A Report on Al-qaeda, an International Militant Organization of The Sunni Islamists

Al-Qaeda was born in the last stages of the Soviet-Afghan War, and it grew until the United States offensive in Afghanistan in October 2001, when U.S. forces struck the Al-Qaeda and Taliban forces. Al-Qaeda consist of men, women, and children ranging from different ages. Osama Bin Laden, Muhammad Atef, and Ayman al-Zawahiri are the founders Al-Qaeda. Their goal was to continue the spread of jihad internationally. “The Base” is headquartered in Afghanistan, Peshawar, and Pakistan. Osama Bin Laden is the most influencual leader of Al-Qaeda. Osama’s objective was to eliminate the Western presence in the Islamic/ Arab Middle East, which includes battling American ally, Israel, and overthrowing local allies of the Americans and establishing Islamic regimes. Additionally Al-Qaeda aimed to drive Americans and American influence out all Muslim nations especially Saudi Arabia. According to Bin Laden it is the duty of Muslims around the world to wage holy war on the United States American citizens and Jews.

Al-Qaeda is said to be the largest terrorist organization of today. Al-Qaeda seeks to recruit members who has the same beliefs and values as they do. Al-Qaeda group size is hard to measure. The exact number of members part of Al-Qaeda is unaccounted for. Many believe it is an on going terrorist group that will continue to grow because they have expanded their networking. Bruce Hoffman stated in Wall Street Journal, “terrorism is not a numbers game”. He made the point that a small number of dedicated, well-trained, and highly, motivated individuals can have a disproportionate impact on any society’s sense of security and profoundly affect government polices.

Transnational Terrorism & Al-Qaeda

Terrorism is difficult to define. It is not a physical entity that has dimensions to be measured, weighed, and analyzed. Terrorism involves violent acts that are dangerous to human life. When the term terrorism was first introduced in Western history, governments adjusted their policies based on the way they defined the threat. Terrorism grew from the French Revolution between 1789-1799, and the word was originally used to describe the actions of government, not of band of revolutionaries. The acts of terrorism as grew since 1799. For some terrorist groups terrorism is their way of life. They seek to destroy in efforts to gain power and control over a certain region.

Al-Qaeda is a highly-motivated terrorist group and has become the most recognized and evocative symbol of the new terrorist threat. It has provided the fanatical ideology, the operational example and the management model that other groups and individuals have followed. It is the foremost example of the wider phenomenon of transnational extremist-Muslim terrorism. Transnational terrorism has raised interest throughout the nation over the last decade. Al-Qaeda is one of the largest transnational terrorist groups of all time. Al-Qaeda is different from other transnational terrorist because they have fostered support from other actions. Since 9/11 Al-Qaeda was thought to have connections with groups, cells, and individuals around the world in approximately 70 countries. Their influence of terrorism has spread throughout many countries such as Africa, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq and a host of other countries including areas of Asia.

Jihadist

Jihadi or Jihadist refers to a person who believes an Islamic state governing the entire community of Muslims must be created, and that this necessity justifies violent conflict with those who stand in its way. Jihadist are a narrow subset of this group who interpret Islam, and the concept of jihads, to mean that war must be wage against states and groups who in their eyes have corrupted the ideals of Islamic governance. Saudi Arabia is high on this list because it claims to be ruling according to the precepts of Islam and it is the home to Mecca and Medina, the two Islam’s holiest sites. Al-Qaeda’s ideology often referred to as “jihadism” is marked by willingness to kill. The jihadist organization has changes since its establishment in Afghanistan in 1988 by Bin Laden and Palestinian Sheikh Abdullah Yusuf Azzan. Al-Qaeda central has developed several branches and inspired many other radical Islamic organizations, each with its own independent resources.

Motivation and Meaningful Framework

Al-Qaeda operates in a meaning framework. Theories about terrorism in the meaning framework focus on the interpretation individuals and groups give to actions of others as well as their own actions. Individuals and groups create boundaries around their experiences and perceptions, and they define issues within them. Religious terrorist look at the modern world and reject it. This is evil in the meaning framework of religious terrorist, and they refuse to accept the boundaries of the secular modern world.

The acts of terrorism for Al-Qaeda are committed in the name of their religion and their personal views of non-Muslim believers. Osama Bin Laden designed the structure of framework for Al-Qaeda. The year of Osama Bin Laden’s death is the year that the overall Al-Qaeda network become stronger. His death gave Al-Qaeda more meaningful reasons to fight and raise more acts of terrorism. Al-Qaeda terrorist believe in sacrificing their life through suicide bombings in the name of Allah.

One of the current weaknesses in terrorism research is the lack of quantitative and qualitative behavioral studies. Randy Borum in White (2014) cited that researchers have come to the conclusion that there is no standard rationale for justifying behavior. He says it is profitable to distinguish three different phases of self-justification: reasons for joining the group, reasons for remaining, and reasons for leaving (White, 2014, pg 39). Members of Al-Qaeda joined for social, political, economic, and personal reasons. What motivates the members to remain in the promising reward from Allah. Once a part of Al-Qaeda it is a sincere sacrifice that isn’t usually broken. The benefit of remaining part of Al-Qaeda is knowing that each member is supported. Al-Qaeda members have a close bond and will sacrifice their lives for one another.

The Looking into 9/11 hijackers psyche before the suicide attack revealed that they were willing to sacrifice their lives without hesitation. None of them had second thoughts. They viewed their acts as a sacrifice necessary to achieve the goal of establishing the religion of majestic Allah on earth. What actually motivates Al-Qaeda is not power, wealth, or frame but the ideological fractions in the purification of Islam through violent struggle. The main motivation for Al-Qaeda is the United States. Al-Qaeda’s main goal is to destroy the United States government. Al-Qaeda has posed many threats against the United States. Al-Qaeda’s principal aim today is to inspire and incite Islamist movements and the Muslim masses worldwide to attack those perceived to be the enemies of Islam.

Force Multipliers & Al-Qaeda

The key point of terrorism is to use force multipliers to advance a terrorist attack to be more damaging than just a typical attack. A force multiplier is a method of increasing striking power without increasing the number of combat troops in a military unit. Terrorist has four force multipliers; technology, transnational support, media coverage, and religious fanaticism. Technology is used to enhance the equipment power used doing the attack. From millions of miles away massive devices can be controlled by one touch of a bottom. Secondly, the media can be a great force in helping with transnational support by furnishing the culprits with a self-made resume; a message geared not only towards the world but other terrorist organizations. Lastly religious fanaticism which was use in 9/11 attacks by Al-Qaeda instilled fear in the nation. Al-Qaeda terrorist sacrificed their lives just to take others. Their actions were done in the name of Allah. They are taught a reward after life would be following their violent actions.

A majority of terrorist attacks with Al-Qaeda deal with some type of bomb. Bombs are extremely destructive and will likely increase the number of lives taken at one time. Terrorist groups are seeking media attention and in order to gain attention and bombs are used to get media coverage. Bombs can cause the most amount of damage in the less amount of time than other weapons. Bombs are most often used with other force multipliers such as hijacking, kidnapping, and hostage taking. Al-Qaeda’s key ingredient in effective terrorism is to use force multipliers. Without this, Al-Qaeda wouldn’t be successful with terrorist attack.

Women Terrorists of Al-Qaeda

It is common to assume that terrorism mostly involves men. When the media speaks about terrorism the common suspects presented are men. However, Al-Qaeda is one terrorist group that is known for including women in their criminal acts of terrorism. Islamist terrorist have long used women as suicide bombers. Their combatant vole has expanded with Al-Qaeda’s formation of an all female jihadist fighting unit whose primary mission us purportedly to attack coalition targets in Afghanistan. The increasing participation in violence by female jihadists represent a generational shift in their attitudes towards violence.

Women are highly valued by jihadists as human projectiles, including children and the mentally impaired are used in the same capacity are equally prized by Islamist terrorist. Al-Qaeda is known to use mentally handicapped women with Down Syndrome to carry out suicide attacks against American and Coalition forces during the Iraq war. There is no age requirement becoming part of the Al-Qaeda Taliban. It has been reported that a girl the age of eight was involved in a suicide bombing in 2011. Unfortunately, the explosives detonated killing the little girl before she could ever reach her intended target (Crimi, 2012). Some people may view this incident has harsh but for Al-Qaeda children are expected to sacrifice their lives for their religion just as adults. Parents willing to allow their children to part take in terrorist behavior knowing their child will not return home alive.

Special Tactics

Suicide bombing is the most common form of attack for Al-Qaeda. Suicide attacks are used in a majority of all Al-Qaeda’s attacks. Men and women of the Taliban are willing to sacrifice their lives in the name of their religion. Suicide bombers are used to blend in with the population they are aiming to attack. For this reason, it increases the chances of being successful with the attack. Al-Qaeda has had a record of success with suicide bombing. The United States has been a victim of their suicide bombing. Although, Al-Qaeda prefers suicide bombing they have shown interest in weapons of mass destruction within the last decade. Nuclear weapons by the use of Al-Qaeda has put many countries on “edge of their seats”. Nuclear terrorism is suspected to be used in the near future by Al-Qaeda forces.

Nuclear terrorism is real and present danger for all states. Preventing it is an achievable goal. Terrorist exploit gaps in security. The current goal regime for protecting the nuclear materials that terrorist desire for their ultimate weapon is far from seamless. The interest of nuclear war must be taken seriously. Nuclear war has the advantage of destroying a mass amount of people in a small amount of seconds. President Obama, the leaders of 46 other nations, the heads of the International Atomic Energy Agency and the United Nations, and numerous experts have called to global security and stability. However, it is preventable with more aggressive action (Brill & Luongo, 2012). Al-Qaeda have shown the most interest in using nuclear devices. Al-Qaeda has been dabbing in “nuclear war” since 1992. Al-Qaeda sees nuclear terrorism as a justification to their religion. Al-Qaeda doesn’t mind using nuclear terrorism against the United States their primary target to jihad. If the Americans could be proved into war, they could be defeated like Soviets, and expelled from Muslim lands for good.

Cyber terrorism serves those who want to expand control over cyberspace. Even though only a small amount of cyber crime could actually be designated terrorism, the term “cyber terrorism” creates a subliminal linkage in listeners mind to groups such as Al-Qaeda and other global jihadists. Cyber terror is the new language of war. Al-Qaeda may be turning its destructive attention to cyber-warfare against the United States. According to ABC News, the national security community says the threat of cyber attack is real and the gap between terrorist aspirations and capability is closing. The senior intelligence official at Cyber Command, has said Al-Qaeda operatives are seeking the capability to stage cyber attacks against U.S. networks and terrorist could purchase the capabilities to do so from expert criminal hackers.

Media & Supporters of Al-Qaeda

Al-Qaeda is not in terrorism alone. Al-Qaeda is a global jihadist umbrella organization. Al-Qaeda has many faithful supporters across the world and is connected to other terrorist groups as well. Al-Qaeda is connected with Egyptian Islamic Jihad, The Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, Armed Islamic Group (Algeria), Abu Sayyaf Group (Malaysia, Philippines), and Jemaah Islamiyah (Southeast Asia) to name a few. All the above groups believe in the use of violent actions and follow under the same umbrella organization has Al-Qaeda.

Al-Qaeda continues to gain new supporters through the use of the media. Al-Qaeda is known for using social media to find new recruits. The media can influence the world’s perception of terrorism and can be bias. Al-Qaeda’s wishes for the media is to spread jihadist philosophy, shape its message, and hope to inspire others to their cause. Al-Qaeda gradually transform itself from a terrorist organization carrying out its own attacks into an ideological umbrella that encourages local movements to take action. Its increased reliance on various forms of media have made Web-Savvy sympathizers ever more important. As the media displays Al-Qaeda’s attacks of terrorism it gives them a since of pride. Members of Al-Qaeda take pride in their works knowing they will have a rewarded waiting from Allah.

Funding

Funding is needed in order for Al-Qaeda to effective. Their acts of terrorism cost thousands of dollars to fund. Their funding is supplied through many sources throughout the world. The bulk of Al-Qaeda financing experts say comes from sources such as smuggling, extortion, drug trafficking, ransom, and other crimes. Al-Qaeda has relied in recent years on funding and man power from internal recruits (Laub, Masters, 2014). Unfortunately, the United States has had limited success cutting off funding to Al-Qaeda. This is dues to the lack of cooperation on the part of Middle Eastern allies, Intelligence and National Security. The United States has even tacked movements of funds from various wealthy individuals in the Persian Gulf.

Counter Terrorism and Al-Qaeda

Counter-terrorism activities are organized through special Intelligence Agents, special operations, prevention plans, and internal leadership such as the President Barack Obama. President’s Obama counter terrorism strategy is narrowly focused on Al-Qaeda and its ability to strike the United States homeland. Counter terrorism is the practices, tactics, techniques, and strategies that governments, militaries, police departments, and corporations adopt in response to terrorist threats and acts.

The main goals of counter terrorism is to make citizens safer from terrorist threats and neutralize terrorist arrest, prosecutions, assassination, and etc. Defeating Al-Qaeda requires unconventional methods. Using military force in conjunction with a concerted effort to offer an ideological alternative is the only way to dive a wage between terrorist and supporters. It is essential that the counter terrorist community understand that without marring hard power with soft power, the Al-Qaeda led jihad movement will not be defeated. The counter terrorism methods has been successful sine 9/11. Although, Al-Qaeda has tried to make another attack no major events has happened. The United States is fully aware of the strength and power of Al-Qaeda and as implemented strategies and new ideas to prevent further terrorist attack.

Attacks by Al-Qaeda

The first attack performed by Al-Qaeda is dated back to December 7, 1992. Al-Qaeda’s first bomb attack killed two people at the Gold Mihor Hotel in Aden. Al-Qaeda’s history of attacks leading to April 2013, has involved countries such as Indonesia, Kenya, England, Jordan, Egypt, Iraq, United States, and many more countries across the nation. Al-Qaeda’s first attack on the United States was on February 26, 1993 when the World Trade Center in New York was attacked killing six people and 1,000 were injured (Wander, 2008). The most fatal attack performed by Al-Qaeda known to the United States was September 11, 2001.

On September 11, 2001, terrorists attacked the Unites States. They hijacked four airplanes in mid-flight. The terrorists flew two of the planes into two skyscrapers at the World Trade Center in New York City. The impact caused the buildings to catch fire and collapse. Another plane destroyed part of the Pentagon (the U.S. military headquarters) in Arlington, Virginia. The fourth plane crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Officials believe that the terrorists on that plane intended to destroy either the White House or the U.S. Capitol. Passengers on the plane fought the terrorists and prevented them from reaching their goal. In all, nearly 3,000 people were killed in the 9/11 attacks. Since 9/11 the security has tighten and our travel systems have improved tremendously.

According to investigation the last suggested attack by Al-Qaeda against the United States is said to be the bombing at the Boston Marathon on April, 15,2013. The two bombers responsible for this attack is said to be affiliated with Al-Qaeda. Two Russian bombers planned an attack during the Marathon and the explosive killed three people and 170 people were injured. The bombers where later taken into custody and denied association with any terrorist groups. However the bombers are from Chechnya, Russia which is a known area for terrorist activities.

U.S. Domestic and Foreign Policy on Terrorism

The anxiety on another terrorist attack is a constant worry for the American citizens and politicians. The United States military and politicians want to protect this nation. However, the question arise where do America draw the line with safety? Citizens re-lie on the governments domestic policy after 9/11 and wants to feel the sense of security again in this nation. As the media continue to display terrorist activities, many fear the problem of terrorist recruitment. The only way to defeat terrorism is to make it harder for movements employing terrorist methods to recruit new followers, and to gradually marginalize the radicals within the societies in which they are trying to grow.

Domestic policy mostly affects security measures. Before 9/11 Al-Qaeda was nothing to America. Most Americans never feared any of their works and had little knowledge of their organization. This instantly change after American flights were hijacked and use a tools of terrorism. After this event America's domestic policy was never the same. As a "knee jerk" reaction the United States military and other federal government agencies fueled a hiring influx unlike anything ever seen before. The Federal government increased our wartime army/military. Americans are continuing to adapt to Al-Qaeda's war on terror. Many citizens disagree with the decisions of the domestic policy because they feel the lost of constitutional rights.

Summary

Al Qaeda is one of the largest and longest-operating organisations in the world. First recorded activity was around the 1980s, Al Qaeda has become a household of some of the most violent and infamous assaults. Before the events of September 11, Al Qaeda was a several hundred member organisations in Sudan and the caves of Afghanistan. They have since grown to a global terrorist network that is on the rise, operating in many countries, including Pakistan, Iraq, Egypt, Yemen, Somalia, Syria. This growth underlines the global expansion of Al Qaeda and its extreme growth despite the United States and international efforts made to eliminate the terrorist organisation.

To sum up, influential and potential terrorist groups employ effective and compelling objectives to support their vision and values. Al Qaeda is one such organisation, which aims at challenging the authority of the United States by overcoming its intelligence services to focus on building a Muslim world without American influence and is successful to an extent as a result of many factors which advantaged and disadvantaged them.