(Redirected from Al Qaeda)
Map of major attacks attributed to al-Qaeda
(also 'al-Qaida' or 'al-Qa'ida' or 'al-Qa'idah') (
Arabic: '',
translation: ''The Base'') is an international alliance of militant
Sunni jihadist organizations. Its roots can be traced back to
Osama bin Laden and others around the time of the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan in 1989.
[ Al-Qaeda's origins and links ] Al-Qaeda's objectives include the end of foreign influence in
Muslim countries and the creation of a new Islamic
caliphate.
Al-Qaeda has been labeled a
terrorist organization by the
United Nations Security Council,
[ Security Council Resolutions Related to the Work of the Committee Established Pursuant to Resolution 1267 (1999) Concerning Al-Qaida and the Taliban and Associated Individuals and Entities ] the
North Atlantic Treaty Organization,
[1][2] the
European Union,
[3] the
United States,
[4] Australia,
[5] Canada,
[6] Israel,
[7] Japan,
[8] the
Netherlands,
[9] the
United Kingdom,
[10] Russia,
[11] Sweden,
[12] and
Switzerland.
[13] Its affiliates have executed
attacks against targets in various countries, the most prominent being the
September 11, 2001 attacks in
New York and
Northern Virginia. Following the September 11 attacks, the
United States government launched a broad military and intelligence campaign known as the
War on Terrorism, with the stated aim of dismantling al-Qaeda and killing or capturing its operatives.
Due to its structure of semi-autonomous cells, al-Qaeda's size and degree of responsibility for particular attacks are difficult to establish. However, this may also be because its size and degree are exaggerated. Although the governments opposed to al-Qaeda claim that it has worldwide reach,
[ Al Qaeda forming new cells worldwide ]
other analysts have suggested that those governments, as well as Osama bin Laden himself, exaggerate al-Qaeda's significance in Islamist terrorism.
[14] The
neologism "
al-Qaedaism"
[ US frustration over al-Qaeda 'resurgence' ] is applied to the wider context of those who independently conduct similar acts through political sympathy to al-Qaeda ideology or methods or the
copycat effect.
The origin of the name "al-Qaeda"
In Arabic, al-Qaeda (القاعدة ''al-qÄ'ida'') has four syllables, and is pronounced []. However, since two of the Arabic consonants in the name (
[q] and []) are not
phonemes found in the
English language, the closest naturalized
English pronunciation would be ; and are also heard. Al-Qaeda's name can also be
transliterated as al-Qaida, al-Qa'ida, el-Qaida, or al Qaeda.
Listen to the US pronunciation (
RealPlayer).
The name of the organization comes from the Arabic noun ''qÄ'idah'', which means "foundation, basis" and can also refer to a military "base". The initial ''al-'' is the Arabic
definite article "the", hence "the base".
Osama bin Laden explained the origin of the term in a videotaped interview with
al Jazeera journalist
Tayseer Alouni in October 2001:
In the BBC documentary ''
The Power of Nightmares'' writer and journalist
Jason Burke states that the name "al-Qaeda" was first brought to the attention of the public in the 2001 trial of Osama bin Laden and the four men accused of the
1998 United States embassy bombings in East Africa. As a matter of law, the
U.S. Department of Justice needed to show that Osama bin Laden was the leader of a criminal organization in order to charge him
in absentia under the
Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, also known as the RICO statutes.
[15] The name of the organization and details of its structure were provided in the testimony
[16] of
Jamal al-Fadl, who claimed to be a founding member of the organization and a former employee of Osama bin Laden. To quote the documentary directly:
Questions about the reliability of al-Fadl's testimony have been raised by a number of sources because of his history of dishonesty and because he was delivering it as part of a plea bargain agreement after being convicted of conspiring to attack U.S. military establishments.
[17][18] Sam Schmidt, a defence lawyer from the trial, had the following to say about al-Fadl's testimony:
There is at least one public reference to the name "al-Qaeda" that pre-dates the 2001 trial. The name appears with the spelling "al-Qaida" in an
executive order issued by
President Bill Clinton in 1998, less than two weeks after the
bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. Executive Order 13099, issued on
August 20,
1998, lists the organization as one of several associated with
Osama bin Laden, the others being the
Islamic Army,
Islamic Salvation Foundation, the Islamic Army for the Liberation of the Holy Places, The
World Islamic Front for Jihad Against Jews and Crusaders, and
The Group for the Preservation of the Holy Sites.
[19] The name "al-Qaida" could have been introduced to
U.S. intelligence by
Jamal al-Fadl, who had been providing the
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) with intelligence about bin Laden since 1996, before ultimately appearing as a witness in the February 2001 trial of those accused of the
1998 United States embassy bombings.
In this trial, Jamal al-Fadl testified
[20] that al-Qaeda was established in either late 1989 or early 1990 to continue the jihad after the
Soviet withdrawal from
Afghanistan. He claimed that during the
war against the Soviets, bin Laden had been funding a group called
Maktab al-Khadamat, which was led by
Abdallah Azzam. This organization was based in
Pakistan and provided training, money and other support for Muslims who would cross the border into Afghanistan to fight. According to al-Fadl, the
Maktab al-Khadamat was disbanded following the Soviet withdrawal, but bin Laden wanted to establish a new group to continue the
jihadist cause on other fronts. Al-Fadl testified that al-Qaeda's leader was initially
Abu Ayoub al-Iraqi, who was later replaced by
Abu Ubaidah al-Banshiri, but that both of these leaders nevertheless "reported to" bin-Laden. Al-Fadl claims the group initially went by two different names "al-Qaeda" and "Islamic Army", before eventually settling on the former. A meeting was apparently held in Khost, Afghanistan to establish the new group, which al-Fadl claims to have attended. Al-Fadl's recollection was that this occurred in either late 1989 or early 1990, but CNN journalist
Peter Bergen argues that two documents seized from the
Sarajevo office of the
Illinois-based
Benevolence International Foundation show that the organization was established in August, 1988. Both of these documents contain minutes of meetings held to establish a new military group and contain the term "al-qaeda". Despite this, no discussions are recorded in these documents about what the name of the new group will be and each instance of the term "al-qaeda" is consistent with it simply referring to an unnamed military base rather than it being a proper noun. At one point it is explicitly referred to as a military base ("al-qaeda al-askariya"). Jamal al-Fadl was not listed among the attendees at either meeting.
[21]
In April 2002, the group assumed the name ''Qa'idat al-Jihad'', which means "the base of Jihad". According to
Diaa Rashwan, this was "...apparently as a result of the merger of the overseas branch of Egypt's
al-Jihad group, led by
Ayman El-Zawahiri, with the groups Bin Laden brought under his control after his return to Afghanistan in the mid-1990s."
[22]
The
United States Department of Defense defines the organization as
This definition was given in response to a request made by
Moazzam Begg, who was being held in
extrajudicial detention in the
Guantanamo Bay detainment camps. Begg was being accused of assisting or being a member of al-Qaeda or the
Taliban.
[Moazzam Begg's dossier (.pdf) from his Combatant Status Review Tribunal, hosted by Associated Press.]
History
Background
Wahabbism
One explanation for the growth of the radical Islamist movement in general and al-Qaeda in particular, was the rivalry between two oil-rich countries –
Saudi Arabia and Iran – for leadership of the Muslim world. The version of Islam promoted by the two countries differed in almost every way except one, they both promoted resurgent Islam.
The Islamic Republic of Iran was revolutionary and republican, where Saudi was traditional and royal. Iran was profoundly anti-American, where Saudi was a close anti-Communist ally of the U.S. And Iran was Shia, whereas Saudi was Wahhabi, which did not even consider Shia to be true Muslims.
[23]
The supreme leader of the new
Islamic Republic of Iran,
Grand Ayatollah Khomeini, promised to export his revolutionary ideology and succeeded in many places including
Iraq, as well as countries around the
Middle East – particularly
Lebanon, where
Hezbollah became a major power.
Partly in response, Saudi Arabia generously funded
madrasahs (Islamic schools) and other forms of religious education throughout the Muslim world. Saudi Arabia was only one percent of the Muslim world in terms of population,
[Yamani, To Be a Saudi, p.63] but its billions of dollars in petroleum income supported an estimated 90% of the expenses of the entire Muslim faith.
[24]
This vast wealth overrode other more moderate traditions of Islam in favor of
Wahhabism, which taught that Muslims should not only "always oppose" infidels "in every way," but "to hate them for their religion ... for Allah's sake," that democracy "is responsible for all the horrible wars" of the 20th century," that Shia and other non-Wahhabiist Muslims were infidels, etc.
[25] Thus extreme and puritanical strictures where spread throughout the Muslim world to young and old from primary Maddrassas to high level scholarship.
[26]
Economic stagnation
Another factor contributing to radicalism was economic stagnation of the Arab world and humiliation and frustration stemming from lack of economic progress and success relative to the West. It has been estimated that, excluding oil revenue, 260 million Arabs exported less than the five million people of Finland.
[27]
Jihad in Afghanistan
Main articles: Soviet war in Afghanistan,
Afghan Arabs
The origins of the group can be traced to the
Soviet war in Afghanistan. The
United States viewed the conflict in Afghanistan as an integral part of the
Cold War struggle, and the American funds channeled through the
Pakistani intelligence services supported native Afghan mujahedeen against Soviet occupation in a CIA program called
Operation Cyclone.
[ How the CIA created Osama bin Laden ][ 1986-1992: CIA and British Recruit and Train Militants Worldwide to Help Fight Afghan War ]
At the same time, a growing number of foreign Arab
mujahedeen (also called
Afghan Arabs) joined the jihad against the
Afghan Marxist regime, facilitated by international organizations, particularly the
Maktab al-Khidamat,
[ Maktab al-Khidamat ] whose funds came from individual Muslims, particularly wealthy Saudis who were approached by Osama bin Laden.
[28]
Whether US aid to Afghan mujahedeen also extended to foreign Arab fighters, such as groups affiliated with Osama bin Laden, remains a matter of some dispute.
Former
Foreign Secretary and
Leader of the House of Commons Robin Cook, writing for the Guardian, spoke of al-Qaeda as an unintentional product of Western interests:
Bin Laden was, though, a product of a monumental miscalculation by Western security agencies. Throughout the 80s, he was armed by the CIA and funded by the Saudis to wage jihad against the Russian occupation of Afghanistan. Al-Qaida, literally "the database", was originally the computer file of the thousands of mujahideen who were recruited and trained with help from the CIA to defeat the Russians. Inexplicably, and with disastrous consequences, it never appears to have occurred to Washington that once Russia was out of the way, Bin Laden's organization would turn its attention to the west.[ The struggle against terrorism cannot be won by military means ]
Bin Laden has been called "one of the CIA's best weapons customers,"
[29]
and the U.S. support for the Afghan Mujihadeen "the model for state-sponsored terrorism."
[30]
The U.S. government maintains that they supported only the indigenous mujahedeen, and that bin Laden's participation in the conflict was unrelated to CIA programs. Al-Qaeda's leader
Ayman al-Zawahiri says much the same thing in his book ''Knights Under the Prophet's Banner''.
[ Did the U.S. "Create" Osama bin Laden? ] The U.S. was actively recruiting internationally for Muslim radicals.
Sheik Abul Rahman, one of the conspirators in the
1993 World Trade Center bombing, was allowed to come to the U.S. to recruit Arab-Americans to fight in Afghanistan against the Soviets.
[31]
CNN journalist
Peter Bergen, known for conducting the first television interview with Osama bin Laden in 1997, has stated
The story about bin Laden and the CIA -- that the CIA funded bin Laden or trained bin Laden -- is simply a folk myth. There's no evidence of this. In fact, there are very few things that bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahiri and the U.S. government agree on. They all agree that they didn't have a relationship in the 1980s. And they wouldn't have needed to. Bin Laden had his own money, he was anti-American and he was operating secretly and independently.
The real story here is the CIA did not understand who Osama was until 1996, when they set up a unit to really start tracking him.[August 15, 2006.]
Bergen: Bin Laden, CIA links hogwash
Monte Palmer, senior fellow at the
al-Ahram Center for Strategic Studies in
Cairo, reconciles these opposing views: "It now appears that the American-sponsored jihad in Afghanistan was the first step in transforming the jihadist movements of Egypt, Iran, and Pakistan into an international network capable of challenging the United States. A coalescing of the jihadist movement would have occurred with or without Afghanistan, but the Afghan experience accelerated this process by years if not decades."
[32]
The Afghan Mujahedeen of the 1980's have been alleged to be the inspiration for terrorist groups in nations such as Indonesia, the Philippians, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Chechnya, and the former Yugoslavia.
[30] It is alleged that many of the Arab Mujahedin who gained combat experience in Afghanistan were later involved in terrorist acts against the U.S. The perpetrators of the first
World Trade Center bombing in 1993 allegedly used a manual allegedly written by the CIA for the Mujihadeen fighters in Afghanistan on how to make explosives.
[31]
Origins in Maktab al-Khadamat (MAK)
Al-Qaeda evolved from the
Maktab al-Khadamat (Services Office), a Muslim organization founded in 1980 to raise and channel funds and recruit foreign
mujahadeen for the war against the Soviets in Afghanistan. It was founded by
Abdullah Yusuf Azzam, a Palestinian Islamic scholar and member of the Muslim Brotherhood. Maktab al-Khadamat organized guest houses in Peshawar Pakistan near the Afghan border, and paramilitary training camps in Afghanistan to prepare international non-Afghan recruits for the Afghan war front. Azzam persuaded Bin Laden to join MAK, to use his own money and use his connections with "the Saudi royal family and the petro-billioners of the Gulf" to raise more to help the mujahideen.
[35] The role played by MAK and foreign Muslim volunteers, or "Afghan Arabs," in the war was not a major one. While 250,000 Afghan Mujahideen fought the Soviets and Marxist Afghan government, it is estimated that were never more than 2000 foreign mujahideen in the field at any one time.
[36] Nonetheless, foreign mujahedeen volunteers came from 43 countries and the number that participated in the Afghan movement between 1982 and 1992 is reported to have been 35,000.
[ The War on Terror and the Politics of Violence in Pakistan ]
The Soviet Union finally withdrew from Afghanistan in 1989. To the surprise of many,
Mohammed Najibullah's Marxist Afghan government hung on for three more years before being overrun by elements of the mujahedeen. With mujahedeen leaders unable to agree on a structure for governance, chaos ensued, with constantly reorganizing alliances fighting for control of ill-defined territories, leaving the country devastated.
The CIA was watching Osama bin Laden at least as early as 1995, due to the discovery of the
Oplan Bojinka plot, which in part involved a suicide airplane attack on CIA Headquarters.
Expanding operations
Toward the end of the
Soviet military mission in Afghanistan, some mujahedeen wanted to expand their operations to include Islamist struggles in other parts of the world, such as Israel and Kashmir. A number of overlapping and interrelated organizations were formed to further those aspirations.
One of these was the organization that would eventually be called al-Qaeda, formed by Osama bin Laden with an initial meeting held on
August 11,
1988.
[ The Osama bin Laden I know ] Bin Laden wished to establish nonmilitary operations in other parts of the world; Azzam, in contrast, wanted to remain focused on military campaigns. After Azzam was assassinated in 1989, the MAK split, with a significant number joining bin Laden's organization.
In
November 1989,
Ali Mohammed, a former
special forces Sergeant stationed at
Fort Bragg,
North Carolina, left military service and moved to
Santa Clara, California. He traveled to Afghanistan and Pakistan and became deeply involved with bin Laden's plans. A year later, on
November 8,
1990, the FBI raided the New Jersey home of Mohammed's associate
El Sayyid Nosair, discovering a great deal of evidence of terrorist plots, including plans to blow up New York City skyscrapers. In
1991, Ali Mohammed is said to have helped orchestrate Osama bin Laden's relocation to Sudan.
[ Osama bin Laden: The Past ]
Gulf War and the start of U.S. enmity
Main articles: Gulf War
Following the Soviet Union's withdrawal from Afghanistan,
Osama bin Laden returned to Saudi Arabia. The
Iraqi
invasion of Kuwait in 1990 had put the country of Saudi Arabia and its ruling
House of Saud at risk as Saudi's most valuable
oil fields (Hama) were within easy striking distance of Iraqi forces in Kuwait,
[37] and Saddam's call to pan-Arab/Islamism could potentially rally internal dissent. In the face of a seemingly massive Iraqi military presence, Saudi Arabia's own forces were well armed but far outnumbered. Bin Laden offered the services of his mujahedeen to
King Fahd to protect Saudi Arabia from the Iraqi army.
The Saudi monarch refused bin Laden's offer,
[38] opting instead to allow U.S. and allied forces to deploy on Saudi territory. The deployment angered Bin Laden, as he believed the presence of foreign troops in the "land of the two mosques" (
Mecca and
Medina) profaned sacred soil. After speaking publicly against the Saudi government for harboring American troops, he was quickly forced into exile to Sudan and on
April 9,
1994 his Saudi
citizenship was revoked.
[ Osama bin Laden: A Chronology of His Political Life ] His family publicly disowned him. There is controversy over whether and to what extent he continued to garner support from members of his family and/or the Saudi government.
[ Context of 'Shortly After April 1994' ]
Shortly afterwards, the movement that came to be known as al-Qaeda was formed.
Refuge in Afghanistan
Main articles: Afghan Civil War
After the Soviet withdrawal, Afghanistan was effectively ungoverned for seven years and plagued by constant infighting between former allies and various mujahedeen groups.
Throughout the 1990s, a new force began to emerge. The origins of the
Taliban (literally "students") lay in the children of Afghanistan, many of them orphaned by the war, and many of whom had been educated in the rapidly expanding network of Islamic schools (
madrassas) either in
Kandahar or in the refugee camps on the Afghan-Pakistani border.
According to Ahmed Rashid, five leaders of the Taliban were graduates of a single madrassa, Darul Uloom Haqqania (also known as “the University of Jihad",)
[39] in the small town of Akora Khattak near
Peshawar, situated in Pakistan but largely attended by Afghan refugees.
[40]This institution reflected Salafi beliefs in its teachings, and much of its funding came from private donations from wealthy Arabs, for whom bin Laden provided conduit. A further four leading figures (including the perceived Taliban leader Mullah
Mohammed Omar Mujahed) attended a similarly funded and influenced madrassa in Kandahar, Afghanistan.
Many of the mujahedeen who later joined the Taliban fought alongside Afghan warlord
Mohammad Nabi Mohammadi's Harkat i Inqilabi group at the time of the Russian invasion. This group also enjoyed the loyalty of most Afghan Arab fighters.
The continuing internecine strife between various factions, and accompanying lawlessness following the Soviet withdrawal, enabled the growing and well-disciplined Taliban to expand their control over territory in Afghanistan, and they came to establish an enclave which it called the
Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. In 1994, they captured the regional center of
Kandahar, and after making rapid territorial gains thereafter, conquered the capital city
Kabul in September 1996.
After
Sudan made it clear that bin Laden and his group were no longer welcome that year, Taliban-controlled Afghanistan — with previously established connections between the groups, a similar outlook on world affairs and largely isolated from American political influence and military power — provided a perfect location for al-Qaeda to establish its headquarters. Al-Qaeda enjoyed the Taliban's protection and a measure of legitimacy as part of their Ministry of Defense, although only
Pakistan,
Saudi Arabia, and the
United Arab Emirates recognized the Taliban as the legitimate government of Afghanistan.
Al-Qaeda training camps in Afghanistan and the Pakistani border regions are alleged to have trained militant Muslims from around the world. Despite the perception of some people, al-Qaeda members are ethnically diverse and connected by their radical version of Islam.
An ever-expanding network of supporters thus enjoyed a safe haven in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan until the Taliban were defeated by a combination of
local forces and United States
air power in 2001 (see section ''
September 11, attacks and the United States response''). Osama bin Laden and other al-Qaeda leaders are still believed to be located in areas where the population is sympathetic to the Taliban in Afghanistan or the border
Tribal Areas of Pakistan.
Militant operations pre-dating the September 11, 2001 attacks
The first terrorist attack
Al-Qaeda's first terrorist or bombing attack took place on
December 29,
1992, when it set off two bombs in
Aden,
Yemen - one in the Movenpick Hotel and another in the parking lot of a nearby luxury hotel, the Goldmohur. The bombers were attempting to kill American troops on their way to Somalia to participate in
Operation Restore Hope, the international famine relief effort. Internally, al-Qaeda considered the bombing a victory that frightened the Americans away, but in the United States the attack was barely noticed. No Americans were killed because the soldiers were staying in a different hotel altogether, and they went on to Somalia as scheduled. However little noticed, the attack was pivotal as it was the beginning of al-Qaeda's change in direction, from fighting armies to killing civilians.
[41] Two people were killed in the bombing, an Australian tourist and a Yemeni hotel worker. Seven other mostly Yemenis, were severely injured.
To justify the killings according to Islamic law, two ''
fatwa'' are reported to have been decreed by the most theologically knowledgable of al-Qaeda's members,
Mamdouh Mahmud Salim, aka Abu Hajer al Iraqi. Salim cited the thirteenth-century scholar
Ibn Taymiyyah, much admired by Wahhabis. In a famous fatwa, Ibn Tamiyyah had ruled that Muslims should kill the invading Mongols, and so too Salim said al-Qaeda should kill American soldiers. The second fatwa followed another of Ibn Tamiyyah's, that Muslims should not only kill Mongols but anyone who aided the Mongols, who bought goods from them or sold to them. In addition the killing of someone merely standing near a Mongol was justified as well. He ruled these killings just because any innocent bystander, like the Yemenite hotel worker, would find their proper reward in death, going to Paradise if they were good Muslims and to hell if they were bad.
[42] This became Al-Qaeda's justification for killing innocent civilians.
[41]
First World Trade Center bombing
Main articles: World Trade Center bombing
In 1993, al-Qaeda associate
Ramzi Yousef used a truck bomb to attack the
World Trade Center in
New York City. The attack was intended to break the foundation of Tower One knocking it into Tower Two, bringing the entire complex down. Yousef hoped this would kill 250,000 people. The towers shook and swayed but the foundation held and he succeeded in killing only six people, injured 1,042, and causing nearly $300 million in property damage.
[44][45]
[ February 1993 Bombing of the World Trade Center in New York City ]
None of the U.S. government's indictments against Osama bin Laden have suggested that he had any connection with this bombing, but Ramzi Yousef is known to have attended a terrorist training camp in Afghanistan. Yousef declared that his primary justification for the attack was to punish the United States for its support for the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories. Religious motivations were notably absent from the justifications that he provided.
[ February 1993 Bombing of the World Trade Center in New York City ]
After the attack, Yousef fled to Pakistan and later moved to
Manila. There he began developing plans to blow up a dozen American airliners simultaneously, to assassinate Pope
John Paul II and President Bill Clinton, and to crash a private plane into CIA headquarters. He was later captured in Pakistan.
[44][45]
1996-2000 fatwa declarations and bomb attacks
Main articles: 1998 United States embassy bombings,
USS Cole bombing
In 1996, al-Qaeda announced its
jihad to expel foreign troops and interests from what they felt were Islamic lands.
Bin Laden issued a fatwa,
[ Bin Laden's Fatwa ] which amounted to a public declaration of war against the
United States and any of its allies, and began to focus al-Qaeda's resources towards attacking the
United States and its interests.
On
February 23,
1998, Osama bin Laden and
Ayman al-Zawahiri, a leader of
Egyptian Islamic Jihad, along with three other Islamist leaders, co-signed and issued a fatwa (binding religious edict) under the banner of the '
World Islamic Front for Jihad Against the Jews and Crusaders' (''al-Jabhah al-Islamiyya al-'Alamiyya li-Qital al-Yahud wal-Salibiyyin'') declaring:
[T]he ruling to kill the Americans and their allies - civilians and military — is an individual duty for every Muslim who can do it in any country in which it is possible to do it, in order to liberate the al-Aqsa Mosque (in Jerusalem) and the holy mosque (in Makka) from their grip, and in order for their armies to move out of all the lands of Islam, defeated and unable to threaten any Muslim. This is in accordance with the words of Almighty Allah, 'and fight the pagans all together as they fight you all together,' and 'fight them until there is no more tumult or oppression, and there prevail justice and faith in Allah'.[48]
Neither bin Laden nor al-Zawahiri possessed the traditional Islamic scholarly qualifications to issue a fatwa of any kind; however, they rejected the authority of the contemporary
ulema (seen as the paid servants of ''
jahiliyya'' rulers) and took it upon themselves.
[49] 1998 was also the year of the first major terrorist attack reliably attributed to al-Qaeda- the
U.S. embassy bombings in
East Africa, resulting in upward of 300 deaths, mostly locals. A barrage of
cruise missiles launched by the U.S. military in response devastated an al-Qaeda base in
Khost, Afghanistan, but the network's capacity was unharmed.
Bin Laden then turned his sights towards the
United States Navy. In October 2000, al-Qaeda militants in
Yemen bombed the missile
destroyer U.S.S. Cole in a suicide attack, killing 17 U.S. servicemen and damaging the vessel while it lay offshore. Inspired by the success of such a brazen attack, al-Qaeda's command core began to prepare for an attack on the United States itself.
September 11, 2001 attacks and the United States response
Main articles: September 11, 2001 attacks,
War in Afghanistan (2001–present)
Aftermath of the September 11 attacks
The
September 11, 2001 attacks are attributed by most observers to military forces of al-Qaeda, acting in accord with the
1998 ''fatwa'' issued against the United States and its allies by military forces under the command of bin Laden, al-Zawahiri, and others.
[48] Evidence points to suicide squads led by al-Qaeda military commander
Mohammed Atta as the culprits of the attacks, with
bin Laden,
Ayman al-Zawahiri,
Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, and
Hambali as the key planners and part of the political and military command. While messages believed to be from bin Laden after
September 11,
2001 have praised the attacks, a statement issued six days later through
Al Jazeera allegedly denied his involvement.
[51] However, although bin Laden denied involvement, he sought to legitimize the attacks to the general Muslim public by identifying grievances of both mainstream Muslims and extremists, such as the general perception that the United States was actively oppressing Muslims.
[52] For example, bin Laden claimed that America was massacring Muslims in 'Palestine, Chechnya, Kashmir and Iraq' and that Muslims should retain the 'right to attack in reprisal'. He also claimed the 9/11 attacks were not targeted at women and children, but 'America's icons of military and economic power'.
[53]
The attacks were the most devastating terrorist acts in
American history, killing nearly 3,000 people, destroying four commercial airliners, leveling the
World Trade Center towers, and damaging
The Pentagon, the headquarters of the
United States Department of Defense.
Evidence has since come to light that the original targets for the attack may have been nuclear power stations on the east coast of the U.S. The targets were later altered by al-Qaeda, as it was thought that the US retaliation would be too great.
[ Al-Qaida leaders say nuclear power stations were original targets ][ Al Qaeda Scaled Back 10-Plane Plot ]
In the immediate aftermath of the attacks, the
United States government decided to respond militarily, and began to prepare its
armed forces to overthrow the Taliban regime it believed was harboring al-Qaeda. Before the United States attacked, it offered Taliban leader
Mullah Omar a chance to surrender bin Laden and his top associates. The Taliban offered to turn over bin Laden to a
neutral country for trial if the United States would provide evidence of bin Laden's complicity in the attacks.
U.S. President George W. Bush responded by saying: "We know he's guilty. Turn him over",
[54] and British Prime Minister
Tony Blair warned the Taliban regime: "Surrender bin Laden, or surrender power". Soon thereafter the United States and its allies invaded Afghanistan, and together with the
Afghan Northern Alliance removed the Taliban government in the
war in Afghanistan.
U.S. troops in Afghanistan
As a result of the
United States using its
special forces and providing
air support for the Northern Alliance
ground forces, both Taliban and
al-Qaeda training camps were destroyed, and much of the operating structure of al-Qaeda is believed to have been disrupted. After being driven from their key positions in the
Tora Bora area of
Afghanistan, many al-Qaeda fighters tried to regroup in the rugged
Gardez region of the nation. Again, under the cover of intense
aerial bombardment, U.S.
infantry and local Afghan forces attacked, shattering the al-Qaeda position and killing or capturing many of the militants. By early 2002, al-Qaeda had been dealt a serious blow to its operational capacity, and the Afghan invasion appeared an initial success. Nevertheless, a significant
Taliban insurgency remains in
Afghanistan, and al-Qaeda's top two leaders, bin Laden and al-Zawahiri, evaded capture.
In his book, "Brotherhood of Terror", author
Paul L. Williams describes plans recovered from raids on terrorist camps in Afghanistan that indicate future attacks both on the United States and Europe, including strikes on targets highly populated by Jews and a plot to smuggle nuclear materials into America in order to construct and detonate a weapon on American soil. He also claims that al-Qaeda had purchased as many as twenty Russian suitcase nukes from members of the Chechen mafia.
Debate raged about the exact nature of al-Qaeda's role in the 9/11 attacks, and after the U.S. invasion began, the
U.S. State Department also released a
videotape showing bin Laden speaking with a small group of associates somewhere in Afghanistan shortly before the Taliban was removed from power.
[55] Although its authenticity has been questioned by some,
[56] the tape appears to implicate bin Laden and al-Qaeda in the
September 11 attacks and was aired on many
television channels all over the world, with an accompanying
English translation provided by the
United States Defense Department.
In September 2004, the
U.S. government commission investigating the September 11 attacks officially concluded that the attacks were conceived and implemented by al-Qaeda operatives.
[57] In October 2004, bin Laden appeared to claim responsibility for the attacks in a
videotape released through Al Jazeera, saying he was inspired by Israeli attacks on
high-rises in the
1982 invasion of Lebanon: "As I looked at those demolished towers in
Lebanon, it entered my mind that we should punish the oppressor in kind and that we should destroy towers in America in order that they taste some of what we tasted and so that they be deterred from killing our women and children."
[58]
By the end of 2004, the U.S. government claimed that two-thirds of the top leaders of al-Qaeda from 2001 were in custody (including
Ramzi bin al-Shibh,
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed,
Abu Zubaydah,
Saif al Islam el Masry, and
Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri) or dead (including
Mohammed Atef). Despite the capture or death of many senior al-Qaeda operatives, the U.S. government continues to warn that the organization is not yet defeated, and battles between U.S. forces and al-Qaeda-related groups continue.
In the meantime, autonomous regional branches of al-Qaeda continue to emerge around the world.
Other regional activities
Algeria
Main articles: Al-Qaeda Organization in the Islamic Maghreb,
Islamic insurgency in Algeria (2002-present)
An insurgency is being waged by the
Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (which is called today as the
Al-Qaeda Organization in the Islamic Maghreb) against the
Algerian government. It is a spin-off to the
Algerian Civil War that ended in
2002.
The group has declared its intention to attack Algerian,
French, and
American targets. It has been designated as a
Foreign Terrorist Organization by the
U.S. Department of State, and similarly classed as a terrorist organization by the
European Union.
Bosnia
Main articles: War in Bosnia and Herzegovina
The October 1991 secession of
Bosnia and Herzegovina from the
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia opened up a new ethno-religious conflict at the heart of Europe. After its
secession, ethnic
Serbs and ethnic
Croats within Bosnia, supported by
irredentist movements in the adjacent states of
Serbia and
Croatia, engaged in a three-way conflict against the Muslim
Bosniak population. Radical Islamic veterans of the war against the Soviets in Afghanistan seized on Bosnia as a new opportunity to defend Islam. Besieged on two fronts and seemingly abandoned by the West, the new government of
Alija Izetbegovic was willing to accept any help it could get, military or financial, including that of a number of Islamic organisations, such as al-Qaeda.
[59] Several close associates of Osama bin Laden (most notably, Saudi
Khalid bin Udah bin Muhammad al-Harbi, alias Abu Sulaiman al-Makki) joined the conflict in Bosnia.
59
While al-Qaeda might initially have seen Bosnia as a possible bridgehead enabling the radicalization of European Muslims for operations against other European nations and the United States,
Bosniaks had been secularized for generations, and their interest in fighting was largely limited to securing the survival of the Bosnian-Herzegovinian state. The "Bosnian Mujahideen" (comprising largely Arab veterans of the Afghan war and not necessarily members of al-Qaeda) thus operated as a largely autonomous force within central Bosnia. While their bravery in the fray initially attracted a large number of native Muslims to join them, their brutality against civilians
[ 'Brutal crimes' of Bosnia Muslims ] came to appall many native Bosnians and repel new recruits. At the same time, their vigorous attempts to Islamicize the local Muslim population with rules on appropriate dress and behavior were widely resented and thus went unheeded. In his book ''Al-Qaida’s Jihad in Europe: the Afghan-Bosnian Network'', Evan Kohlmann summarizes:
In spite of vigorous efforts to 'Islamicise' the nominally Muslim populace of Bosnia-Herzegovina, the locals could not be convinced to abandon pork, alcohol, or public displays of affection. Bosniak women persistently refused to wear the ''hijab'' or follow the other mandates for female behavior prescribed by extreme fundamentalist Islam.59
The signing of the
Washington Agreement in March 1994 brought to an end to the Bosniak-Croat conflict in Bosnia. While the "Bosnian Mujahideen" remained to fight on in the war against the Serbs, the
Dayton Peace Accord of November 1995 ended the conflict for good, with international aid contingent keen on the disarmament and deportation of foreign volunteers. However, a certain number of former mujahideen who had either married native Bosnian Muslim women or who could not find a country to go to were permitted to stay in Bosnia and granted citizenship by the Bosnian government. In 2007 the Bosnia's authorities started reviewing these permits.
Eritrea
As soon as the allied Somali and Ethiopian forces drove out the
Islamic Courts Union in January of 2007, some of their leadership found safe haven in Eritrea.
[60] The top level leaders of the ICU include non-Somali Arab jihadists as well as terrorists accused of embassy bombings in Kenya & Tanzania.
[61][62] America also condemned Eritrea since it continued to "fund, arm, train and advise the insurgents" attacking the Somalia government.
[63][64] Further military operation by the allied Somali & Ethiopian forces as well as American planes in Somalia have forced the Al-Qaeda suspects to run away to a refugee in Eritrea, though some have been killed in
Puntland before they escaped.
[65]
Some Eritrean soldiers were also sited working with Arab & Al-Qaeda fighters against the Somalia government. According to a Somali regional governor, the foreign alliance attacked government positions at Koryoley.
[66]
According to BBC, the Pentagon said a high level Al-Qaeda member from the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) was captured in Somalia and transferred to the US military prison in Guantanamo Bay.
[67][68] The Economist, a London based paper, reported that the Eritrean government is sheltering the leadership of the insurgency in Somalia.
[69]The United Nations continued to report of Eritrean assistance to Somalis with links to Al-Qaeda. Accordingly, the UN Security Council said that Eritrea has secretly supplied "huge quantities of arms" to a Somali insurgent group with alleged ties to al Qaeda, in violation of an international arms embargo and despite the deployment of African peacekeepers" adding that it has been "provided to the Shabab by and through Eritrea" since December 2006.
[70]
According to a top U.S. diplomat, the United States is considering to put Eritrea on "
State Sponsor of Terrorism" list for its alleged support of al-Qaida-linked Islamist militants in Somalia.
[71][72]
Sheikh Aweys and other members of the Islamic Courts Union who are wanted by the US over suspected links to al-Qaeda went to Eritrea to strengthen their militant opposition to the Somalia transitional government.
[73] [74] The United Nations has Sheikh Aweys on a list of individuals "belonging to or associated with" al Qaeda.
[75] At the moment, leading the insurgency against the Somalia transitional government is al-Shabaab, an extremist group which emerged within the ICU’s armed forces and is led by a kinsman and protégé of ICU council leader Sheikh Hassan Dahir ‘Aweys, Adan Hashi ‘Ayro, who trained in Afghanistan with al-Qaeda before returning to Somalia after 9/11.
[76]
Iraq
Main articles: Saddam Hussein and al-Qaida,
Al-Qaeda in Iraq
Osama bin Laden first took interest in Iraq when the country invaded
Kuwait in 1990, raising concerns the secular
Baathist government of Iraq might next set its sights on Saudi Arabia, homeland of bin Laden and Islam itself. In a letter sent to
King Fahd, he offered to send an army of mujahedeen to defend Saudi Arabia, but the offer was rebuffed.
[77] During the
Gulf War, the organization's interests became split between outrage at the intervention of the United Nations in the region and hatred of Saddam Hussein's secular government.
Links between Saddam's regime and al-Qaeda, as claimed by the Bush Administration (which formed a crucial part of the
WMD justification for the Iraq invasion), were non-existent or exaggerated, according to the report of both the United States Government's 9/11 Commission
[78] and the Pentagon;
[79] despite these conclusions,
Vice President Dick Cheney has continued to publicly assert an Iraqi–al-Qaeda link.
[80]
Recently, the US has acknowledged that the role of al-Qaeda in post-invasion violence in Iraq was overstated.
[81] The US also claimed that al-Qaeda was in contact with the
Kurdish Islamist group
Ansar al-Islam from its inception in 1999; however, Ansar al-Islam's founder,
Mullah Krekar, has staunchly denied any such link.
[82]
Al-Zawahiri praising al-Zarqawi after the death of the latter in 2006
Since the
2003 invasion of Iraq,
elements at first loosely associated with al-Qaeda, commanded by
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, have supported local resistance to the occupying coalition forces and the emerging government, particularly targeting Iraq's
Shia majority.
[83] They have been implicated in the bombing of the
United Nations headquarters in Iraq,
[84] as well as hundreds of other small and large scale attacks on the military and civilian targets.
[85] Eventually, Zarqawi
claimed alliegance to bin Laden in October 2004.
Al-Zarqawi was killed by U.S.
air strikes on a safe house near
Baqubah,
Iraq on
June 7,
2006. Before his death, he was allegedly trying to use Iraq as a launching pad for international terrorism, most notably dispatching suicide bombers to attack hotels and government targets in
Jordan.
[86] Since the killing of al-Zarqawi, it was believed that
Abu Ayyub al-Masri took over as head of "al-Qaeda in Iraq". On
September 3,
2006 the second-in-command of "al-Qaeda in Iraq",
Hamed Jumaa Farid al-Saeedi (also known as Abu Humam or Abu Rana), was arrested north of Baghdad, along with a group of his aides and followers.
[87]
Indonesia
Main articles: Jemaah Islamiyah
Israel and Palestine
Al-Qaeda is suspected to have planned and carried out two nearly simultaneous terror attacks against
Israeli civilian targets in
Mombasa, Kenya, on
November 28,
2002. Al-Qaeda in also increased its external operations in
2005 by claiming credit for three attacks including
a
rocket attack that narrowly missed
U.S. Navy ship in
Eilat, Israel, and the firing of several ''
Katyusha'' rockets into Israel from
Lebanon in December.
Bin Laden's repeated references to the Palestinian cause in his manifestos and interviews. An extremist
Gaza Strip group calling itself
Army of Islam or "the organization of al-Qaeda in Palestine"
[88], which gained notoriety with kidnapping of
Alan Johnston, draws inspiration from al-Qaeda.
[89]
Lebanon
Main articles: 2007 North Lebanon conflict
Shakir al-Abssi, a former associate of al-Qaeda in Iraq, recruited Palestinian refugees in Lebanon into
Fatah al-Islam and rose against the government.
[90] The exact nature of the group's al-Qaeda links remains a matter of controversy.
The Middle East
Aftermath of one of the
Riyadh bombings in Saudi Arabia
Pakistan
Main articles: Waziristan War
Somalia and Kenya
Main articles: Somali Civil War
Activities of al-Qaeda in Somalia are alleged to have begun as early as 1992.
[ EDITORIAL: Sudan re-run in Somalia ] The organization's role during the course of the
1992–
1994 UN missions was limited to a handful of trainers.
Ali Mohamed and other al-Qaeda members purportedly trained forces loyal to warlord
Mohammed Farah Aidid.
[ Context of 'October 3-4, 1993' ] Osama bin Laden himself claimed in an interview with ABC's John Miller to have sent al-Qaeda operatives to Somalia. One of the al-Qaeda fighters present during the interview claimed to have personally slit the throats of three American soldiers in Somalia.
[ Greetings America, My Name is Osama bin Laden ] Mark Bowden, author of ''
Black Hawk Down'', states the terrorist organization did train some of Aidid's men on how to fire rocket-propelled grenades to destroy U.S. helicopters, but they were not personally part of the fight with US forces in the
1993 battle of Mogadishu.
[ The truth about Mogadishu ]
Sources from captured Somali fighters in the country said that this is when Osama Bin Laden first saw a vulnerability in the United States government and the US military and quoted: ''"The infidels are a paper tiger, when just of their blood is spilled they run like dogs."''
In an another successful terrorist attack in
Kenya after the U.S. embassy bombing,
a car-bomb placed in a resort hotel popular among Israeli tourists claimed the lives of 15 people. The hotel bombing occurred 20 minutes after a failed attack on an airplane, when a terrorist fired an
SA-7 MANPAD against an Israeli airliner carrying 261 passengers, which was taking off from the airport; the missile seemingly failed to track its target, nor did it detonate, and landed in an empty field.
Lately, al-Qaeda was also linked to militant
Islamic Courts Union (ICU) front in Somalia. It is believed several terrorist attacks were orchestrated from
Ras Kamboni, in the extreme southern tip of Somalia adjacent to Kenya, including the 1998 United States embassy bombings and the 2002 Mombasa hotel bombing.
[91] On
June 22,
2006,
Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer announced the U.S. was seeking the assistance of the ICU in the apprehension of suspects who carried out attacks against its
East African embassies in 1998 and an
Israeli-owned hotel in Kenya in 2002.
[US Seeks Islamic Courts’ Help To Catch Somali Extremists‎ Somaliland Times] She listed the following persons as suspected of being in Somalia (name and nationality):
Fazul Abdullah Mohamed, Comoros,
Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, Kenya, and
Abu Taha al-Sudan, Sudan. When the ICU did not cooperate, the U.S. first financed the rival factions, and then followed with air strikes as the UIC rule in Mogadishu fell in the face of Ethiopian assault.
Sudan
In 1991,
Sudan's
National Islamic Front, an Islamist group that had recently gained power, invited al-Qaeda to move operations to Sudan.
[ Testimony of J. T. Caruso, Acting Assistant Director, CounterTerrorism Division, FBI Before the Subcommittee on International Operations and Terrorism, Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate - December 18, 2001 - "Al-Qaeda International" ] For several years, al-Qaeda operated several businesses (including import/export, farm, and construction firms) in what might be considered a period of financial consolidation. The group built a major 1200-km (845-mi) highway connecting the capital
Khartoum with
Port Sudan.
[ Inside Al-Qaeda ] However, they also ran a number of camps where they trained operatives in the use of firearms and explosives.
In 1996, Osama bin Laden was asked to leave Sudan after the United States put the regime under extreme pressure to expel him, citing possible connections to the 1994 attempted assassination of
Egyptian President
Hosni Mubarak while his motorcade was in
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Controversy exists regarding whether Sudan offered to turn bin Laden over to the U.S. prior to the expulsion. There is an audio tape (
Audio) (
Transcript) recording of former President Bill Clinton talking about the offer from the Sudanese government. There are conflicting reports on whether the Sudanese government indeed made such an offer, but they were in fact prepared to turn him over to Saudi Arabia, who declined to take him.
[92]
Osama bin Laden finally left Sudan in a well-executed operation, arriving at
Jalalabad, Afghanistan by air in late 1996 with over 200 of his supporters and their families.
Turkey
Main articles: 2003 Istanbul bombings
Western Europe
Main articles: 2004 Madrid train bombings,
7 July 2005 London bombings
Organization structure and membership
The chain of command
Though the current structure of al-Qaeda is unknown, information mostly acquired from
Jamal al-Fadl provided American authorities with a rough picture of how the group was organized. While the veracity of the information provided by al-Fadl and the motivation for his cooperation are both disputed, American authorities base much of their current knowledge of al-Qaeda on his testimony.
[93]
Bin Laden is the '
emir' and Senior Operations Chief of al-Qaeda (although originally this role may have been filled by
Abu Ayoub al-Iraqi), advised by a 'shura council', which consists of senior al-Qaeda members, estimated by Western officials at about twenty to thirty people.
Ayman al-Zawahiri is al-Qaeda's Deputy Operations Chief and
Abu Ayyub al-Masri is possibly the senior leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq.
★ The 'Military committee' is responsible for training operatives, acquiring weapons, and planning attacks.
★ The 'Money/Business committee' runs business operations, provides air tickets and false
passports, pays al-Qaeda members, and oversees profit-driven businesses. In the 9/11 Commission Report, it is estimated that al-Qaeda requires $30,000,000 USD per year to conduct its operations.
★ The 'Law committee' reviews Islamic law and decides if particular courses of action conform to the law.
★ The 'Islamic study/fatwah committee' issues religious edicts, such as an edict in 1998 telling Muslims to kill Americans.
★ In the late 1990s there was a publicly known 'Media committee', which ran the now-defunct newspaper ''Nashrat al Akhbar (Newscast)'' and handled
public relations.
★ In 2005, al Qaeda formed
As-Sahab, a media production house, to supply its video and audio materials.
There have been several accusations
[94] of FBI complicity in Al Qaeda attacks, but the Western agents are usually not labeled as Al Qaeda members.
The number of individuals belonging to the organization is also unknown. According to the controversial
BBC documentary ''
The Power of Nightmares'', al-Qaeda is so weakly linked together that it is hard to say it exists apart from Osama bin Laden and a small clique of close associates. The lack of any significant numbers of convicted al-Qaeda members despite a large number of arrests on terrorism charges is cited by the documentary as a reason to doubt whether a widespread entity that meets the description of al-Qaeda exists at all. Therefore the extent and nature of al-Qaeda remains a topic of dispute.
[95]
Its rank and file has been described as changing from being "predominantly Arab," in its first years of operation, to "largely Pakistani," as of 2007.
[96] It has been estimated that 62% of al-Qaeda members have university education, dispelling the notion that they are poor or ignorant.
[97]
Individuals identified as "al-Qaeda members"
'9/11 hijackers (American Airlines 11):'
★
Mohammed Atta
★
Satam al-Suqami
★
Waleed al-Shehri
★
Wail al-Shehri
★
Abdulaziz al-Omari
'9/11 hijackers (United Airlines 175):'
★
Marwan al-Shehhi
★
Fayez Banihammad
★
Mohand al-Shehri
★
Hamza al-Ghamdi
★
Ahmed al-Ghamdi
'9/11 hijackers (American Airlines 77):'
★
Hani Hanjour
★
Khalid al-Mihdhar
★
Majed Moqed
★
Nawaf al-Hazmi
★
Salem al-Hazmi
'9/11 hijackers (United Airlines 93):'
★
Ziad Jarrah
★
Ahmed al-Nami
★
Saeed al-Ghamdi
★
Ahmed al-Haznawi
'7/7 Suicide bombers (London):'
★
Mohammed Sidique Khan
★
Shehzad Tanweer
★
Germaine Lindsay
★
Hasib Hussain
'Suspects at large'
(
1998 Embassy Bombings and
2002 Kenya hotel bombing):
★
Fazul Abdullah Mohamed
★
Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan
★
Abu Taha al-Sudan
'Other al-Qaeda leaders:'
★
Osama Bin Laden
★
Saif al-Adel
★
Sulaiman Abu Ghaith
★
Abu Hafiza
★
Abu Faraj al-Libbi (arrested in Pakistan, 2005)
[98]
★
Abu Mohammed al-Masri
★
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (captured in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, 2003)
[99]
★
Thirwat Salah Shirhata
★
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi (killed in June 2006)
[100]
★
Ayman al-Zawahiri
★
Abu Zubaydah (captured in 2002)
★
Abu Ayyub al-Masri (unconfirmed reports killed in a clash May 1, 2007)
[101] Al-Qaeda leader in Iraq.
Incidents attributed to al-Qaeda
Attacks
Main articles: Al-Qaeda terror campaign
Internet activities
In the wake of its evacuation from Afghanistan, al-Qaeda and its successors have migrated online to escape detection in an atmosphere of increased international vigilance. As a result, the organization’s use of the Internet has grown more sophisticated, encompassing financing, recruitment, networking, mobilization, publicity, as well as information dissemination, gathering, and sharing.
[102] Abu Ayyub al-Masri’s al-Qaeda movement in
Iraq regularly releases short videos glorifying the activity of jihadist suicide bombers. In addition, both before and after the death of
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi (the former leader of
al-Qaeda in Iraq), the umbrella organization to which al-Qaeda in Iraq belongs, the
Mujahideen Shura Council, has a regular presence on the web where pronouncements are given by
Murasel. This growing range of multimedia content includes guerrilla training clips, stills of victims about to be murdered, testimonials of suicide bombers, and epic-themed videos with high production values that romanticize participation in jihad through stylized portraits of mosques and musical scores. A website associated with al-Qaeda, for example, posted a video of captured American entrepreneur
Nick Berg being decapitated in Iraq. Other decapitation videos and pictures, including those of
Paul Johnson,
Kim Sun-il, and
Daniel Pearl, were first posted on jihadist websites.
With the rise of “locally rooted, globally inspired†terrorists, counter-terrorism experts are currently studying how al-Qaeda is using the Internet – through websites, chat rooms, discussion forums, instant messaging, and so on – to inspire a worldwide network of support. The
July 7 2005 bombers, some of whom were well integrated into their local communities, are an example of such “globally inspired†terrorists, and they reportedly used the Internet to plan and coordinate. A group called the "Secret Organization of al-Qaeda in Europe" has claimed responsibility for these London attacks on a militant Islamist website – another popular use of the Internet by terrorists seeking publicity.
[103]
The publicity opportunities offered by the Internet have been particularly exploited by al-Qaeda. In December 2004, for example, bin Laden released an audio message by posting it directly to a website, rather than sending a copy to
al Jazeera as he had done in the past. Some analysts speculated that he did this to be certain it would be available unedited, out of fear that his criticism of Saudi Arabia — which was much more vehement than usual in this speech, lasting over an hour — might be removed by al Jazeera editors concerned about offending the
Saudi royal family. With the assistance of two influential broadcast anchors, al-Qaeda's reach through video over the Internet and TV has significantly expanded.
[104]
In the past,
Alneda.com and
Jehad.net were perhaps the most significant al-Qaeda websites. Alneda was initially taken down by American
Jon Messner, but the operators resisted by shifting the site to various servers and strategically shifting content. The U.S. is currently attempting to extradite an information technology specialist,
Babar Ahmad, from the UK, who is the creator of various English-language al-Qaeda websites such as Azzam.com.
[105][106] Ahmad's extradition is opposed by various British Muslim organizations, such as the
Muslim Association of Britain. More recently it has been discovered that young British Christians and non-religious types have been taken in by the al-Qaeda ideals; most notably an 18 year-old boy from Chingford, London, identified as Daniel Mimms, was taken into custody for attempting to bomb the local Woolworths, claiming it to be "so wrong". He is currently being held in a detention centre awaiting trial. Daniel Mimms' lawyers have pleaded that his low intellect and poor education caused him to be easily drawn in, and shouldn't be held fully culpable for his actions.
Finally, at a mid-2005 presentation for U.S. government terrorism analysts, Dennis Pluchinsky called the global jihadist movement “Web-directed,†and former CIA deputy director
John E. McLaughlin has also said it is now primarily driven today by “ideology and the Internet.â€
Al-Qaedaism
'Al-Qaedaism', or 'al-Qaedism', is a political
neologism coined after the
terrorist attacks of
9/11 which refers to the set of religious beliefs, political doctrines, objectives, practices and methods, inspired by al-Qaeda. It is based on a militant, dogmatic and orthodox form of
Islamism.
Rather than al-Qaeda evolving as a single monolithic organization, like a typical
political party or
military command structure, or one headed by a central figure like a
crime syndicate, the exact opposite was created: a diverse, loosely-organized and widely-disbursed movement or ideology
[ US frustration over al-Qaeda 'resurgence' ] comprised of many small and localized "self-generating"
terrorist cells
[ The Rise of al-Qaedaism ] and individuals, some of which are not directly connected to al-Qaeda at all.
[ Spread of Bin Laden Ideology Cited ] It may be applied to other political movements, organizations and individuals who adopt similar beliefs and practices through the
copycat effect or are accused of such through misattribution. The term is also applied retroactively to provide a name for the motive of Islamic fundamentalists who act or have acted similarly, even before the formal organization or naming of the al-Qaeda organization.
See also
★
9/11 Commission
★
Adam Yahiye Gadahn - (Arabic: آدم ÙŠØيى غدن‎; born
September 1 1978) is an American-born member of
the al-Qaeda organization
★
Al Barakaat
★
Bin Laden Issue Station (CIA unit for tracking bin Laden, 1996-2005)
★
Terrorist organizations as destructive cults
★ The Al Qaeda Reader
★
Insurgency in Saudi Arabia
★
Ladenese epistle
★
List of terrorist organisations
★
Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal
★
Osama bin Laden tapes
★ ''
The Power of Nightmares'' (BBC documentary)
★
Psychological operations
★
Religious terrorism
★
Steven Emerson
★
Takfir Wal Hijira
★
Terrorist incidents
★
Islamofascism
★
AK-47
Notes & references
1.
Press Conference with NATO Secretary General, Lord Robertson NATO
2. AL QAEDA NATO Library
3.
COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE COUNCIL AND THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT Commission of the European Communities
4.
Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs) United States Department of State
5.
Listing of Terrorist Organisations Australian Government
6.
Entities list Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Canada
7.
Summary of indictments against Al-Qaeda terrorists in Samaria Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs
8. B. TERRORIST ATTACKS IN THE UNITED STATES AND THE FIGHT AGAINST TERRORISM Diplomatic Bluebook
9.
Annual Report 2004 General Intelligence and Security Service
10.
Proscribed terrorist groups United Kingdom Home Office
11.
Russia Outlaws 17 Terror Groups; Hamas, Hezbollah Not Included
12. Radical Islamist Movements in the Middle East Ministry for Foreign Affairs Sweden
13. Report on counter-terrorism submitted by Switzerland to the Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 1373 (2001)
14. The Power of Nightmares
15. "Relevant excerpt from the series", The Power of Nightmares
16. "WMD Terrorism and Usama bin Laden" by The Center for Nonproliferation Studies.
17. Witness: Bin Laden planned attack on U.S. embassy in Saudi Arabia
18. A Traitor's Tale By Johanna McGeary
19. "Executive Order 13099 of August 20, 1998 Prohibiting transactions with terrorists who threaten to disrupt the Middle East peace process (.pdf)" Retrieved 15 February 2007.
20. "Transcripts of the testimony of prosecution witness Jamal Ahmad Al-Fadl delivered on the 6th, 7th and 13th February, 2001 at the United States District Court, Southern District of New York, in the trial of United States v. Usama bin Laden et al., defendants." Retrieved 20 May, 2007.
21. Excerpt: The Osama bin Laden I know by Peter Bergen
22. "After Mombassa", ''Al-Ahram Weekly Online'', 2–8 January 2003 (Issue No. 619). Retrieved 3 September 2006.
23. Kepel, ''Jihad'', (2002)
24. Dawood al-Shirian, `What Is Saudi Arabia Going to Do?` ''Al-Hayat'', May 19, 2003
25. Saudi Publications on Hate Ideology
26. Abou al Fadl, Khaled, ''The Great Theft: Wrestling Islam from the Extremists'', HarperSanFrancisco, 2005, p.48-64
27. using statistics from mid-1990s, ''Commentary,'' "Defeating the Oil Weapon," Sept. 2002
28. Wright, ''Looming Tower'', (2006)
29. Der Speigel Online International, August 6, 2007, http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,498421,00.html
30. Demokratizatsiya, Spring 2003, re-published at Find Articles, http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3996/is_200304/ai_n9199132
31. Demokratizatsiya, Spring 2003, re-published at Find Articles, http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3996/is_200304/ai_n9199132/pg_6; "Unholy Wars: Afghanistan, America and International Terrorism," by ABC News correspondent John K. Cooley
32. Monte Palmer and Princess Palmer, ''At the Heart of Terror: Islam, Jihadists, and America's War on Terrorism'' (Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2004) p. 97.
33. Demokratizatsiya, Spring 2003, re-published at Find Articles, http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3996/is_200304/ai_n9199132
34. Demokratizatsiya, Spring 2003, re-published at Find Articles, http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3996/is_200304/ai_n9199132/pg_6; "Unholy Wars: Afghanistan, America and International Terrorism," by ABC News correspondent John K. Cooley
35. Wright, ''Looming Tower'', (2006), p.103
36. Wright, ''Looming Tower'' (2006), p.137
37. See Wikipedia article on the Gulf War for more.
38. The House of Bin Laden, The New Yorker, 5 November 2001, accessed 26 January 2007.
39. http://www.husainhaqqani.com/reforming/journal%20articles/1/1.htm
40.
41. Wright, ''Looming Tower'', (2006), p.174
42. testimony of Jamal al-Fadl, U.S. v. Usama bin Laden, et.al.
43. Wright, ''Looming Tower'', (2006), p.174
44. Wright, ''Looming Tower'', (2006), p.178
45. Reeve, Simon.
''The new jackals : Ramzi Yousef, Osama Bin Laden and the future of terrorism'', Boston : Northeastern University Press, c1999
46. Wright, ''Looming Tower'', (2006), p.178
47. Reeve, Simon.
''The new jackals : Ramzi Yousef, Osama Bin Laden and the future of terrorism'', Boston : Northeastern University Press, c1999
48. Text of Fatwah Urging Jihad Against Americans
49. The Age of Sacred Terror, , Daniel, Benjamin, Random House, 2002,
50. Text of Fatwah Urging Jihad Against Americans
51. Bin Laden says he wasn't behind attacks
52. J. Esposito 'Unholy War: Terror in the Name of Islam' 2002. New York, Oxford University Press. p22
53. Hamid Miir 'Osama claims he has nukes: If U.S. uses N-arms it will get the same response' "Dawn: the Internet Edition" Nov 10, 2001
54. U.S. Jets Pound Targets Around Kabul
55. U.S. RELEASES VIDEOTAPE OF OSAMA BIN LADEN
56. US urged to detail origin of tape Morris, Steven
57. National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States
58. Full transcript of bin Ladin's speech
59. Al-Qaida's Jihad in Europe: The Afghan-Bosnian Network, Kohlmann, Evan F., , , Berg, 2004, ISBN 1-85973-807-9
60. U.S. accuses Eritrea on supporting islamists
61. Islamic Courts and islamist background
62. Eritrea's role detailed by UN documents
63. U.S. condemns Eritrean assistance of islamists
64. US blames Eritrea over Somalian insurgency
65. Al-Qaeda suspected try to run escape to Eritrea
66. allied ICU, Al-Qaeda and Eritrean fighters attack government positions
67. Pentagon captures high level Al-Qaeda member in Somalia
68. 
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