Osama Bin Laden and His Role in Development of Al Qaeda: Analytical Essay

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In 1988, one of America’s worst enemies was founded in Pakistan. Al Qaeda is a terrorist organization, which happens to see the United States of America as the root of the Middle East problems. Like every terrorist organization, Al Qaeda is a strong believer that what they are doing is for a good cause and the greater good. Al Qaeda’s main goal is to overthrow the corrupt regimes in the Middle East and replace them with true Islamic governments (Byman, 2015). Throughout the years that Al-Qaeda has been active, it has planned several attacks and has infamously achieved going through their planned attacks. On September 11, 2001, the United States was changed forever due to the terrorist acts of Al-Qaeda. The terrorist organization planned skillfully and carefully three plane hijacks on the United States. The first two attacks hit the Twin Towers, in New York City. The third attack was towards the Pentagon and the fourth attack was headed towards the White House in Washington DC, but it failed. Al Qaeda is a terrorist organization, which used to be directed by Osama Bin Laden that hates the United States of America and wishes to destroy it for the “greater good.”

Organization’s History

Al Qaeda was founded on August 1988 to Bin Laden’s declaration of war against the United States in Afghanistan in 1966 (Bergen 2011). Information about Al Qaeda’s history was found in the Sarajevo office of the benevolence International Foundation, where a computer file was found with all the history inside. The formation of the organization lasted three days in Osama bin Laden’s house in Peshawar, Pakistan. At the meeting that formed the organization, there were two more men with Omasa, a military commander which ended up being Al Qaeda’s military commander and Al Qaeda’s religious advisor. The three leaders formed a council, a list of membership requirements, and an oath for all the new members Al Qaeda was destined to have.

Bin Laden named his organization Al Qaeda Al Askariya which is translated to “the military base.” Al Qaeda was founded to help support the Muslims that were fighting in the Sovi-Afgan war. Throughout the files that were found on the organization’s history bin Laden stresses the need for change over and over again. Part of the reason the organization was founded was bin Laden’s constant desire he had for change. Osama was part of the group of men that were fighting in the jihad (holy war) against the Soviets. It was there where he realized that he did not only want to support the troops he wanted to make a change and turn Afghanistan into an Islamists Government (History Channel 2019).

Development

Osama bin Laden created the organization in his house, and he was able to create an oath and a list of membership requirements. The organization was developed by its strong infamous leader and its religious advisor who helped get the word out and make the members believe that they are in the right with what they are doing. Al Qaeda’s development can be seen through its recruitment and training process. Without knowing its recruitment or training process one will never know how Al Qaeda came to be.

How does a terrorist organization recruit people to follow them blindly? There are many different answers to how a terrorist organization is able to have people follow them blindly, but the main reason will have to be because of faith. Faith is something the drives people to do what they are told, and faith is the reason why people actually go through and join certain groups. Al Qaeda focuses most of its recruitment in the Middle East and they come from a variety of backgrounds. The members that are in charge of recruiting show up to “mosques that are known for extremist interpretations of Islamic texts and seek out the most curious or fervent believers” (Counter Extremism project ). Another way the organization recruits its members is online. Using the internet and video games the organization sends religious messages that are able to catch people’s attention and lure them in. Lately, the organization has been focusing on recruiting young adults. They get people known as the “inbetweeners” who are people who don’t really have a place and an identity so when they see someone calling out to them and making them important they connect with them and end up joining the organization. Al Qaeda trick is that it finds the extremely faithful people that will do anything for their faith that they will join this type of organization. It also focuses on getting the people who have no place in their life and do not know what to do that they need to find a purpose.

Another aspect that contributes to the development of Al Qaeda will be the way it is training. Part of what makes Al Qaeda is the extensive training that its members have to go through. Its training ha a whole lot of different varieties it goes from actual physical training camps to all types of propaganda. They send messages throughout magazines and publish how to carry out attacks. Al Qaeda has a training Camp where people go and train how to be in combat. The training camps are located in various countries across the world a lot of the training camps are in Afghanistan. The training camps are usually eight months or longer to get their members in shape and ready to carry out any attacks. There are physical trainings and a type of training called indoctrination. Indoctrination is training through study, videos and praying. It is here Al Qaeda gives its trainees of the jihad that it wishes to inspire in them ( Counter Extremism Project).

One of the aspects of the organization that contributes to its development is its financing. Without the proper financing, the organization will most likely fail. In the beginning, Al Qaeda’s financer was Osama bin Laden. Since bin Laden’s death, Al Qaeda has received a number of donations and extorted funds for financing. Its donations come from private sectors such as private donors, Islamic charities, state sponsors, drug trafficking, bank robbery, and hostage taking. The organization has planned out every single detail to allow the organization to keep striving money wise and continue being one of the top terrorist organizations today.

Political Culture and Affiliations

Al Qaeda’s political culture is set on their beliefs, traditions, and character. The way they do the things they do is because of their political culture. They put what they value the most as their priority and act on it. To act on it they do countless attacks and get together with other groups to carry out their carefully and closely planned attacks. Just like any organization Al Qaeda is affiliated with multiple organizations that help them carry out their countless attacks.

Al Qaeda exists today due to its belief in their religion. The organization is in the middle of a holy war against all its enemies and anyone who don’t believe in their religion. Their attacks and reactions to many things that happen around the world is a response to their political culture. To this day they seek to remove all foreign influences in Muslim Countries and desire to create a new caliphate ruling over the entire Muslim world. They want the Muslim world to be ran and directed at all times by Islamic Leaders and believers. Al Qaeda is set up on the fact that it “would channel the energies of the Afghan mujahidin into fighting on behalf of the oppressed Muslims worldwide – a Islamic ‘rapid reaction force’ ready to spring to the defense of their fellow believers and to advance the principles of Islam on short notice” (Gunaratna, 2005). The members of Al Qaeda do not desire to see anyone with opposite beliefs to them ruling the Muslim world. They only seek to see the Muslims who share the same ideals as them and are willing to support the jihad in control of the Middle East.

The organization is affiliated with many other terrorist organizations around the world that help them carry out their planned attacks on their enemies. According to Alan Mclean (2011) from the New York Times, “Al Qaeda has six regional branches and affiliations with at least fourteen other terrorist groups.” All together they have operations in about thirty countries worldwide. The countries where Al Qaeda and the organizations that they are affiliated with have operation in are: China, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Turkey, Egypt, Libya, Niger, Nigeria, Algeria, Mali, Senegal, Mauritania, Spain, Germany, Samia, Uganda, and Kenya. Al-Qaeda’s affiliates receive money, training, and weapons, and some of them just look at Al-Qaeda for guidance (Rollins, 2011).

It is unclear to know all of the groups are exactly affiliated with Al-Qaeda due to their secrecy. There is a group called Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group which happens to be one of Al Qaeda’s most lethal affiliates. The group shares the same ideology of Al Qaeda and they are responsible for several terrorist attacks including the Madrid train bombing in 2004. Another group that is associated with them is Ansar Al Islam which was founded in 2011 by militants loyal to Osama bin Laden whose goal is to establish an Islamic Nation in northern Iraq. Other groups that are affiliated with Al Qaeda are Ansar al-Sunna, Lashakr e Taiba, and the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (ADL 2019).

Leadership

When Al Qaeda first started it had one leader named Osama bin Laden. Osama bin Laden is one of the most infamous men to ever exist. Osama plotted the 9/11 terrorist attack where they hijacked four planes and crashed two into the twin tours, one into the pentagon, and the last one was headed towards the White house. After Osama bin Laden was executed by the United States Al Qaeda had other leaders that are in control till this day. Right after Osama’s death, Ayman Al-Zwahiri became the organization’s leader. Zawahiri is one of the most wanted terrorists that is believed to be the operational brains being the September 11 attacks on the United States. Since 2003 Zawahiri has been one of the organization’s most prominent spokesman appearing in dozens of videos and audiotapes (BBC 2015).

Another one of the leaders is Khalid al- Habib who is considered as the organization’s field commander in South East Afghanistan. Khalid was identified in November 2005 and is described as Al Qaeda’s military commander. Saif al Adel is a former Egyptian army colonel who was once Osama Bin Laden’s Security Chief ( BBC 2015). Adel was captured and arrested in Jordan and sent to the united states where he was released and made his way back to Iran. Adel has been involved in the “U.S embassy bombing in east Africa, training the Somali fighters who killed 18 us servicemen in Mogadishu, and instructing some of the September 11, 2001 hijackers.” Other leaders are Mustafa Hamid who was an instructor in tactics at an Al Qaeda training camp, Matiur Rehman who is Al Qaeda’s planning chief, Abu Khalil al-Madani, and Abou Mossab Abdelwadoud who is an infamous bomb-maker (BBC 2015).

Strength

Al Qaeda has always been strong with its attacks, beliefs, and recruiters. However, since September 11, 2011, Al Qaeda has gotten stronger and it seems like it won’t stop. Since September 11, Al Qaeda was recruited more than 40,000 members the more members it has the stronger it becomes (Taylor 2019). What has led the organization to become stronger is its patience and its strategic plans to remain on top. In order to stay on top and continue to strengthen Al Qaeda “has improved political control of major factions and rebuilt meaningful capabilities, and now seems poised to take advantage of a permissive strategic environment in Afghanistan” ( Mir, 2019). Improving its pollical control and rebuilding meaningful capabilities has allowed Al Qaeda to stay on top and continue strengthening.

Philosophy

The philosophy of the organization has always been violent and straight forward. Al Qaeda believes that the Muslim world should be ruled by the Islamic religion. For the most part, the philosophy of the organization has been pretty violent they make their statements through constant bombings and hijackings. Through their leaders, the members of Al- Qaeda wish to alleviate the Middle east from any foreign powers that do not allow them to promote sovereignty for Muslims ( Al – Gharbi 2014).

The organization’s true philosophy is their desire to see their members together with other groups trying to fight off corruption, injustice, and oppression. Their idea is to stand up for the Muslims and free the middle east of any power that wants to control it and their religion. A massive part of their philosophy has to do with their religion. They commit these terrorist attacks in order to prove a point for their religion. Their entire organization was founded based on religion, behind every single development of Al- Qaeda religion is a big part of it. They assume to think that what they do is morally correct because it is for their religion.

Attacks

Al Qaeda has declared a jihad on multiple countries who they believe are their enemies and against their religion. During their existence, Al Qaeda has committed multiple violent activities to prove their point. Apart from proving their points they have committed these violent attacks to recruit more members and have people fear them, so they won’t come and try to rule over the Muslim world. Al Qaeda is responsible for about 67 violent attacks.

From December 1992 through August 1998 Al Qaeda committed eight violent attacks. Their first attack consisted of them planting bombs in a hotel in Aden, Yemen where U.S. troops had stayed. The attack can be considered as them making a statement of how much they dislike the United States. Between April and June of 1993, the FBI topped bombs that Al Qaeda had plotted throughout New York, including the Statute of liberty, the united nation and in the diamond district. The last attack they committed in the 90s was on August 1998 where two suicide bombing occurred at the same time in a US embay in Dar es Salaam and in Kenya where about 258 people died ( Counter Extremist Project).

In the 2000s Al Qaeda has committed multiple attacks; the worst one being September 11, 2001. In 2001 Al Qaeda had members of their organizations get on four different flights where they ended hijacking the planes and crashing them into the twin towers, the Pentagon, and in a rural field in Pennsylvania ( Chikwendiu 2010). Around January and February 2002, a reporter from the Washington Post was kidnapped and beheaded in Pakistan by the terrorist organization. In 2019 Al Qaeda made countless attacks one after the other worldwide. The last attack they committed in 2019 was on August 21st and members of Al Qaeda ambushed Malian soldiers between the cities of Hombori and Boni; at least five soldiers are killed.

Overall

Al Qaeda today is still as strong as ever recruiting more than 40,00 members in persona and online. Al Qaeda is responsible for about 67 violent attacks worldwide. Every attack they commit is because they are trying to make a statement to drive out any foreign powers out of the Middle East and have the Middle East be ruled by the Islamic religion. Al Qaeda is one of the worst terrorists’ organizations to exist. With six regional branches and fourteen affiliated groups, Al Qaeda has committed several attacks and managed to destroy thousands of lives. To the organization what they do will be rewarded by Allah which is the Muslim God. They do what they think is best for their religion it doesn’t matter if it means bombing and killing innocent lives to prove a statement.

References

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