Al Qaeda



Al Qaeda

Rabasa Angel, et al. Beyond al Qaeda. Part 1, The Global Jihadist Movement. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 2006. Pp 150-198

In the given article Rabasa Angel explains the history of Al Qaeda which turned out to be the biggest Jihadist movement. Author explains that the Taliban and Al Qaeda are often referred to as Islamist or Salafist, and they are not the only groups to which these labels have been applied. Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad have also been labeled this way. Islamist refers to the ideology (Islamism) that the tenets of Islam should control all aspects of human behavior. Salafist is a reference to the early followers of the prophet Muhammed, who are collectively known as the “Salafi,” and they represent a supposed golden era of adherence to the tenets of Islam. Salafists want to get modern society to similarly adhere to the religion-thus their objectives are basically the same as those of Islamists.

To understand the motivation of terrorists, we have to consider the conditions the terrorist may live under. A few factors that may attribute to the cause of terrorism are social, economic, cultural, technological and geographical factors; however, no single factor can be identified as the complete cause of terrorism.

Riedel Bruce O. The Search for al Qaeda: Its Leadership, Ideology, and Future. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press, 2008. Pp.180-220

Riedel Bruce in his book defines Al Qaeda as an example of global leadership. After the Soviets withdrew from Afghanistan, most of the foreign returned to their homelands, but some chose to continue fighting those whom they perceived to be the enemies of Islam. Bin Laden and his closest allies were prominent among this group, and they built Al Qaeda both as a terrorist organization and as supporter of other terrorist organizations. Islamist terror groups also attempt to justify their use of violence through the concept of jihad. Jihad is also used to justify other forms of violence, such as insurgency and interstate war-for example, the Ottoman Empire declared jihad when it entered World War I. 

Wright Lawrence The Looming Tower: al Qaeda and the Road to 9/11. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2006. Pp. 330-380

Wright Lawrence in his successful piece of work has defined the purpose of Al Qaeda to cause incident of 9/11. Author explains that Al Qaeda is the perpetrator of perhaps the most infamous terrorist attack of all times: the September 11, 2001, destruction of the World Trade Center in New York City and the extensive damage at the Pentagon, the headquarters building of the U.S. Department of Defense. They hijacked four airliners roughly simultaneously and crashed them into the two World Trade Center towers and the Pentagon. The fourth hijacked plane did not reach its target, apparently because the passengers realized what was happening and fought with the hijackers. This plane crashed in a rural area of Pennsylvania, killing all aboard. Overall, more than 3,000 people were killed in these incidents, excluding the hijackers themselves who, of course, also perished. By way of comparison, 2,400 people were killed in the Japanese attacks on Pearl Harbor ...