Bin Laden and Hitler: The Similarities Between Them

Running Head: BIN LADEN AND HITLER: SIMILARITIES

Bin Laden and Hitler: The Similarities Between Them

Mychelle Morgan

University of Phoenix

COMM / 215

October 12, 2005

Osama bin Laden and Adolf Hitler: The Lesser of Two Evils

Fear, hate and disregard. Are these feelings prominent when you think of Adolf Hitler or Osama bin Landen? These names bring equivalent emotions to the same nation of people Ð'- Americans. Although these two historical figures posses different ideologies, the complicity and the similarities between them, including their desire for control, can and did result in massive devastation. Hitler worshipped Germany, as bin Laden worships Allah. They are evil, evil in that they wanted to destroy a race of people who simply sought the goals of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. These God given and American instilled rights have been ringing in the ears of both sets of victims whom have been terrorized by these men. These victims lived their lives seeking these rights, some to achieve victory and others to pay the ultimate sacrifice in their quest. While one of these men only lives in history books, the other still threatens the rights of humankind. Perhaps the answer to achieving a second story that can only be told in a history book is to examine the practices of both, determine their similarities and maybe even utilize our past experience to accomplish the end of a second dark era. First, we must discover the similarities between Osama bin Laden and Adolf Hitler.

History of Adolf Hitler

The existence of Adolf Hitler (Hitler) began at 6:30 p.m. on the evening of April 20, 1889. Hitler was baptized as a Roman Catholic and had dreams of becoming a Roman Catholic Priest. As a child, Hitler became obsessed with a book on the War of 1870-1871 between the Germans and the French, convinced it had been a glorious event (The History Place, 1996). In his second year of high school, Hitler developed a passion for politics, German history and mythology.

At the age of 24, Hitler left Vienna to avoid mandatory military service in the Austrian army and moved to Munich. On August 3, 1914, he enlisted in the German Army. After World War I, he joined the German Worker's Party where he eventually became their leader. In 1920, Hitler chose a symbol to represent the German Worker's party, which to this day is the most notorious symbol in history, the swastika. Hitler also changed the German Worker's Party name to the National Socialist German Workers' Party, better known today as Nazi.

On January 30, 1933, Hitler was elected as Chancellor of the German Nation. Hitler, a man who spent his life despising the democratic republic was now its leader, but this too changed. In March of 1933, a vote that would change the history of Germany was taken. By an outrageous amount of votes, Hitler and the Nazis legally brought down the German Democratic Republic. From that day forward, under Hitler's rule, the State, not the individual, had rights. From the instant that Germans were born into this world, they were to serve the State and obey its dictator. Anyone who disputed this would be killed. Between late April and early October 1933, Hitler and the Nazis had successfully taken away rights, jobs, hopes, dreams and even lives of the Jewish community in Germany. That is when Hitler's Germany, known as the Gestapo, was born. The Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany responsible for the recruitment, imprisonment and torture of the Jewish population.

In the short time since Hitler was elected dictator of Germany, he had taken over Europe. In his conquest, he sent innocent people to torture prisons; if they survived, they would end up in a concentration camp. This all occurred because at one moment in time, these people possessed unGerman thoughts and ideas. Hitler even implemented the Nazi way of life in each and every school and university. They taught Nazi propaganda as truth. Men who graduated from a Nazified school were said to not have the ability to spell or capitalize a proper name; they were however exactly the type of men that Hitler desired. They were unquestioning, uneducated men ready to serve Hitler and Germany at any cost. The threat of being hauled off to a concentration camp forced petrified Germans into following Hitler and never opposing his regime.

On August 2, 1934, Hitler was named FÐ"јhrer, or supreme leader, of the German people. It was unveiled to world that Hitler had achieved total power in Germany. Years went by as Hitler and the Nazis bullied their way into making the German people praise and obey them. But on September 3, 1939, the biggest bloodshed and obliteration would begin. It is known as World War II. Five years, eight months and six days was the duration of this deadly spree. More than 40 million people were killed, all for the fanaticism and madness of one man, Adolf Hitler.

History of Osama bin Laden

Osama bin Laden was born in Saudi Arabia to a wealthy Yemeni family. Mohammed Bin Laden, Osama's father, was a wealthy construction entrepreneur who died in a helicopter crash when bin Laden was only 10 years old. Bin Laden, one of about 50 children, was then sent to live with his alienated mother, Hamida (Johnson, 2005). Hamida was a beautiful Syrian woman who was very independent. This independence gave her the nickname slave, given by the other wives. Therefore, the young bin Laden received the nickname son of a slave. Due to this fact, Osama's brothers often rejected him.

Bin Laden was taught by tutors and spent a lot of his time memorizing passages from the Quran. In college bin Laden studied at the King Abdul Aziz University in Jedda, where he was very interested, and some say influenced, by religious teachers. It was here where his broad learning of Islamic politics influenced his decision to support the Afghanistan resistance. Bin Laden left his home to fight the war in Afghanistan during the invasion of the Soviet Union. This war, known as the Afghan Jihad, was supported by Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). With the help of the CIA, American dollars, as well as help from the neighboring countries, the Afghan jJihad was able to defeat the soviet armies and, ultimately, the Soviet Union withdrew. Bin Laden soon moved to Afghanistan and established the Maktab al-Khitimat (MAK) organization in an effort to recruit soldiers from all parts of the world. The base of operation for the MAK was primarily on the eastern seaboard of the United