Al Qaeda as the Face of Global Terrorism - Research Paper Example

? Al Qaeda Explained Al Qaeda Explained Many in society would contend that the face of global terrorism is Al Qaeda. Thetwo are synonymous. This one organization has wreaked untold instances of horror on the global community, and they are perhaps the most studied militant group in the world. As an increasingly inter-connected society is threatened from all fronts, it is important to understand who Al Qaeda is and what their aims and objectives appear to be. The group itself was founded by the now deceased Osama bin Laden way back in the late 1980s. Many claim that the origins of the group go back to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, giving us a glimpse of the basis for the group from its inception. It is basically a stateless army made up of mostly Sunni Muslim’s who are willing to die for their cause. This paper is designed to explain Al Qaeda and to educate the reader about the dangers of the organization and what the global community is doing to protect itself from the radical group moving forward. Numerous attacks have been attributed to Al Qaeda, including embassy bombings, that attacks in Bali, and the horrific events that occurred on September 11, 2001. These, and other events like them, were brazen attacks that the organization proudly took credit for. There have been hopeful signs in recent years, however, of a weakened organization in light of numerous leaders being killed by enemy forces, such as Osama bin Laden. Whereas previously Al Qaeda had a strong leadership at the top that directed nearly movement of its followers, the group today lacks strong top-down management, resulting in many splinter groups that are formed in response (Fariborz, 2010). In addition, many members of Al Qaeda have branched off on their own, opting to carry out their own ideological principles that might be in conflict at some level with the organization as a whole. With all of the signs pointing to a weakened Al Qaeda today, the possibility exits to think that the danger is over, but this would be a mistake. Let us now take a look at the historical basis of Al Qaeda and why the future will most likely see a resurgence in the group purporting acts of terror throughout the world. Going back to the beginning, we know that Al Qaeda began largely as a result of Afghans rising up to fend off the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. In order to win this war, multitudes of volunteers from across the Middles East arrived to fight in Afghanistan. These individuals were known at the Mujahideen, and they were known to be fighters that would go to any length to defend their Muslim brothers. Naturally, a movement like this need tremendous capital resources, chief among them money. This is where Osama bin laden entered in. He quickly rose up to the person primarily responsible for bankrolling a new organization whose primary responsibility was infiltrating Mosques around the world to recruit Muslims to join the cause. The Mujahideen, then, more than any other factor, was largely responsible for defeating the Soviets and keeping Afghanistan a sovereign nation (Jones, 2012). With the war over, Osama bin Laden did return to Saudi Arabia, which is where he is from. While there, he worked feverishly in establishing a group that was designed to aid the veterans of the Afghan War. Many of these individuals had now moved on from Afghanistan as to fight in other wars that were going on around the world, all of which was viewed as a fight for the Muslim cause. As Osama bin Laden began to develop this organization, the need for recruiting more fighters and to raise more money became apparent. Out of this resolve was the basis for forming the organization we know today as Al Qaeda. While back in Saudi Arabia, bin Laden began studying on an even deeper level with various radical Islamic thinkers in the region. Many of these clerics and leaders were very interested in what he was doing, and indications are that he was starting to grow an elaborate organization even before the Iraq invasion of Kuwait in 1990. During this invasion, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia permitted the United States of America to use various military installations throughout the country, which made Osama bin Laden. In anger, he began to organize violent anti-government protests against his own country, causing him to be expelled in 1991. Naturally, this infuriated him even more and from that moment on Al Qaeda began to grow rapidly, albeit from outside of Saudi Arabia (Jones, 2012). Many mistakingly believe that Al Qaeda was always headquartered in Afghanistan. This is not the case, however, as Osama bi Laden established the first headquarters of the organization in the capital city of Sudan - Khartoum. The first officially sanctioned Al Qaeda terrorist operation is believed to have been the attack on the American military members in the country of Somalia. By this time, bin Laden had developed a deep rooted hatred of America, and after Somalia a whole host of terrorist activities began to occur, many of them believed to be the work of Al Qaeda. In August of 1996, Osama bin Laden, acting as the leader of Al Qaeda, actually declared against the United States. Regardless of how seriously people took his initial declaration, it soon became obvious that bin Laden himself, and the entire organization of Al Qaeda, was deadly serious (Jones, 2012). By this time, the followers of Al Qaeda easily numbered in the thousands. Understanding that they would need the support of other radical Islamic groups, Al Qaeda began to develop strategic alliances with other organizations throughout the world, but primarily in the Middle East and North Africa. This process of building an alliance continued until early 1998, when Al Qaeda announced to the world that a series of terrorist organizations had combined to pledge mutual assistance and support to one another. The name of the new alliance would be the International Islamic Front for Jihad Against the Jews and Crusaders. The terrorist organization included in this group were, among others, the Egyptian al-Gama’at al-Islamiyya, the Egyptian Islamic Jihad, and the Harakut ul-Ansar. During much of this time, Osama bin Laden was still safely residing within the borders of Sudan, but his days would be numbered. Even though they were not big fans of America themselves, under pressure from the United States, Sudan did expel bin Laden from the country in 1994 (Burke, 2004). It did not take him long to find a new and welcoming home, as the Taliban now controlled Afghanistan. They invited him there, where he remained until the United States defeated the organization in November 2001, causing him to flee. While Osama bin Laden was certainly the de facto leader of Al Qaeda, by no means did he run the organization on his own. He has a top advisor named al-Zawahiri. This is the person that ended up taking over Al Qaeda upon bin Laden’s death. He is from Egypt, and surprisingly enough, from an upper middle class family of doctor’s. The defeats the commonly held belief that all terrorists and radicals come from poverty stricken Islamic conditions. We now see that the top two in command of Al Qaeda were both men of financial means. Al-Zawahiri, actually joined the Islamist movement back in the late 1970s, and he ended up serving three years in prison because of his alleged role in the assassination of Anwar Sadat. It is alleged that he was severely tortured during this time, creating more of a radicalized streak in himself (Bulliet, 2011). Upon his release, he immediately went to Afghanistan and met Osama bin Laden. From that time on he became bin Laden’s personal physician, and his advisor. It is said that the two trusted each other explicitly, which was amazing consider Osama bin Laden trusted few people and was always on the move. Al-Zawahiri himself is believe to have organized the 1997 attack on Luxor, Egypt where 67 international tourists were killed. He has also been indicted as being one of the people responsible for the bombings of the American embassies in Tanzania and Kenya. He also was one of five major leaders in the Muslim faith to sign the declaration of war against the United States written by Osama bin Laden. With Al-Zawahiri’s addition to Al Qaeda, it was obvious that they were the most troublesome terrorist organization in the global community. Al Qaeda does also have an international presence outside of Afghanistan. The leadership works to keep connected with a network of cells around the world, including in Western countries. None of these cells knows the location of others, nor who is involved. Very few members of Al Qaeda even know the leaders of the organization, and this has contributed to the reality that it has been difficult to tear it apart. Many scholars like the overall Al Qaeda organization to a franchise operation (Mendelson, 2011). Instead of providing financial resources to every cell globally, Al Qaeda headquarters provides logistical and financial support to a network of terrorist groups that operate under their ‘brand’. These include groups in the countries of the Philippines, Algeria, Eritrea, Chechnya, Tajikistan, Somalia, Yemen, and even in Kashmir. Some groups receive no financial or logistical support from Al Qaeda, yet use their name in order to boost their own reputation among Islamic radicals in their region. As this paper has demonstrated, Al Qaeda is a relatively young organization with a storied history. While they have been weakened in recent years, they certainly cannot be ignored today. Many believe that they are rebuilding for the future and attempting to resurrect themselves (Burke, 2004). Whatever happens in the future to the leadership of Al Qaeda, the reality remains that thousands of radical soldiers were trained under the direction of Osama bin Laden remain ready to carry the torch. As a global community, we must all work to combat evil wherever it lurks, eliminate hate, and hope with all of the faith that we can must that terrorist organizations will begin to see the errors of their way and return peace to a world that has been fractured for far too long. References Bulliet, R. (2011). Egypt and Al Qaeda. Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, 30(3), 22. Burke, J. (2004). Al Qaeda. Foreign Policy, 142(5), 18-26. Fariborz, M. (2010). Dealing with Al Qaeda. Current, 523(6), 3. Jones, S. (2012). Think again: Al Qaeda. Foreign Policy, 193(47). Mendelsohn, B. (2011). Al Qaeda’s franchising strategy. Survival, 53(3), 29-50. Read More