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Introduction
Out of Afghanistan in the late 1980s emerged the world's first international terrorist organization. It serves to advance the cause of radical Islam. Its reach is global. In the Islamic world, its task is to purify societies and governments according to a strict interpretation of the Qu'ran, or Koran. In the non-Islamic world, its task is to compel governments there to withdraw their culture, influence, and military ties from the Islamic world. And except for the country that harbors its headquarters, no Islamic government supports its existence or its terrorist operations. It is a rogue network.
This terrorist international is called al Qaeda (Arabic for "the Base"). Al Qaeda has a dual structure. As its name implies, it is a base for the support of other Islamic terrorist groups, such as the Harakat ul-Mujahidin, which operates out of the Pakistani controlled segment of Kashmir and which struggles to rid all of Kashmir of Indian "occupation." It provides these fraternal groups with money, contacts, and trained recruits in their particular battles to advance strict Islam. Al Qaeda also has its own international network of cells under its command. It is this network that threatens world peace and, especially, the security of the United States.
Al Qaeda
This premier international terrorist network and the one focusing principally on the United States is the brainchild of Osama bin Laden, a 49 year-old Saudi ex-patriot determined to remove any non-Muslim penetration of the Islamic world. In particular, he believes American military forces in Saudi Arabia must be expelled and Israel must be destroyed. Once expelled, al Qaeda will work to ensure that all regimes become and remain true to strict Islamic principles.
Born into a wealthy Saudi family, bin Laden was drawn theologically to embrace the Islamic mujahidin cause in Afghanistan in their battle with the occupying Soviet forces. Wealthy from a massive inheritance in the hundreds of millions, Bin Laden in the early 1980s first provided money and humanitarian aid, then Arab recruits, and finally led a combat force against the Soviets. In 1988, he formed al Qaeda as a network to keep track of all he recruited, trained, and fought with in Afghanistan. With the war apparently victorious in 1989, bin Laden returned to Saudi Arabia. A year later, as Desert Storm approached, he strongly protested the presence of U.S. and Western military forces in the "land of holy places." After further protests when U.S. bases became permanent, bin Laden fled Saudi Arabia, tried but failed to broker a peace between warring factions in Afghanistan, and sought a secure base in Sudan in 1991. He expanded his training of fighters and began conducting operations against the United States (cited below). Expelled by Sudan in 1996 upon enormous U.S. pressure on Khartoum, bin Laden eventually re-established his base back in Afghanistan. He was welcomed as a "guest" of the dominant Taliban authorities, a strict Sunni Muslim militia that in 1994 occupied Kabul and controlled most of the country. Bin Laden was and is considered a hero by the Taliban in the successful struggle against the Soviet Union and a kindred spirit in radical Islam.
Bin Laden rapidly opened 10 to 12 training centers where Sunni recruits from all over the Islamic world receive religious and military instruction.
Bin Laden and a small group of advisors have devised what can only be called the most professional international terrorist network. Their activities in supporting other Islamic terrorist groups and in carrying out their own agenda include:
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Recruiting and training Islamic fighters in infiltration, explosives, weapons, concealment, clandestine communications, and self-sacrifice. Reportedly, more than 5,000 fighters have passed through his camps.
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Providing trained fighters to more than a score of established Islamic terrorist organizations, including the Islamic Jihad in Egypt, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, and the Harakat ul-Mujahidin in the Pakistani-occupied portion of Kashmir. This establishes links with other organizations, which can provide intelligence, fighters, and refuge for al Qaeda personnel.
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Creating semi-autonomous cells in more than 50 countries, including Yemen, Pakistan, Sudan, and, as we now know, the United States. These cells operate independently of other established terrorist groups, and, to avoid a mass roundup, independently of other cells in the same country. Instructions on operations come by mouth (electronic signals from radios and cell phones proved insecure) from al Qaeda messengers sent by bin Laden.
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Propagandizing the network with videos, pamphlets, and religious rulings (fatwahs). Bin Laden's most famous fatwah of February 1998 called on Muslims "to kill Americans and their allies, civilian and military, as an individual duty."
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The amorphous and clandestine nature of al Qaeda allows it to carefully plan its operations utilizing highly trained operatives. In particular, its ability to recruit locally among Muslims who have local jobs, passports, language skills, and residences, creates personnel who can blend into society and be perfectly placed for attacks. It has mastered the infiltration of its agents into foreign countries. Its more successful operations include:
Feb. 23, 1993
A truck bomb in the parking garage of the World Trade Center kills six, injures hundreds, and requires more than $20 million to repair the damage.
Oct. 3 and 4, 1993
Al Qaeda-trained fighters claim to bring down two U.S. helicopters in Somalia and kill 18 U.S. rangers.
June 25, 1996
A truck bomb kills 19 U.S. servicemen in the Air Force's Khobar Towers housing complex in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. More than 500 suffered wounds.
Aug. 7, 1998
Truck bombs destroy the U.S. embassies in Nairobi, Kenya and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, leaving 234 dead, including 12 Americans, and injuring more than 5,000.
Oct. 5, 2000
Suicide bombers in a boat blast a hole in the USS Cole as the ship took on fuel in Aden, Yemen, killing 17 sailors and wounding 39.
Sept. 11, 2001
Hijacked aircraft attack and destroy the twin towers and other buildings in the World Trade Center and severely damage the Pentagon with great loss of life. Early evidence points to al Qaeda.
Conclusion
Through capture and suicide operations, bin Laden has lost considerable personnel, but his network remains strong and the world's most dangerous terrorist organization. Bin Laden has appeared on the FBI's most wanted list for years. After Sept. 11, al Qaeda has appeared on top of the world's list of groups most wanted for destruction.
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