Review of Al-Qaida Terrorist Organization - Report Example

Artur Arzumanyan HLSS320 Michael Navrkal May 25, Introduction Accurate, timely, and insightful information about the plans and activities of terrorist groups is important to the United States. The national intelligence is a unit that is entrusted with the responsibility of providing insightful security information concerning the security of the country to the National Security Council, the president and the Homeland Security Council. This study will focus on Al-Qaida a terrorist group that has waged attacks on the U.S. on September 9, 2001. History of Al-Qaida The founder of Al-Qaeda was Osama Bin Laden. Osama grew up as a conservative young man until he joined King Abdul Aziz University in Jeddah where he adopted militant Islamism views. To learn such militant Islamism views, Osama Bin Laden was assisted by Azzam and Outb. In 1986, Osama Bin Laden moved to Afghanistan where he established himself in the Afghan Mujahideen as he financially the group1. He used the establishment in Afghan mujahedeen to form a group called Maktab al Khidamat also known as Al Khifah to recruit young people from Arab world, Europe, and the United States2. Some experts strongly believe that Maktab al Khidamat was the group that founded Al-Qaida. Maktab al Khidamat was used initially to expel the Soviet Union from Afghanistan and the U.S.supported its efforts with weapons and training and other financial support. In 1988, it was estimated that the group had between 10,000- 20,000 followers but not all followers were terrorist3. Osama with the support of other like-minded national Islamic leaders created Al-Qaida to expel pro-Western leaders and to establish Islamic rule in their countries. They were particularly against the U.S. because of its support for Israel. Organization and leadership of Al-Qaida Osama Bin Laden was believed to be the founder and commander in chief of Al-Qaida until his death in 2011. Following his death, he was succeeded by Ayman Al-Zawahiri who took control of all the militant activities that Osama used to do, and currently Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi is the leader of Al-Qaeda. Osama was advised by the Shura Council that is estimated to be 20-30 Al-Qaeda members4. The CIA first described Al-Qaida in 1996 as an organizational hub that is predominantly for like-minded Sunni extremists. Currently, it is made up of Islamic extremists who may not be directly linked to Al-Qaida, but still involved in malicious actions. Al-Qaida is organized with various committees such as military, financial, the law, fatwa of the Islamic study, mediaand the as sahib5. The Military committee is responsible for training, attacks and acquisition of weapons. Sahib was responsible for producing and supplying videos. The media committee produced Al-Qaeda newspaper called Nashrat al Akhbar and was responsible for handling public relations. Al-Qaeda affiliates Before 9/11, a large number of organizations supported Al-Qaida but Egyptian Islamic Jihad was the only organization that had been incorporated into the organization. Afterwards, other groups began supporting Al-Qaida. Al Qaeda has al Qaeda affiliates from the following countries; Pakistan, Arabian Peninsula, East Africa (Al-Shabaab), Iraq, Syria (Jahbat Al Nusra), Maghreb, emirates6. Most of the affiliates emerge from the Middle East. Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula emerged in 2009 and was responsible for the failed underwear bomb attack and the fort hood shooting. Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) emerged in1992 and was responsible for several kidnapping and drug smuggling. AQIM eventually merged with Al-Qaida in 20067. The organizations affiliated to al Qaeda in Pakistan are the; Haqqani network, Taliban and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LET)8. In Africa, two groups are affiliated to Al-Qaeda, the Al-Shabaab in east Africa and the Boko Haram in West Africa9. Funding Initially, during the founding of Al-Qaeda Osama provided funds to support the activities of Al-Qaeda. Current supporters from Jordan, Syria, and Saudi Arabia provide most of the funding for Al-Qaeda. Iran has also supported Al-Qaeda financially and Terhan saw the opportunity to challenge the U.S. army in the area and offered support to Al-Qaeda. Other sources claim that the most of funding for Al-Qaeda come from illegal trade activities such as smuggling extortion and other crimes such as looting, and robbery during attack times. Al-Qaida ideologies and principles One of the major problems encountered when fighting Al-Qaeda is Islamic extremists. Al-Qaida argues that they follow the Quran and they failed to acknowledge the existence of sovereign nations. Al-Qaeda believes that the “moral and religious” decay in Islamic countries is due to the interference by foreign countries and hence they have made it their main goal to remove foreigners in their country10. Osama established the founding principles of Al-Qaeda, he believed in the effectiveness of the Muslim military action in taking back Afghanistan from the Soviet Union in the 1980s11. Conservative Islamist scholars such as Shaykh Abd al Aziz ibn Baz. in Saudi Arabia mainly influenced his belief that led to the ideological and religious foundation of Al-Qaeda12. Defensive Jihad has been used by Al-Qaida to establish puritanical Salafist Islamic reform in the Muslim societies13. After the 1990 invasion of Kuwait by the Iraqi, U.S. sent military troops to ensure peace in the region14. However, Osama criticized this; he strongly accused the royal family of allowing the invasion by the foreigners. His claim that invasion would lead to the corruption of the birthplace of Islam and that was an assault to the Muslim community, this lead to his expulsion from Saudi Arabia to Sudan15. He then developed a strong dislike for the U.S. and declared a jihad on the U.S. in 1996. Osama voiced his opposition to the U.S. and termed them as supporters of Jews and Christians. Osama bought a large piece of land in Sudan for training of the Al-Qaeda militia. Osama sent a series of messages declaring his hatred to the United States; he claimed that the U.S. had declared a war on the Islamic countries. Apart from him wanting to expel the US military from the Middle East, Osama believed that there was an upcoming war between the U.S. and the Islamic countries and that war will be fought between the Islamic countries, the United States, and their allies. He advised the Islamic nations to form a strong community called ‘umma’ and elect one leader who will prepare them for the coming war16. Osama accused the United States of declaring war on god, his messenger Mohammed and the Muslims. The statement led to the formation of “The World Islamic Front for Jihad against the Jews and Crusaders," that consisted of Osama, his supports and some regional Islamic militant groups. Following the formation of the group, there was bombing of the U.S. embassy in Kenya and Tanzania, U.S.S. Cole in Yemen and the 9/11 attack on the U.S.17. On May 2005 Al-Qaeda military commander Sayf Al Adl sent a text message that highlighted the three main objectives of the 9/11 attack18. Al-Qaeda major goal was to carry out a damaging attack on the U.S. for its aggression on the Islamic countries. Their second goal was to support the emergence of a new virtuous leadership that opposed the Zionist-Anglo-Saxon-Protestant coalition that was responsible for corrupting the Islamic world. The last goal was prompt the U.S. into attacking the Islamic countries. They wanted to provoke the US since the US was not supporting their missions and was aimed at fighting all their efforts. According to Ayman Al Zawahiri, Al-Qaeda has three main foundations. The first one was to establish a Quran based leadership that follows the sharia laws in the Islamic countries as Secular and manmade laws were contrary to the Islamic belief.19 The second foundation of Al-Qaeda was to free the Islamic countries from interference with the secular countries. He claimed that free elections were only possible in Islamic countries when the nation was free. He also stated that he wanted the Islamic countries to take over the energy sources in the Middle East in order to avoid vulnerability to the Israeli nuclear arsenal. Lastly, Ayman Al Zawahiri stated that he wanted the people to be free to elect leaders and overthrow them when they dint follow the Islamic laws. Operations and training in Al-Qaeda There are certain qualifications that one has to meet to become a member of Al-Qaeda; one has to be a Muslim, mature, secretive, not sick, intelligent and other qualifications that one has to have to be an effective member of Al-Qaeda20. The Al-Qaeda members try to obtain fake currency and passports to allow them to live in other countries. They are on how to choose residential apartments to avoid detection by officials. The Al-Qaida officials recruit and train other members on how to obtain weapons, how to fight using the weapons and how to hide their weapons without being discovered. It is emphasized to the members to avoid creating attention from anyone to avoid detection. The members of Al-Qaeda are on how to obtain information including the use of force and violence whenever necessary. Finally, they are trained on how to conduct attacks.21 Weapons and tactics used by Al-Qaida AL-Qaeda has been using several weapons to conduct their attack, it is not known however, if they have Nuclear weapons, but we know for sure that they are looking for ways to obtain the weapons. Osama Bin Laden had stated in 1998 that it was essential for Al-Qaeda to acquire Nuclear weapons in order to fight the U.S. and her allies22 The most commonly used weapons by Al-Qaida are bombs. The bombs are normally attached to vehicles or on suicide bombers. The use of bombs is usually popular as it allows the Al-Qaeda bomber to escape before the bomb is. They activate the bombs using sensors or remote triggers. Other weapons that have been used are guns and Chemical weapons. Al-Qaeda usually uses hijacking of airplanes and cars for their advantage. These were clearly seen in 9/11 attack on the U.S. Hostages have also been kidnapped by Al-Qaida to obtain information from them. Normally the hostages are killed whether they give out information or not. They use various harmful methods to inflict pain on the hostages so that they could extract information from them. Procedures used in prior attacks On July 7, 2011, there was a planned Al-Qaeda attack on a mall in Manchester, subway in New York and other places23. The details that were obtained from the planned attack and guilt plea by the Times Square bomber Faisal Shah ad helped to understand procedures that have been used by terrorists during attacks. It was understood that terrorists that carried out attacks were not necessarily radical Islamic extremists, but normal citizens who had been recruited and managed by the Al-Qaeda until the day they execute the terror attack. Communication between the members of Al-Qaida is crucial, it was noted during the time square attack that the members communicated using emails. A person called Ahmed sent emails to the plotters in New York City giving the details for ingredients for the explosives24. They used common terms such as “the marriage is ready” when he had finished preparing the explosives and was ready for the attack. Al-Qaeda also relies on foreigners with experience in the western world to execute attacks on countries. Al-Qaeda also relies on foreign fighters from the U.S. such as Abu Mansour al Amici25. Before attacks, it has been noted that, the terrorist go back to Al-Qaeda safe havens. All this proves that the terror attacks by Al-Qaeda are not as simple as thought, but they use a complex network to avoid detections and isolation by authorities. Al-Qaida origin and ideology Osama Bin Laden is the founder of the Al-Qaida group who gained militant Islamism views while at King Abdul Aziz University. He established and financed a group called Afghan Mujahideen which formed ALKhifah that recruited young men in the Arab world and it is this group that founded Al-Qaida26. In two years’ time, the group had 10,000-20,000 followers although not all were terrorists. The Al-Qaida group was initially formed so as expel pro-western leaders and establish Islamic rule in the Arabic nations and they mostly attacked the United States due to its support to Israel. Osama Bin Laden was believed to be the commander of the Al-Qaida terrorist group until his death in 2011 and was succeeded by Ayman Al-Zawahiri who was succeeded by Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi. The group is made up of Islamic extremists who are mainly Sunni. The group has affiliates in different countries in the world including Africa and Middle East. They include; the Taliban, Boko Haram, Taliba, Al-Shabaab and Jahbat Al Nusra. Al-Qaida believes that nations should adopt Sharia laws and follow the teachings of Quran. The group’s main goal is however to attack the United States and its allies. a. Data Collection programs The following data collection programs will be used to collect intelligence about the Al-Qaida terrorist group. They include; 1. HUMINT – This is where there is application of human intelligence. It is a dangerous method of obtaining intelligence but it is the most effective method of obtaining intelligence about the internal operations which could not otherwise be gathered using other methods27. This is where members of the target country where Al-Qaida operates might be recruited by an intelligence group to provide information to them on what is happening on the ground. Human intelligence is more accurate than information that may be provided by the use of technology as they provide information in a way that only human can provide. Another problem associated with this data collection method is that the people recruited may not be trusted and they may give wrong information or inform the Al-Qaida group. The human beings intended to give the required information might be greed, vengeful and feel that the intelligence group is interfering with their privacy and their country. For instance, the Al-Qaida field commander in Afghanistan was aware of the western-handled spies who had infiltrated the organization’s network and was sabotaging its activities. He warned that the Western spies would be dealt without any mercy. 2. GEOINT- This is Geospatial intelligence which is used to give an overall view of communication capabilities in the Al-Qaida group. This is intelligence about human activity on the earth that is derived from the exploitation and analysis of images and geospatial information that describes the activities happening in the earth28. The data about the Al-Qaida group can be collected through this method by analyzing the stationary and movements taking place in the areas where they are located. The images, natural and constructed objects will also be analyzed by using this method. The U.S. intelligence agencies are using the Al-Qaida social media accounts to map the exact locations of the persons updating the social accounts on Facebook and twitter. 3. MASINT- This is known as measurement and signature intelligence. It is a scientific and technical intelligence information obtained by quantitative and qualities analysis of data that is derived from specific technical sensors29. It is used to identify any distinctive features that are associated with the source, emitter or sender. Through analyzing the intelligence team will be able to identify and measure the source of that information and who exactly in the Al-Qaida group sent that message. The systems in this method will be used to detect an intruder, strategic missile launch warning and nuclear weapons test monitoring. Barbara Sanderson, the director of Central MASINT Organization in an interview acknowledged that the use of MASINT in Afghanistan has helped the soldiers on the fight against terrorism. 4. OSINT- This is where open source intelligence is used in obtaining intelligence about the Al-Qaida group and it is the most common and widely used method as it gives about 90% of any Intelligence required. The information about the Al-Qaida group will in this case be obtained from sources such as the newspapers, magazines, industry newsletters, television transcripts and blogs. It enables us to find information from public sources including the group websites, their social networks accounts and news sources. The intelligence has used this method to know about the activities of the Al-Qaida and for instance, a letter that was released by Al-Jazeera on June 9 2013, indicated that the killed Abu Khalid al-Suri was a senior Al-Qaida emissary to Syria. 5. SIGINT- This is the use of signal intelligence and technology is used in gathering of intelligence for instance through use of Predator Drones. It may be used to gather intelligence by intercepting the communications of the Al-Qaida. It may be used to gather not only voice communications but also electronic and text communications of the Al-Qaida30. This method is effective because it enables collection of intelligence 24 hours a day throughout the year. The method also has its disadvantages in that a lot of information is collected and it becomes difficult to determine what is viable and what just normal communications is. The quantity of data collected makes it possible to have results on when the data is analyzed. 6. TECHINT- This is intelligence about weapons and equipment that may be used by the Al-Qaida group. This method enables a nation to avoid technological surprises and it enables the country to be more technologically developed than the Al-Qaida. It enables the nation gathering the intelligence to develop counter measures so as to neutralize any technological advancement that the Al-Qaida might have. The U.S. has used TECHINT to arrest some of the senior Al-Qaida involved in the terrorist’s strikes of September 11, 2001. 7. CYBINT/DNINT- This is known as Cyber Intelligence/Digital Network Intelligence that is gathered from Cyber space31. It enables the country to develop mechanisms that identify and gauge cyber capabilities and intentions as well as the ability of penetrate, neutralize threats from the Al-Qaida. The U.S. defense and intelligence agencies are monitoring Arabic-language jihadist Web forums and other online communication 8. FININT- this is financial intelligence militants that is gathered from analysis of monetary transactions. The financial intelligence of the Al-Qaida might be gathered through looking for suspicious bank transfers and analyzing how that money was used. In the wake of the November 2001 attack on the U.S., the Department of Defense conducted a major financial analysis on the financial statements of any suspicious person in the country to identify those that could be funding the Al-Qaida activities. b. Members of the Intelligence that would be best collectors of intelligence in Al-Qaida 1. CIA- it is responsible for collection of foreign intelligence focused on human sources that are outside the United States. It is responsible also for analyzing information from all sources to provide objective intelligence to the president and the country’s policymakers. The CIA can collect information about the Al-Qaida and use such information to come up with policies to neutralize their activities and also protect its citizens from the harm that may result from the Al-Qaida activities. The CIA has created a Counterterrorist Center that counters the regional terrorists particularly in the United States. It is the CIA that was able to identify Osama Bin Laden as the financier of the Al-Qaida and its activities. It is the Counterterrorist Center that was responsible to gathering information about the Al-Qaida group. The CIA uses human source and informants as a source of their intelligence. 2. Department of Defense (DOD) - The DOD in conjunction with the DIA conducts the vast majority of technical intelligence collection. It is the National Security Agency that is located at the DOD that is intercepts communication. A new department also known as National Geospatial Intelligence Agency is located in the DOD and analyzes photographs and other imagery and prepares maps that may be needed to counter terrorism. The systems are based in the space and they can be used to gather information on what is happening on areas where the Al-Qaida is located. 3. FBI- the Federal Bureau Intelligence is responsible for countering federal crimes, including the prevention of terrorism, countering intelligence operations, addressing cyber security threats and preventing organized crime32. It works hand in hand with the CIA to counter domestic terrorist activities. On April 15th 2014, the FBI announced today that it has uncovered a plot by members of Al-Qaida to sit back and enjoy them while the United States collapses of its own accord without conducting any military activity on the country. c. Intelligence analysis that would be most effective 1. Indicators analysis is also another effective method. The indicators in this category include; a. Recent entry or attempted entry of potential Al-Qaida operatives in the United States. b. Identification and location of potential Al-Qaida operatives residing in the U.S. c. Travel of potential Al-Qaida operatives into the U.S. and overseas. d. Personal contacts by Al-Qaida operatives in the U.S. e. Financial Transaction of potential Al-Qaida in the U.S. f. Interest of potential Al-Qaida operatives in aviation security. 2. Economic intelligence analysis is based largely on the largest quantitative procedures in econometrics. 3. Descriptive analysis- this is meant to inform strategic and tactical decision makers 4. Predictive analysis- it attempts to forecast or estimates the behavior or decisions of adversaries. It enables us to know the probability of terrorism attack as well as predict when they may launch an attack. The Department of Defense is encrypting the emails of the Al-Qaida members to predict the possibility of an attack in the country. The department is studying the frequency of the attack by Al-Qaida to predict any future attack. 5. Political-military descriptive analysis products include order of battle studies such as sizes, organization, capabilities and locations of adversary forces. This is where reports concerning the leaders of the Al-Qaida is analyzed so as to facilitate adversaries against them. 6. Structural analysis techniques- they help to mitigate the adverse impact cognitive limitations and pitfalls, there are procedure also that guides us through the analysis of the terrorists’ behavior and this analysis also helps us to create models on the behavior of the terrorists. They include counterfactual analysis, and brain storming where the intelligence communities might sit down and discuss the probability of Al-Qaeda attacking. Recommendations Recommendation #1 1. Relations between America and the Al-Qaeda occupied states: there should be adequate, total and good relations between the two nations in order to deal with the Al-Qaida situations. There must be utmost peace provided through all governmental agencies existing between the two countries so as to ensure good relations are created between the two countries. This will enable a smooth flow of information between the countries hence making dealing with this militia group to be very easy and very fruitful to the United States as the policy makers. The policy makers therefore need to use the best strategies to ensure that political, environmental, economical as well as physical international relations between the two countries enjoy common ideologies and objectives to be able to make the fight against the militia group to be easy to deal with. Recommendation #2 2. Carrying out ‘’acts of war’’ : the United States policy makers should focus on the non-states actors in the region where the Al-Qaida group comes from, and be allowed to carry out act of war on the countries that seem to allow this militia group to carry on with its violent and unwarranted attacks. The war should include freezing all the benefits of donations and loans that the countries should be receiving from the Western countries, banning international tourism to such countries, and making sure that all the war weapons are opened to anyone or country that tries to act in a manner likely to suggest, or declares their support to the already declared harmful and unlawful Al-Qaida group. In this way, it will be very easy to eliminate several support countries to this group by even banning international travels and visits to the western countries. This will reduce the level of imports to these countries as well as exports from these countries to the western countries. These countries will therefore suffer economically; hence join the US hands in support to deal with Al-Qaida. The groups supporting this illegal group would therefore remain few, hence being easy to fight and deal with. Recommendation #3 3. Not violating state sovereignty of other nations: The United States policy makers can take a course of not interfering with the countries that are not directly involved in supporting the Al-Qaida movement, so as to build up and gain more support to this fight. This they can be able to do through giving their support to other countries that are also attacked by the unlawful group, apart from just the US. The support can be through helping them in the fight, financial as well as material support. Through this act, the US then shall stand a chance of gaining support of many nations in this fight as well as also defining clearly who their supporter and enemies are to be able to deal smartly with this unlawful group. Conclusion Al-Qaeda is a group that has potentially dangerous attacks on the United States; this can be seen by their hatred for the nation. It has organized itself to attack the United States and its allies. Therefore, it is necessary to monitor the activities of the group and possibly to eradicate it to prevent attacks on the nation and other countries. The group has been declared illegal due to its operations and any links leading to support of the group. Bibliography Heuer, Richards J. "Chapter 9: Improving Intelligence Analysis." In Psychology of intelligence analysis, by Richards J. Heuer. Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office, 1999. Hulnick, Arthur S. "What’s wrong with the intelligence cycle?" In Strategic Intelligence, by Loch K. Johnson. Westport: CT: Praeger Security Internationa, 2007. Keithly, David M. "Intelligence Fundamentals." In Homeland Security and, by KEITH GREGORY LOGAN, 44-60. Santa Barbara: CA: Praeger Security International, 2010. LOGAN, KEITH GREGORY. "A brief look at the intelligence community." In In Homeland security and intelligence, by KEITH GREGORY LOGAN. Santa Barbara: CA: Praeger Security International, 2010. —. Homeland Security and Intelligence. 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