...Group 1: The War in Afghanistan * Find facts about al-Qaeda and Osama Bin Laden. Osama Bin Laden Born Sheikh Osama bin Muhammad bin ’Awad bin Laden, was born in March 10th 1957 in Riyadh Saudi Arabia. He was the founder of the Islamist militant organization Al-Qaeda, an organization that was responsible for many attacks in different parts of the world killing thousands of civilians as well as the high-profile targets. He did most of his work under the name of the Islamic religion and specially the sharia law. Osama was born in a very wealthy family, to a Saudi Arabian father and a Syrian mother; he had a total of 52 siblings. In his early ages Osama studied engineering, economics, business administration and religion where he specified in interpreting the Quran and Jihad at King Abdul-Aziz University in Saudi Arabia. Osama got married when only 17 years old, to his second cousin from his mother side of the family. Throughout his life Osama got married five times, and ended up having about 24 children. His strong religious conviction got him to join the local Islamic groups, in 1973. And in 1979 he took to Afghanistan, after the then Soviet Union had invaded the country, and in the 1980’s he officially joined the war in Afghanistan as a volunteer, against the soviet occupying power. One of his main struggles in live was the growing influence of the United States in the Middle East. He felt that the policies of the US government were the prime reason of the unhappiness...
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...Al Qaeda has a very sophisticated and intricate economic system of it’s own. Osama Bin Laden, their initial leader, was born into a rich an influential family. Dispelling the myth that is often associated with the rise of Al Qaeda, Bin Laden did not fund it with his or his family’s money. While he was in fact a wealthy man with access to great amounts of money, he took advantage of his strong network around the world to set-up a successful economical stability for the organization. Al Qaeda rose to power and is still functioning with the support and funding of Gulf donors, charities, fundraising, occupational “rent” to the Taliban, and drug trafficking. They have also created undercover non-profit fundraising accounts and campaigns with fake Middle East charity fund fronts. Al Qaeda and the many branches and Islamists organizations that it has developed rely heavily on other illegal activities like kidnapping for ransom. Through drug trafficking, Al Qaeda has established strong relationships with the Taliban, Spain, Latin America and now specifically Mexico which provides them not only with money but also with easier access to the United...
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...Financing AL Qaeda * Myths of Al Qaeda financing * Funding comes from the personnel assets of Bin Ladin * Al Qaeda supports itself through international drug trade * Al Qaeda has funded itself through trading blood diamonds * Al Qaeda has the backing of any state * The Bush Administration's implication that Iraq was behind the Al Qaeda attacks was unfounded, as the September 11 Commission concluded in its 2004 report. A more comprehensive 2008 Pentagon report also found no connection between the Saddam Hussein regime and Al Qaeda. There is no evidence of Saudi backing either. Al Qaeda did have a safe haven in Afghanistan under the Taliban. Charities supporting Al Qaeda * The origins of Al Qaeda financing Trace back directly to the extensive recruitment and financing networks established during the Soviet/Afghani conflict. * These networks made extensive use of Muslim charitable organizations and businesses around the world. * As al Qaeda developed and transformed itself into an international terrorist movement, it established or infiltrated a series of international Muslim charities that could be used to collect and mask the funds it needed. * These funds were used for both humanitarian relief and to support al Qaeda activities. * Commonly imams at mosques diverted compulsory charitable donations known as zakat(a tax, comprising percentages of personal income of every kind, levied as almsgiving for...
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...Because of the removal of key Al Qaeda leadership from the battlefield in Afghansitand, Pakistan and elsewhere, the group has become more decentralized. (http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2009/10/16/the-taliban-al-qaeda-connection.html) Some have claimed that this has made Al Qaeda more dangerous and more difficult to track. This may be true, but at the same time they are also less capable of planning and executing as complex of operations as 9/11 since they are now more scattered and a significant amount of their key leaders have been killed or captured. They have however become more difficult to track as they move into new territories such as Yemen where there is less intelligence on their activities. In the future it is possible and even likely that the US could conduct peace talks or reach a compromise with the Taliban granted they made an agreement to not to indirectly sponsor terrorist attacks by hosting groups such as Al Qaeda within their borders. Similar peace talks would be nearly impossible with Al Qaeda because of their stated goal of a global Islamic state. Conclusion Will the recent killing of bin Laden change the future relationship between al Qaeda and the Taliban? It is likely that it will change, although not diminish. The al Qaeda and Taliban relationship was largely based off of the personal relationships of Haquani and bin Laden. So into the future they will likely continue to work with each other due to their long common history and some shared...
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...Al Qaeda’s Profile Al Qaeda is a world wide network of Islam based militant movement. It is a stateless organization which has been outlawed and branded as terrorists by key global security organizations including the United Nations Security Council, the European Union, NATO, the United States and many different countries. The organization is believed to have originated from Afghanistan towards the end of the Soviet Union invasion of Afghanistan; that is, between 1988 and 1989. Some analysts of the origins of the network believe that it was nurtured by the Taliban regime which took over power from the previous mujahedeen regime following a long civil war that ensued in Afghanistan after the war against the Soviet Union was over. They believe that since the Taliban did not want any external involvements with other governments, it nurtured the al Qaeda to act as a threat to other nations which were not friendly to the regime. Many other analysts are of the opinion that the network was started by its long time leader Osama bin Laden. They believe that Osama started the movement in Afghanistan taking advantage of the call by Islamist extremists for young Muslims to volunteer as fighters alongside the Mujahedeen regime in the war against the Soviets. He is on record for providing funds for what he referred to as “Jihad” against the Soviet Union and actively participating in the same (Atwan, 2013). It is his generosity and charisma that attracted the volunteer fighters to him and he...
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...Al-qaeda is one of the largest terrorists groups in the world, allied with many large Islamic terrorist groups. These groups targeted the United States, including other allied countries, and the Twin Towers were one of many, targeted by Al-qaeda, killing thousands in the process. The 9/11 attack was the largest scaled attack on the United States, the attack resulted in nearly 3,000 deaths, and millions worth of damage. Within 24 hours of the 9/11 attack the United States, met with the NATO committee and came up with a decision to go to war with Iraq, and sent thousands of troops within 72 hours after the announcement. Proving that the Iraq/ Afghanistan war was the cause of numerous, deadly attacks on America and NATO allied countries....
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...Akiva Lorenz in his essay “Al Qaeda's Maritime Threat” touches on some of the vulnerabilities of various transportation systems to Al Qaeda's asymmetric warfare, and then he moves to his main topic- Maritime Security. To date there have been three major successful terrorist attacks on maritime targets. The first was the 2000 attack on USS Cole while it was making a refueling stop in Aden, Yemen. The second was the 2002 attack on the French oil tanker USS Limburg while it was anchored off Yemen. Al Qaeda on the USS Cole and USS Limburg used small explosive loaded boats to attack their target. Usage of merchant vessels to facilitate terrorist attack is one of the four ways vessels can serve/ be used as weapon. The third major attack, and probably the one least familiar to Westerners, was the 2004 attack in the Philippines on Super Ferry 14. Mr. Lorenz uses these as stepping off points for his article and states that Maritime Terrorism is not well defined by International Law (terrorism is not well defined either) and given this lack of definition points out acts that might fall under "Maritime Terrorism": …the grey areas are cases of kidnap-for-ransom incidents, such as the May 2001 abduction of three American citizens and 17 Filipinos at the Dos Palmas resort on Palawan by Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG), an Al Qaeda affiliate. Motivated by the need to finance their political aims, ASG repeatedly perpetrated such acts of piracy. Their actions are an example of the blurring of the distinction...
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...years with the first attack coming when people stabbed each other on horses. The real reason that this happened was because the jews tried to invade the romans and a group of people came together and allianced with each other to form a group called Sicarii Zealots. Together they started the world of terrorism and the world has never been the same. Below I am mentioning some of the major terrorist groups that are destroying our world today. Terrorist Groups Al-Qaeda Al-Qaeda was created by Osama bin Laden. This year alone Al-Qaeda has committed 49 attacks causing 334 fatalities and more than 1,000 injuries. On December 29, 1992, Al-Qaeda committed their first attack with a bomb being put off in Yemen. Al-Qaeda are based in Sudan and Algeria but have been known to travel to the top of Africa and even in to Afghanistan and India. Al-Qaeda’s main goal is to rid of all American’s in Muslim nations. Al-Qaeda was the terrorist group that performed the 9/11 attacks. Al-Shabaab Al-Shabaab was formed by Ahmed Abdi Godane. This year Al-Shabaab have committed 71 attacks killing 784 people and...
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...Initially, Al Qaeda began as a logistic organization and network that played a pivotal role in helping the Muslims to fight against the Soviet Union. During this time Afghan War was at its peak. Al Qaeda recruited its members across all the Islamic states to form a strong and formidable group for their protection. After the Soviet Union withdrew from Afghan, Al Qaeda dispatched and began opposing what their leaders considered as corrupt and the United States presence in Islamic countries. The group continued to establish camps for training people, especially the youths to acquire the paramilitary skills while its agents started to engage in numerous terrorist attacks. Among the major attacks included the bombing of the US embassies in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and Nairobi, Kenya in the year 1998. In 2001, Al Qaeda and other militants...
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...Tracking al Qaeda Since 9/11 NAME SCHOOL Author Note (text). Tracking al Qaeda Since 9/11 Al Qaeda is a ubiquitous organization in the world today; it exists and operates on multiple continents, it has more funding than some small countries, it has ties and tacit support from state governments. This essay seeks to describe the pre 9/11 al Qaeda and compare that to the al Qaeda that we know and love (to hate) today. Background al Qaeda is a Sunni Islamist terrorist organization that operates across the world, but is based out of and concentrates on attacks in the Middle East, Northern Africa and a smaller condensed affiliate in the Philippines. Al Qaeda is responsible for attacks in North America, Europe, Africa and Asia. In today’s world of the Global War on Terrorism and seemingly un-ending technological surveillance means, al Qaeda, by definition as a terrorist organization must be a secret one or face immediate destruction at the hands of any number of governments. The following sections will discuss the structure, strengths, and weaknesses of al Qaeda as it has changed from September 2001 to today. Structure Pre 9/11: Al Qaeda was very typically structured as a hierarchical organization circa 2001. It had a small leadership cell with different organizational cells below it like security and recruiting. Some descriptions include as many as 4 levels of organization (Tucker, 2008). While the lines of al Qaeda’s hierarchy were much less clear in actuality than they...
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...Why al Qaeda attacked us Steve Elsey March 9, 2011 POLS 3100 The attacks on September 11, 2001 were one of the most shocking things to happen on U.S. soil. The attacks are regarded as the most deadly terrorist attack to ever happen on American soil. It is one of the events that will happen in your life where you remember exactly where you were when you heard about it. I remember being in a high school photography class, where we didn’t even do anything to with photography that day, we just watched the news to see what was happening. Most of the American people wondered why we would be attacked in such a way, and what would possibly cause someone to hate us so badly. Osama bin Laden issued a letter to Americans explaining his reasoning behind the attacks, and their desire to continue attacking afterwards. The reasons he gives are that we attack them and continue to attack them; we have oppression and aggression towards them; and finally, they attack civilians because civilians chose our government, and are thereby responsible for the government actions. He also tells us what is required for them to stop attacking, which include: being called to Islam; stop our “oppression, lies, immortality and debauchery; to take an honest stance with ourselves to find that we are “a nation without principles or manners, and that the values and principles to you are something which you merely demand from others, not that which you yourself must adhere to”; stop supporting Israel; leave th...
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...Death of Osama bin Laden and its effects to al-Qaeda Name: Institutional Affiliation: Date: Death of Osama bin Laden and its effects to al-Qaida It has been four years down the line since the death of the al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. In history, Osama has been the potential leader in organizing terrorist activities that have left thousands dead and several injured. His charismatic leadership led to large number of recruitments of the youth men all over the world. Osama was assassination done by the US Navy seals in a night raid on a high-walled compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan (Owen, M., & Maurer, 2012). His assassination had a great impact on the running of the al-Qaida organization. Osama bin Laden had significantly achieved high recognition as the symbol of international terrorist. Consequently, Osama declared war on the US and allies affiliated to US. His mission was followed by organized and fruitful attacks by al-Qaeda militants’ in various countries. Back in the 1990s, he organized a successful attack on the USS Cole, US embassy in Kenya and Tanzania respectively. There were also attacks in Bali, Madrid, and London. Indeed, the death of Osama is a big blow to the al-Qaeda terrorist operation that has been depending on his strategic attacks. It is unfortunate to the organization since they have so far no one with such charismatic leadership to replace him (Bergen, P, 2013).. Osama’s death has significantly reduced the al-Qaeda into a confused and non-coherent terrorist...
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...Death of Osama bin Laden: Effect on Al-Qaeda Al-Qaeda, a terrorist organization, boasts of a globe-spanning conglomerate with franchises far and wide. Unfortunately, the organization was dealt a blow when their founding father, Osama bin Laden, was killed in an operation by U.S. commandos in the military garrison city of Abbottabad, Pakistan. Though the death of Osama was a setback to Al-Qaeda, the group is still classified as a “Foreign Terrorist Organization” by the U.S. State Department, “Proscribed Group” by the UK Home Office, and “Terrorist Group” by the EU Common Foreign and Security Policy. The killing of the man who was charged with running the organization for many years had an effect on its leadership and image (Lüsted, 2012). Osama Bin Laden had achieved mythic status as a symbol of international terrorism. Indeed, as the leader of Al-Qaeda, Osama declared war on the US and its allies. He organized and coordinated the attack of the USS Cole in the 1990s, US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998, 9/11 attacks, and other attacks in Bali, Madrid and London. The killing of Bin Laden, therefore, had symbolic and informational ramifications on the group. The killing of his deputies, Atiyah al-Rahman, whom he relied on to plan and execute the terrorist acts, dealt a further blow. The organization continues to suffer from the loss of their top leaders. The organization has not succeeded to find a suitable replacement with enough charisma such as Osama...
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...Al Qaeda Aims at the American Homeland “Jihad against the Americans,” Bin Laden addressed in the 9/11 Commission Report. It is the official report of the events leading up to the September 11, 2001 attacks. Bin Ladin was not the first to introduce this plan to attack the twin towers; the organization and origins of the 9/11 plot was created by three subordinate commanders: Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (KSM), Riduan Isamuddin (known as Hambali), and Abd al Rahim al Nashiri. Most of the attention and ideas were from the chief manager of the “planes operation,” Khalid Sheikh Mohammad. Khalid Sheikh Mohammad (KSM) was the principal designer of the September 11th attacks. He followed a tortuous path and eventually became a member of Al Qaeda. He has plenty of tortuous ideas that included; conventional car bombing, political assassinations, aircraft bombing, hijacking, reservoir poisoning and ultimately, the use of aircraft as missiles guided by suicide operatives. KSM was born on March 1, 1964 or April 1, 1965 in the Baluchistan region of Pakistan. KSM was raised in Kuwait and joined the Muslim Brotherhood at age 16. He was highly educated and pursued a degree in mechanical engineering from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University in 1986. After graduation, KSM and his brother went to Afghanistan to resist the Soviet Invasion in the late 1980s. During this time, he began anti-American terrorist operations. Between 1988 and 1992, KSM helped run a nongovernmental organization...
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...This Time is Different: Comparing Al-Qaeda’s Unique Place in the History of Terrorism with the Freedom Fighters of the Irish Republican Army” Al Qaeda and the Irish Republican Army are two of the most complex and famous terrorist organizations in modern history. While both groups share some principles with one another, and undoubtedly have committed and continue to commit horrible acts, the world’s perception of each is undoubtedly different from the other. There is an apparent contradiction in Karl Heinzen’s famous quote: “If to kill is always a crime, then it is forbidden equally to all; if it is not a crime, then it is permitted equally to all.”[1] This difference in public perception is a result of several key tenets of each organization’s strategy and structure. The IRA fights to protect and support the liberties of the Irish people, while Al Qaeda relies upon the religious doctrine of a radical Islamic minority to carry out jihad against Western infidels. Al Qaeda, while claiming to represent the entire Muslim world, has never had a real home or a consistent base to draw upon; inversely, a large proportion of the Irish people are steadfast in their support for the cause. Al Qaeda’s indiscriminate killing of innocent civilians has resulted in a falling out with a large percentage of its former supporters. Finally, the IRA had a distinct, tangible, and realistic goal of expelling the British from Ireland, while Al Qaeda seeks to establish a new caliphate based on...
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