...AMERICAN PULIC UNIVERSITY OSAMA BIN LADEN: FALL OF LEADERSHIP POST 9/11 MIND OF A TERRORIST BY TERI DANIELLE MOUNT SAN DIEGO, CA FEBRUARY 2014 OSAMA BIN LADEN: FALL OF LEADERSHIP POST 9/11 Under Osama bin Laden's leadership, al Qaeda has become the most dangerous terrorist organizaiton in the world, responsible for more than 10,000 deaths (Terrorism [2011], 1). As the leader of this organization, he was strategic, intelligent and knew how to attack his enemy both economically and culturally. He was a mastermind and was able to communicate and exert influence upon his followers, affiliates and to the entire world as we know it. He was also the mastermind behind the tragic act that took the lives of thousands in the United States terrorist attack known as 9/11. However, since the attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001, bin Laden's ability to communicate and influence others has changed drastically. As al-Qaeda's leader, bin Laden meticouslly planned 9/11 and wanted it to be the attack that caused the United States to “bleed-until-bankrupt” by creating a wars between Americans and the Muslim world (Gartenstein-Ross 2013, 1). As a leader, his strongest form of communication lied in his ability to take down his enemies from behind the scenes. After the attacks on 9/11, he repeatedly made it known that he was not responsible for the attacks. However, did the...
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...Courtney Friedman Term Paper: International Terrorism (Due Week 10) Professor Smith 5/23/14 CRJ 440 Terrorism, it is a well-known term, every person has all heard of it, but yet do we really know what it is. Terrorism is in the eyes of most, a meaningless hate crime, which has no true reason behind it. The terrorism mindset is people who want to create terror among civilization. They are trained to disturb peace, and to break social harmony. Terrorism is also a horrible threat to the modern world and modern society. It has become a problem around the world, not just in the United States. Many innocent people are killed by terrorist and their acts of terrorism. An individual can see terrorism in multiple forms, but not limited to: Bombing, hijacking, cross border terrorist activities and massacres on a massive scale, in addition to many others not listed. Its consequences are very frightening. Though much effort is put into eliminating terrorism, it is impossible to get rid of it until some strict laws are devised. Whenever and wherever society is victim to brutality, injustice, wrongs and intolerance, terrorism cannot be eradicated. There are many terrorist groups out there, of many different origins and sects. The group that will be discussed is Al Qaeda, which is the most well-known out of the groups listed. The questions and statements that will be answered and debated are: 1.) A brief explanation of Al Qaeda and the summarization of its origins, 2.) Al Qaeda's major...
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...with the United States and the effects run deeper death and destruction and are displayed through changes in American law and culture. First, a leading cause towards the 9/11 attacks is the United States’ foreign policy which favors Israel over Palestine in the Israel-Palestine Conflict. Israel and Palestine have been been conflicting since the mid 20th century due to issues that involve the control of the Gaza Strip and Jerusalem. Primarily, the issue involves the Israeli Jews and the Palestinian Muslims Osama Bin Laden, the leader of the Al Qaeda was anti-Semitic (a hatred of Jews), took favor of the Palestinians. United States military supporting Israel, which led to deaths of many Palestinians, obviously upset bin Laden and fueled his hate towards Americans even more. Bin Laden stated in his Letter to America: “Why are we fighting and opposing you? The answer is very simple: (1) Because you attacked us and continue to attack us. a) You attacked us in Palestine.” Bin Laden goes on to explain his hate for Israel, “The creation of Israel is a crime which must be...
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...The new president, Barack Obama, enters office in the midst of this war on terror. Under Obama’s leadership, the United States takes initiative to claim one of the greatest American victories of the century— the assassination of Osama Bin Laden. Operation Neptune Spear was enacted in 2011. Tracing one of Osama Bin Laden’s couriers, the United States armed forces located him in Pakistan. President Obama devised a series of meetings to plan and delineate this operation. Vice Admiral William H. McRaven, commander of the US Joint Special Operations Command, accompanied the president in one of these meetings. Intense training by the DEVGRU, also known as the Seal Team Six, took place in the months prior to this operation. On May 1, 2011, President Barack Obama gave the order to kill or capture Osama Bin Laden. The team forced their way into the compound using explosives and cleared the gate of hostiles. From there they evacuated women and children and captured them outside. On the third floor of the compound, the team confronted Osama Bin Laden, and shot him down. Operation Neptune Spear “ultimately led to the killing of Osama bin Laden (Operation Neptune...
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...Pennsylvania. Three thousand people were killed, which started a new attack on terrorism led by former United States President George W. Bush. More than 400 firefighters and police officers were killed during these tragic events. It was at 8:45 am on a tuesday morning, when two airplanes hit the Twin Towers, 40,000 gallons of jet fuel was unleashed onto the buildings causing mass devastation and loss of life. Due to the explosion from the aircraft’s on the 60th floor, many people were killed, and those on the higher floors were left stranded. It turns out that most people believed...
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...Terrorism and Homeland Defense Fundamentals Weekly Assignment 3.2 Part One: 1. Describe the United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine in 1947. For two years after the end of WWII, the world was in constant flux. New countries and boundaries were being drawn and one of the most contested and controversial was the creation of an Israeli/ Palestinian state. The Learning Network (2011) states the following: On Nov. 29, 1947, the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution calling for Palestine to be partitioned between Arabs and Jews, allowing for the formation of the Jewish state of Israel. Since 1917, Palestine had been under the control of Britain, which supported the creation of a Jewish state in the holy land. Sympathy for the Jewish cause grew during the genocide of European Jews during the Holocaust. In 1946, the Palestine issue was brought before the newly created United Nations, which drafted a partition plan. The plan, which organized Palestine into three Jewish sections, four Arab sections and the internationally-administered city of Jerusalem, had strong support in Western nations as well as the Soviet Union. It was opposed by Arab nations. US Central Intelligence Agency (para. 1-3) 2. Why do you think that Palestinian terrorists concentrate on soft targets? The concentration on soft targets is a result of the need to draw attention of a global audience that is increasingly challenging to traumatize, the growing sophistication of the terrorists...
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...took place after 9/11, and what would be done to bring justice to the criminals responsible for the attack. There were a lot of events that took place before 9/11 that occurred in the 90s and early 00s between America and Islamic groups like the Taliban and Al-Qaeda, and Osama bin Laden. Bin Laden and his followers were involved in many attacks in the 90s, and were being closely watched by the UN and America. In the late 90s, America was getting fed up with bin Laden’s ways. An article from Fox News explains some of America’s earlier involvement with bin Laden: “Aug. 28, 1998 -- FBI accuses bin Laden of having declared "jihad," or holy war, against United States. Complaint also alleges bin Laden founded Al Qaeda that year to promote Islamic fundamentalism and force non-Muslims out of Muslim countries.” (Associated Press, 2002) Bin Laden’s involvement in terrorism increased as his support grew. Bin Laden followers bombed a military base in 1996, killing 19 and injuring hundreds. Later, he bombed two embassies in 1998, killing hundreds and injuring more than 5,000 people. He was also suspected to have ordered the suicide bombers on a U.S. Navy ship in 2000, which killed 17 people. Bin Laden’s attacks were happening more often and it...
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...affiliates, and to the world at large. Focusing upon Osama bin Laden, how would you compare and contrast his ability to communicate and exert influence upon these various audiences from the years preceding 9/11 until his death? Summary Al Qaeda leaders and affiliates have conducted sophisticated public relations and media campaigns since the mid-1990s. Terrorism analysts believe that these campaigns have been designed to elicit psychological reactions and communicate complex political messages to a global audience as well as to specific subpopulations in the Islamic world, the United States, Europe, and Asia. Some officials and analysts believe that Al Qaeda’s messages contain signals that inform and instruct operatives to prepare for and carry out new attacks. Bin Laden and other leading Al Qaeda figures have referred to their public statements as important primary sources for parties seeking to understand Al Qaeda’s ideology and political demands. Global counterterrorism operations since 2001 appear to have limited Bin Laden’s ability to provide command and control leadership to Al Qaeda operatives and affiliated groups. Other Al Qaeda leaders and affiliates continue to release statements that encourage and provide guidance for terrorist operations. Iraq has become a focal point for jihadist rhetoric, underscoring Al Qaeda leaders’ interest in Iraq and support for the ongoing insurgency. Statements released by Osama Bin Laden and his deputy Ayman al Zawahiri since...
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... The planned attack on the White House was thwarted when passengers on the plane confronted the terrorist and caused the plane to crash in a field in Pennsylvania. Immediately and for the first time in U.S. history, air traffic nation wide had been halted. Nearly three thousand people were killed in these attacks. This tragic event was planned and financed by Al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden and was just one step in his proclaimed "Holy War" against the United States and its allies. Bin Laden believed that the Muslim world should unite in this war against the United States and hoped that the September 11th actions would provoke the U. S. into retaliating thus giving cause for the Muslim nations to band together in a world wide effort to destroy the United States. Bin Laden's reportedly justified this attack by saying that it was in retaliation for the U.S.'s support of Israel, its role in the Persian Gulf War and its continued presence in the Middle East. He was also angered by the United States support of efforts against Muslims in Somalia, Chechnya and Kashmir. There are those who believe that Bin Laden was so opposed to the United States that this attack was perpetrated to carry through on his promise to " destroy and bankrupt" the United States and the targets chosen would...
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...Terrorism 1. What is terrorism? Terrorism is hard to define. In its broadest sense terrorism can be thought of as the use or threatened use of force against civilians designed to bring about political or social change. Moreover, while we think of terrorism as being both a political and irrational act (especially suicide terrorism), terrorism can also be thought of as a rational act conducted specifically because of the impact -- fear, confusion, submission -- it will have. Given the U.S. government's pledge to wage a war against terrorism, it is important to look at its definitions. According to both the Department of Defense (DOD) and the FBI, terrorism is "the unlawful use of force or violence against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives." The DOD definition adds that a goal of terrorism can be "inculcating fear" (thus the psychological dimension), while the State Department is more elaborate, specifying that terrorism may include the use of biological, chemical or nuclear devices as well as the act of "assassination." The latter would suggest that assassinating bin Laden would be a terrorist act by our definition of the word; the former that allied forces in the fire bombings of cities in Dresden, and specifically the U.S., through its use of nuclear weapons to end World War II and of chemical weapons in Vietnam, has already engaged in terrorist...
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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...
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...Al-Qaeda From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search al-Qaeda القاعدة Participant in the Persian Gulf War, the Global War on Terrorism, the War in Afghanistan, the Iraq War, and the Syrian Civil War Active 1988-present Ideology Sunni Islamism[1][2] Islamic fundamentalism[3] Takfirism[4] Pan-Islamism Worldwide Caliphate[5][6][7][8][9] Qutbism Wahhabism[10] Salafist Jihadism[11][12] Leaders Abdullah Yusuf Azzam (1988-1989) Osama bin Laden (1989-2011) Ayman al-Zawahiri (2011-present) Area of operations Worldwide (predominantly in the Middle East) Strength In Afghanistan – 50–100[13] In Egypt –Unknown In Iraq – 2,500[14] In the Maghreb – 300–800 In Nigeria –Unknown In Pakistan – 300[15] In Philippines – Unknown In Saudi Arabia – Unknown In Somalia – Unknown In Syria Unknown In Thailand -Unknown In Yemen –500–600[16] Allies Taliban Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan East Turkestan Islamic Movement Al-Shabaab Islamic Courts Union (dis) Jundallah Lashkar-e-Taiba Jaish-e-Mohammed Jemaah Islamiyah Boko Haram Abu Sayyaf Iraqi insurgents Caucasus Emirate FARC[17][18] Syria (alleged)[19][20] Qatar (alleged)[21] Opponents United States of America Israel International Security Assistance Force Syria Iran Afghanistan Pakistan Turkey Yemen Egypt Algeria Colombia Al-Qaeda...
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...al-Qaeda, hijacked four American planes and executed pre-engineered terrorist attacks against various targets in the United States. Two of the planes were flown directly into the towers of the World Trade Center in New York City. A third plane then hit the Pentagon just outside Washington, DC, and the fourth and final plane crashed into a field in Pennsylvania. Now referred to as 9/11, the attacks resulted in extensive destruction, over 3000 merciless deaths in New York City and Washington, and triggered the driving force behind major US initiatives to combat terrorism. Also, may view this horrific event as a defining moment in the presidency of George W. Bush. The first strike was on the North Tower of the World Trade Center. Flight 11, a Boeing 747 carrying 76,000 pounds of jet fuel and 92 passengers, was overtaken by five Arabic passengers, that was later discovered to have worked directly with al-Qaida leader, Osama bin Laden to both plan and give life to this attack. At 7:40 am the flight departed from Boston as normal, the flight maintained its course for the first thirteen minutes. Following this, the crew was not acknowledging communications with the FAA. Several attempts were made to communicate with the crew but no reply was received, with the exception of the sound of static and was thought to be a scream. Connection was finally made at 8:18am to Cary, North Carolina to the American Airlines office stating that the plane was being hijacked. Initially, the call was grossly...
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...Introduction: Afghanistan has a history of a high degree of decentralization, and resistance to foreign invasion and occupation. Some have termed it the “graveyard of empires.” Afghanistan is a landlocked country that is located approximately in the center of Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan in the south and east. Since the late 1970s Afghanistan has suffered brutal civil war in addition to foreign interventions in the form of the 1979 Soviet invasion and the 2001 U.S. invasion. The strategic interests of the great powers of the day in Afghanistan pitched against the potential threat of terrorism, religious extremism, smuggling and drug trafficking substantiates the assertion that Afghan security situation has the potential to generate effects far beyond its borders. Afghanistan had experienced several coups since 1973, when the Afghan monarchy was overthrown by Daud Khan, who was sympathetic to Soviet overtures. Subsequent coups reflected struggles within Afghanistan among factions with different ideas about how Afghanistan should be governed and whether it should be communist, and with degrees warmth toward the Soviet Union. The Soviets intervened following the overthrow of a pro-communist leader. In late December 1979, after several months of evident military preparation, they invaded Afganistan. At that time, the Soviet Union and the United States were engaged in the Cold War, a global competition for the fealty of other nations. The United States was, thus, deeply interested...
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...In the U.S.-led “global war on terrorism,” al-Qa`ida and its militant affiliates have come to serve as both symbol and explanatory matrix for a range of disparate militant groups in the Middle East and beyond. Included among these are the Palestinian rejectionist factions and the Lebanese Hizballah, despite the fact that their roots, worldviews, and agendas are inimical to those of al-Qa`ida. This article argues that the scholarly and political effort to lump together diverse resistance groups into a homogenous “terrorist enemy,” ultimately symbolized by Osama Bin Laden, is part and parcel of neocolonial power politics whereby all “native” struggles against established power structures are placed beyond reason and dialogue. The authors contend that while the Palestinian rejectionist factions and the Lebanese Hizballah may be understood as local representations of the anticolonial “third worldist” movement, al-Qa`ida and its affiliates operate within a “neo–third worldist” framework, a dichotomy that entails tactical and strategic differences, both political and military. The article draws on an extensive series of author interviews with leaders and cadres from Hizballah and the Palestinian factions. In response to al-Qa`ida’s 11 September 2001 attacks, the United States declared war not merely against those who had set upon it, but against an open-ended range of “terrorist organizations and those who harbor and support them.”1 Within two weeks of the attacks, U.S. President George...
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