From Saddam Hussein to the Former King of Saudi Arabia: The Rise and Fall of Five Kingpins Who Defied the United States

In a whirlwind of power and dominance, rebelling against a central house of power did not always end in a fairy-tale for many. The hegemony of one dominant power has been challenged several times over the past decades. The reasons for such struggles against any world power ranged from political, ideological, and personal differences, often coupled with religious extremism and chauvinism.

For over a century, the United States of America has held the mantle of global power. Although many have challenged the authority of a world power like the United States, several of these names would certainly ring a bell—their actions and the consequences of their deeds changed the course of the countries in which they resided.

From Cuba to Iraq—from Saddam Hussein to Muammar Gaddafi—here is a list of five leaders who met their end after crossing the United States of America.

Ernesto Guevara de la Serna, aka Che Guevara, was seen as a top threat by the American government. This Argentinian-born revolutionary leader was not a force to be reckoned with. His open criticism of the United States of America and his constant drive for an armed communist uprising made him a priority target of the American military in the 60s.

Guevara was born in 1928 in Rosario, Argentina. He was a disciplined Marxist-Leninist. His visit to Central and South America made him realize that poverty and oppression could be taken care of with an “armed revolution.”

Between 1959–61, Guevara became the president of the national bank of Cuba after overthrowing Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista in 1959. He was a strong critic of America and even attempted to make the Cuban regime align with the Soviet Union.

See Also: Iraq Orders Confiscation of Assets of Saddam Hussein’s Relatives, Aides

After his falling out with other Cuban leaders, he left the region in 1965 to spread revolution across the world. He went to Bolivia and trained the Bolivian rebels to stand against their government. But his efforts went in vain. The local forces of Bolivia captured Guevara with the help of the United States.

He was officially executed in La Higuera, Bolivia, on 9 October 1967. His remains were buried somewhere in secret at the time, which were discovered after decades. In 1997, Guevara’s remains made their way back to Cuba.

Faisal of Saudi Arabia was an influential figure who reigned as the king of Saudi Arabia from 1964–75. King Faisal’s relationship with the United States was not always static. The relationship went sour after the implementation of the 1974 Oil Embargo.

The Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC) declared the oil embargo on targeted countries who assisted Israel during the Yom Kippur War, also known as the 1973 Arab–Israeli War. The affected countries included the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Japan, and others.

The embargo on oil was led by King Faisal, which banned exports of oil and even decreased its production. 

The ban resulted in creating an imbalance in the oil pricing system, because of which oil prices skyrocketed. The US was the worst-affected country because it heavily relied on foreign oil. After the ban was lifted in 1974, the prices had increased by roughly 300%, from US $3 per barrel to $12.

By using the oil weapon, the United States plummeted into a global oil crisis because of the 1974 oil embargo led by King Faisal. The King was assassinated by his own nephew on March 25, 1975. King Faisal of Saudi Arabia was shot dead during a public meeting held in Riyadh.

Zulfikar Ali Bhutto served as both the president (1971–73) and the ninth prime minister of Pakistan (1973–77). Bhutto played a significant role in initiating Pakistan’s nuclear program; he believed that nuclear weapons were necessary for the long survival of the country after the 1971 Indo-Pak war. Relations between Pakistan and the USA had a steady ride up until the mid-1970s. The US did provide economic assistance to Pakistan; they purchased ammunition and spare parts of American equipment, etc. Despite Bhutto’s repeated requests, the USA refused to resume the supply of major arms like aircraft and tanks, which was halted in 1965.

Bhutto’s long-running political career came to an end when he was sentenced to death on March 18, 1978, for ordering the assassination of his political opponent in 1974.

See Also: Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Was Executed by the same General Who Once Cleaned his Shoe. Syeda Hameed's Book Reveals Many Dark Secrets of Bhutto's Execution.

Saddam Hussein was an Iraqi dictator and revolutionary who reigned as the President of Iraq for more than two decades until he was overthrown in 2003. His participation in the bloodless coup by the Ba'ath Party brought down the former president, Abdul Rahman Arif, in 1968.

The coup was led by Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr, who served as the fourth president of Iraq from 1969–1978. Saddam rose to power one step at a time—from playing a minor role in the coup to becoming the deputy chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council in Ba'athist Iraq. Saddam officially took the reins of presidency in 1979, and thus began his era of authoritarian rule in Iraq.

Saddam Hussein invaded Iran in 1980. The long and chaotic war resulted in both countries developing weapons of mass destruction. Later on, Iraq invaded Kuwait on 2 August 1990. The number of casualties from the war was so enormous that the estimated figure is uncertain. Saddam Hussein was termed a threat by the United States of America to international peace. It was the US-led coalition in 2003 that led to the fall of Saddam Hussein. 

After the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington on September 11, 2001, the George W. Bush administration vowed to invade Iraq. In March 2003, US military forces promised to overthrow Saddam Hussein.

They invaded Iraq in order to destroy Iraqi-owned weapons of mass destruction. The weapons were, however, not found, which resulted in the war losing its support. The end of the Saddam regime took place—he was captured and executed for crimes against humanity on December 30, 2006.

Muammar Gaddafi was a revolutionary military officer who ruled Libya from 1969 to 2011 until his assassination by the anti-Gaddafi forces, aka Libyan rebel forces. His leadership was based on Islamic socialism, radical ideologies, etc. The name of Libya was changed multiple times under the rule of Gaddafi. It was changed to Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya in 1977. Jamahiriya, translated to “state of the masses,” was a term coined by Gaddafi himself.

America’s bond with Gaddafi was a complicated relationship, with then US President Ronald Reagan calling him “the mad dog of the Middle East.” Before the National Transitional Council assassinated Gaddafi in 2011, the tension between Libya and the United States was quite high, with several clashes occurring over the years.

The Gaddafi regime funded terrorist attacks like the 1986 Berlin discotheque bombing and the 1988 Lockerbie bombing. The 1988 bombing resulted in the death of nearly 270 people, out of which 189 individuals were US citizens. The USA joined the Libyan Civil War in 2011 and supported the rebels who were attempting to oust Gaddafi.

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