In 1947, Castro became increasingly passionate about social
justice. He traveled to the Dominican Republic to join an
expedition attempting the overthrow of the dictator Rafael
Trujillo. The coup failed before it got started, but the incident
didn't dampen Castro's passion for reform.
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Passions

Castro joined the Partido Ortodoxo, an anticommunist
political party founded to reform government corruption in
Cuba.

This groups goals were, nationalism, economic
independence, and social reforms.

Castro lived off of reforming Cuba to his way.
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Making his life

In 1948, Castro married Mirta Diaz Balart, who was from a
wealthy family in Cuba.

They had one son Fidelito.

With his new wife castro was able to discover a different
world, a world of wealth and political connections.

Castro pursued his political ambitions.
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Life Made
 On
July 26, 1953, Castro and approximately 150
supporters attacked the Moncada military barracks
in an attempt to overthrow Batista. The attack failed
and Castro was captured, tried, convicted, and
sentenced to 15 years in prison.
 The
incident fostered an ongoing opposition to the
government and made Castro famous throughout
Cuba.
 February
1959, Miro suddenly resigned, and Castro
was sworn in as prime minister.
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He continues
 http://www.biography.com/articles/Fidel-
Castro-9241487

On February 19, 2008, 81-year-old Fidel Castro permanently
gave up the Cuban presidency due to his deteriorating
physical condition. He handed over power to his 76-year-old
brother Raul. The Cuban National Assembly officially elected
Raul Castro as president of Cuba the same month, although
Fidel remains First Secretary of the Communist Party. The
world waits to hear of the next and possibly final chapter in
the life of Fidel Castro.
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Saddam Hussein
 Born
April 28, 1937, Tikrt, Iraq—died Dec. 30,
2006, Baghdad
 He
was born into a peasant family in northern
Iraq.
 Didn’t
years.
have very good education until later
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Starting Off
 He
joined the Ba'th Party in 1957. In 1959 he
participated in an unsuccessful attempt by
Ba'thists to assassinate the Iraqi prime minister,
'Abd al-Karm Qsim; wounded in the attempt, he
escaped, first to Syria and then to Egypt.
 He
attended Cairo Law School (1962–63) and
continued his studies at Baghdad Law College
after the Ba'thists took power in Iraq in 1963.
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On the Path
 He
was jailed after the attempt with the Ba’ th
party
 The
party was overthrown. He spent a couple of
years in Iran’s prison.
 He
escaped, becoming a leader of the Ba'th
Party, and was instrumental in the coup that
brought the party back to power in 1968
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In Power
 Saddam
effectively held power in Iraq along with
the head of state, President Amad asan al-Bakr,
and in 1972 he directed the nationalization of
Iraq's oil industry.
 He
was reforming the country to become his own
dream.
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Kick Off
 In
the wake of the September 11 attacks in the
United States in 2001, the U.S. government,
asserting that addm might provide terrorist
groups with chemical or biological weapons,
sought to renew the disarmament process.
Though addm allowed UN weapons inspectors to
return to Iraq in November 2002, his failure to
cooperate fully with the investigations frustrated
the United States and Great Britain and led them
to declare an end to diplomacy.
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We take Action
 On
March 17, 2003, U.S. President George W.
Bush ordered Saddam to step down from office
and leave Iraq within 48 hours or face war; he
also indicated that, even if Saddam left the
country, U.S. forces might be needed to stabilize
the new government and search for weapons of
mass destruction.
 He
went into hiding and that is when it all
started.
 The
war had now begun.
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On and on
 War
between the US and Iraq still continues to
this day but as we can see one decision a man
made has now affected the whole world.
 We
never know when this war will end but until
know is hope that we never have to confront
another Saddam Hussein.
 The
verdict and sentencing were both appealed but
subsequently affirmed by Iraq's Supreme Court of
Appeals. On December 30, 2006, Saddam was
hanged.