Islamic Terrorist Groups: A Comparative Study of Terror
Jason Schrand
HSM 305: Survey of Homeland Security & Emergency Mgmt
Instructor: Blake Cheary
October 6, 2013

The phrase "Islamic Terrorist" conjures many images for different people. Many will recollect the acts of September 11, 2001 - the act of terror that led the United States first into an invasion of the Taliban-controlled nation of Afghanistan and then into the "Second Gulf War" with Iraq. While both wars made great progress toward the initial goals, namely the overthrow of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan and the Hussein dictatorship in Iraq, as the years went by and the war dragged on, seemingly endlessly, the Islamic groups faced by the United States and her Allies seemed to be wearing down the civilian desire to continue to wage war. What American civilians do not seem to understand is that not only does the multitude of groups have very nearly the same goals, but they are also willing to die for their cause and will be almost impossible to defeat unless they are hunted and destroyed.
A study of the Islamic terror groups must include historic examples; Islamic extremism is not a recent development, nor has the ideology of the extremist believers changed much since the Islamic Conquests began in the 7th Century. In F.M. Mickolus' work International Terrorism in the 1980's, Mickolus wrote that since 1968 alone two-thirds of the known incidents of terrorism in the world had occurred in the Middle East (F.M.Mickolus, 1989). It would seem that the main focus of Islamic terror groups must be their ideology, and a primary topic of debate amongst scholars is if Islam is fundamentally a religion of peace, violence, or some hybrid of both. The Quran, the book by which Muslims worldwide base their way of life, is overtly ambiguous on the topic of peaceful or violent behavior, and seems to rationalize both depending on the passage one reads. (Haleem, 2008) The Quran contains certain "Non-Compulsion verses" in which it is suggested that there shall be no compulsion in religion. Later, however, the so-called "Sword Verses" faithful Muslims are urged to "kill the polytheists wherever you may find them, and capture and besiege them and wait for them at every place of ambush. But if they repent, let them go on their way. Fight those that do not believe in Allah, or do not consider unlawful that which Allah and his prophet Mohammed have made unlawful and who do not adopt the religion of truth, Islam". By these words, any study of Islamic extremist groups may being with one theme common to all - convert all to Islam, and kill all that resist conversion. It is the very ambiguity in the verses of the Quran that, just as in Christianity, has caused disagreement, strife, warfare, and terror. Mark Gabriel, PhD, has suggested in Islam and Terrorism that the Quranic Sword Verses have been the motivating factor behind the acts of terrorism that have been part of Islam since that religions' founding in ca. 622AD. (Mark Gabriel, 2002) Dr. Gabriel states that there are well-documented incidents of terror activity linked to followers of Islam since the 11th Century fall of the Ismaili Fatimid Empire divided the Ismaili’s into the Mustali and Nizari. Hassan-I Sabbah, using the Nazari sect against both Crusading Christians as well as other Muslims who contested his power, sent his followers on jihad against politicians and generals using disguise and subterfuge. These targets were political and religious opponents who stood in the way of Sabbah’s “hardline” sectarian ideology. Dr. Gabriel points out that the continuity factory between medieval and modern Islamic terrorism is impossible to ignore, identifies a common underlying motive in both medieval and modern incidents of terror – namely loyalty to Allah’s imperatives as interpreted from the Quran by Muslim clerics – and most importantly, he identified that the willingness of Islamic extremists to seek out martyrdom for their cause has existed since medieval times.
While modern day Islamic terrorism traces its origins to historical events, its modern day advent can be traced to the birth of the Wahhabi movement. The Wahhabi movement, an extreme fundamentalist sect of Islam, was formed in the 18th century, began to establish a base of influence and a devoted following through the 1800’s. Eventually, the Wahhabi movement inspired other fundamentalist movements during the 20th century, most notably the Irish Republican Brotherhood that would become the IRA. Ironically, the United States and Great Britain, the two major western combatants in the current Afghan War, supported the fundamentalist groups during the Cold War years. These groups were seen as a barrier to the expansion of the Soviet Union and as a method of weakening the anti-Western rhetoric that was popular in some Muslim countries. This mentality proved successful during the Soviet-Afghan War, though in the end was found to be short sighted, as once the goal of prevention of Soviet expansion had been realized, the support for the mujahedeen was retracted. The repercussions of this are being felt in our current war, in which we face many of the same ideologically-inspired fighters that had faced the Russian army. (Dreyfus, 2006) One historian, Mark Burgess, believes that the acts of late 20th Century terrorism are the result of three major points in recent history: the Iranian Revolution, the post-Cold War Islamic revival, and the Soviet defeat and subsequent withdrawal from Afghanistan. (Burgess, 2001) Of these three, Burgess believes that the Soviet invasion and the subsequent American response is the catalyst triggering the epidemic of Islamic terrorism against the western nations.
The common belief is that the terrorist attacks directed against America are motivated by American culture and religious differences. One naysayer to this is a former CIA intelligence analyst named Mike Scheuer. Scheuer argues that it is not Western culture or religion that has motivated the attacks, it is the widely held belief that the U.S. foreign policy has oppressed or harmed Middle Eastern Muslims. Scheuer believes that the true motivators can be summed up simply with the phrase "They hate us for what we do, not who we are." (Scheuer, 2004) Scheuer believes that the American intervention in Afghanistan, invasion of Iraq, pro-Israeli stance, and stationing of troops in Muslim lands in general are fueling further acts of Islamic terror.
In the post-911 world, terror attacks directed toward the US has become the primary concern for those involved in maintaining the security of our nation. We must not believe that 9/11 was the major incident that will take place on American soil. These groups, while small, are violent, brutal, well-organized, and most importantly, dedicated to their cause to the point of being willing to die for it. Religion and religious tendencies in Islamic terror groups has grown exponentially since the Iranian Revolution. In 1980, 2 of the 64 known groups were religiously motivated, but by 1995 26 of 56 identified groups were religiously motivated. (F.M.Mickolus, 1989)
The genesis of modern terrorism began in the late 1960's, when the secular Palestinian movements 'al-Fatah' and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine began to target civilians away from the areas of direct conflict with the Israelis. The Israeli victory over the combined Arab forces in 1967 convinced Palestinian leaders that the Arabs would not be able to defeat Israel through conventional methodology. The Palestinians took lessons from revolutionaries in Central America and Southeast Asia and moved toward a urban terrorism rather that rurally located guerilla style warfare. Modern communications and transportation aided the Palestinian cause, as they were able to coordinate complex attacks and then quickly leave the scene of the incident before they could be apprehended. The Palestinian terror campaign came to a head with the kidnapping and murder of Israeli Olympic athletes in Germany in 1972. By the early 80's, the Palestinian terror network had spread into a multinational front and had become a channel for the spread of methods of terror.
Secular Palestinian groups were not the only ones to flourish. The failure of the Arabs to rid the Middle East of the hated Jews, which was a failure of the growing Arab nationalism as well, led to a resurgence of both moderate and extremist Islamic movements. The secular and Islamic movements quickly came into conflict, as Islamic movements provided an alternate source of social welfare and education, items which some nation’s established secular governments had left to wither. One such movement, the Muslim Brotherhood, was supported by anti-nationalist regimes such as the Saud dynasty on the Arabian Peninsula. Saudi Arabian desire was that these non-secular movements would counter the widening spread of nationalist ideology. The growing movement came to a head in Iran in 1979, when a turn to revolutionary-minded Shia Islam under Ayatollah Khomeini eroded the power of the US supported Pahlevi government.
The Iranian Islamic revolution and the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan stimulated the rise and growth of more experienced terrorist groups. The growth of a jihad-based pool of well-trained, militants experienced in battle is the primary trend in recent international terrorism and insurgent violence. Volunteers from throughout the Islamic world came to Afghanistan to fight the Soviets, with backing from conservative countries like Saudi Arabia. The United States ironically supported the growing insurgency in Afghanistan, the events of which are dramatized in the movie “Charlie Wilson’s War.” While the American backroom deal involving Pakistan, Egypt, and Israel, with a dollar-for-dollar match from Saudi Arabia was intended to be seen as another proxy war against the spread of communism, as had already been seen in Korea and Vietnam, the reality is that the insurgency America supported became the insurgency we are currently fighting.
Attention came to be focused on state sponsorship, such as the Iranian and Syrian supported group Hezbollah. The pioneer of the use of suicide bombers in the Middle East, Hezbollah was linked to the 1983 bombing and deaths of 241 US Marines in Beirut as well as kidnappings of western civilians and government officials. Hezbollah has been linked to training Shia and Sunni insurgent and terrorist movements as was revealed during the investigation into PAN AM flight 103.
There were a number of key radical religious groups during the 1970-1990 time period, as recognized by the US State Department and outlined in a report dated 2000 that is a matter of public record. Hezbollah is a radical Shia group formed in 1982 in Lebanon that is extremely anti-Western and anti-Israeli. Closely allied with, and often directed by, Iran, Hezbollah may have conducted operations that were not approved by Tehran. They are known or suspected to have been involved in numerous anti-U.S. terrorist attacks, including the suicide bombing of the US Embassy and US Marine barracks in Beirut October 1983. Elements of the group were responsible for the kidnapping and detention of U.S. and other Western hostages in Lebanon. The group also attacked the Israeli Embassy in Argentina in 1992 and is a suspect in the 1994 bombing of the Israeli cultural center in Buenos Aires. Hezbollah typically operates in the Bekaa Valley, the southern suburbs of Beirut, and southern Lebanon and has established cells in Europe, Africa, South America, North America, and Asia. Hezbollah receives substantial amounts of financial, training, weapons, explosives, political, diplomatic, and organizational aid from Iran and Syria.
Egyptian Islamic Jihad is an Egyptian group active since the late 1970s. The EIJ is apparently split into two factions, one led by Ayman al-Zawahiri who was in Afghanistan and was a key leader in the Usama bin Laden network and the Vanguards of Conquest led by Ahmad Husayn Agiza. Abbud al-Zumar, leader of the original Jihad, is imprisoned in Egypt and joined the group's jailed spiritual leader, Shaykh Umar Abd al-Rahman, in a call for a "peaceful front." The group's traditional goal is the overthrow of the Egyptian Government and creation of an Islamic state. Given its involvement with Usama bin Laden, EIJ is likely increasingly willing to target U.S. interests. The group has threatened to strike the U.S. for its jailing of Shaykh al-Rahman and the arrests of EIJ cadres in Albania, Azerbaijan, and the United Kingdom.
Palestinian Islamic Jihad, or PIJ emerged from radical Gazan Palestinians in the 1970s, and is apparently a series of loosely affiliated factions rather than a cohesive group. The PIJ focus is the destruction of Israel and the creation of a Palestinian Islamic state. Due to Washington's support of Israel, the PIJ has threatened to strike American targets; the PIJ has not "specifically" conducted attacks against U.S. interests. Arab regimes deemed as un-Islamic have also been threatened. PIJ cells reportedly received funding from Tehran and logistical support from Syria.
HAMAS has become the primary anti-Israeli religious opposition in the occupied territories. The group is mainly known for its use of suicide bombers and is loosely organized, with centers of strength in Gaza and certain areas in the West Bank. HAMAS, while condemning American policies favoring Israel, has not targeted the U.S. directly.
Al-Gamaat Al-Islamiyya, begun in the 1970s, is the largest of the Egyptian militant groups. Its core goal was the overthrow of the Cairo regime and creation of an Islamic state. The IG appears to be a more loosely organized entity than the EIJ, and maintains a globally present external wing. IG leadership signed Usama Bin Ladin's February 1998 anti-U.S. fatwa but has denied supporting UBL. Shaykh Umar Abd al-Rahman is al-Gama'at's spiritual leader, and thus the U.S. has been threatened with attack. From 1993 until the cease-fire, al-Gama'a launched attacks on tourists in Egypt, most notably the attack in November 1997 at Luxor that killed 58 foreign tourists. This group also claimed responsibility for the attempt in June 1995 to assassinate Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. They have a worldwide presence, including Sudan, the United Kingdom, Afghanistan, Austria, and Yemen.(State, 2000)
Following the disintegration of several Soviet bloc nations and the legacy of a world filled in advanced conventional weaponry and technological expertise, worldwide terrorism spread exponentially. Instability created by warfare and the absence of government in the Balkans, Africa and Afghanistan created multiple areas ideal for terror groups to operate, train and thrive. Of these countries, it is mainly Afghanistan - not a properly functioning country in any sense of the phrase - that has provided safe haven for terror groups since the end of the Soviet occupation and subsequent civil war. Since the 1994-emergence of the Taliban militia, Afghanistan has assumed several facets of nations that have been past state-sponsors of terrorism, and although Islamic terrorists such as the EIJ and al-Qaeda were in Afghanistan prior to the advent of the Taliban, the Taliban spread has meant that Afghan-based terrorism has evolved into relatively well-organized groups focused on sustaining long term terror capabilities. These groups have, since 1989, been found to have an increased willingness to strike targets outside their immediate country or region. This tendency underlines the modern nature of global terror.
There were a number of key radical religious groups during the 1990-2000 time period, as recognized by the US State Department and outlined in a report dated 2000 that is a matter of public record.
Al-Qaeda was established by Usama Bin Laden (UBL) circa 1990. Al Qaeda aims to coordinate a transnational mujahideen network, and its stated goal is to "reestablish the Muslim State" throughout the world via the overthrow of corrupt regimes in the Islamic world and the removal of foreign presence - primarily American and Israeli - from the Middle East. UBL issued three anti-U.S. fatwas encouraging Muslims to take up arms against Washington's "imperialism." Al Qaeda provided financial, manpower, transportation, and training support to extremists worldwide. In February 1998 bin Laden issued a statement under the banner of "The World Islamic Front for Jihad Against The Jews and Crusaders," saying it was the duty of all Muslims to kill U.S. citizens, civilian or military, and their allies. Al-Qaeda was linked to the bombings of the U.S. Embassies in Nairobi, Kenya and Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, on August 7, 1998, claims to have been involved in the 1993 killing of U.S. servicemen in Somalia and the December 1992 bombings against U.S. troops in Aden, Yemen. Al Qaeda serves as the core of a loose umbrella organization that includes members of many Sunni Islamic extremist groups, including factions of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad (EIJ), the Gama'at al-Islamiyya (IG), and the Harakat ul-Mujahidin (HUM).
The Aden-Abyan Islamic Army is allegedly affiliated to the Yemeni Islamic Jihad and has been implicated in acts of violence with the stated goal to "hoist the banner of al-Jihad, and fight secularism in Yemen and the Arab countries." Aden-Abyan Islamic Army leader Zein al-Abideen al-Mehdar was executed for participating in the December 1998 kidnapping of 16 Western tourists. Four of the hostages were killed and another 13 hostages were freed when Yemeni security forces attacked the place where the hostages were being held. In March 1999 the group warned the U.S. and British ambassadors in Yemen to leave immediately.
Formerly part of the Harakat al-Ansar (HUA), the Pakistani-based Harakat ul-Mujahidin operates primarily in Kashmir. Long-time leader of the group, Fazlur Rehman Khalil, who has been linked to Bin Ladin and signed his fatwa in February 1998 calling for attacks on U.S. and Western interests, assumed the position of HUM Secretary General. The HUM is linked to the militant group al-Faran that kidnapped five Western tourists in Kashmir in July 1995; one was killed in August 1995 and the other four reportedly were killed in December of the same year. Supporters are mostly Pakistanis and Kashmiris and also include Afghans and Arab veterans of the Afghan war. The HUM trains its militants in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JEM) has greatly expanded since Maulana Masood Azhar, a former ultra-fundamentalist Harakat ul-Ansar (HUA) leader, formed the group in February 2000. The group's aim is to unite Kashmir with Pakistan. It is politically aligned with the radical, pro-Taliban, political party, Jamiat-i Ulema-i Islam (JUI-F). The JEM maintains training camps in Afghanistan. Most of the JEM's cadre and material resources have been drawn from the militant groups Harakat ul-Jihad al-Islami (HUJI) and the Harakat ul-Mujahedin (HUM). The JEM has close ties to Afghan Arabs and the Taliban. Usama Bin Ladin is suspected of giving funding to the JEM. Group by this name claimed responsibility for the USS Cole attack. (State, 2000)
A study of the Islamic terror groups must include historic examples; Islamic extremism is not a recent development, nor has the ideology of the extremist believers changed much since the Islamic Conquests began in the 7th Century. As a number of scholarly writings and a State Department report has shown, in the latter half of the 20th Century America sought to use Islamic fundamentalists to its own end. The lesson learned is that no matter who the Islamic insurgent organizations are currently allied with, their own goals are all they truly fight for, and the same has been true in the 1600 years since the founding of Islam as a religion.

References
Burgess, M. (2001, August). http://www.cdi.org/program/issue/document.cfm?DocumentID=2224&IssueID=138&StartRow=1&ListRows=10&appendURL=&Orderby=DateLastUpdated&ProgramID=39&issueID=138. Retrieved from http://www.pogo.org/about/cdi-joins-pogo.html.
Dreyfus, R. (2006). Devil's Game: How the United States Helped Unleash Fundamentalist Islam. New York: Macmillan.
F.M.Mickolus. (1989). International Terrorism in the 1980's. Ames, Ia: Iowa State University Press.
Haleem, M. A. (2008). The Quran. London: Oxford University Press.
Mark Gabriel, P. (2002). Islam And Terrorism: What the Quran really teaches about Christianity, violence and the goals of the Islamic jihad. Lake Mary , FL: Charisma House Publishing.
Scheuer, M. (2004). Imperial Hubris. Dulles: Brassey's Inc. .
State, U. D. (2000). Patterns of Global Terrorism. Washington, D.C.: US Government Printing Office.