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OSAMA BIN LADEN AND THE AL QAEDA GROUP
BRUTAL BEHAVIOUR OF THE AL-QAEDA TERRORIST NETWORK The "Prophet" Mohammed was particularly cruel and inhumane towards "sinners", most of whom are said to be females! Islamic fundamentalist clerics, through "Shariah" Law, have committed some atrocious crimes against women. This site is banned for children under 18 years.
INTERNATIONAL AL- QAEDA TERRORIST GROUP<<>> READ MORE BELOW
Jane's Copyright © 2001 Jane's Information Group Limited, All Rights Reserved Jane's Intelligence Review August 1, 2001
BYLINE: Phil Hirschkorn, Rohan Gunaratna, Ed Blanche, and Stefan Leader
HIGHLIGHT: During the 1980s, resistance fighters in Afghanistan developed a world-wide recruitment and support network with the aid of the USA, Saudi Arabia and other states. After the 1989 Soviet withdrawal, this network, which equipped, trained and funded thousands of Muslim fighters, came under the control of Osama bin Laden. In light of evidence from the recently completed US embassy bombing trials, Phil Hirschkorn, Rohan Gunaratna, Ed Blanche, and Stefan Leader examine the genesis, operational methods and organizational structure of the Bin Laden network - Al-Qaeda. BODY: Al-Qaeda ('The Base') is a conglomerate of groups spread throughout the world operating as a network. It has a global reach, with a presence in Algeria, Egypt, Morocco, Turkey, Jordan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Syria, Xinjiang in China, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Myanmar, Indonesia, Mindanao in the Philippines, Lebanon, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Yemen, Libya, Tunisia, Bosnia, Kosovo, Chechnya, Dagestan, Kashmir, Sudan, Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania, Azerbaijan, Eritrea, Uganda, Ethiopia, and in the West Bank and Gaza. Since its creation in 1988, Osama bin Laden has controlled Al-Qaeda As such, he is both the backbone and the principal driving force behind the network.
The Origins
Osama bin Laden, alias Osama Mohammad al Wahad, alias Abu Abdallah, alias Al Qaqa, born in 1957, is the son of Mohammad bin Awdah bin Laden of Southern Yemen. When he moved to Saudi Arabia, Osama's father became a construction magnate and renovated the holy cities of Mecca and Medina, making the Bin Ladens a highly respected family both within the Saudi royal household and with the public. At Jeddah University, Osama bin Laden's world view was shaped by Dr Abdullah Azzam, a Palestinian of Jordanian origin. An influential figure in the Muslim Brotherhood, Azzam is regarded as the historical leader of Hamas. After graduation, Bin Laden became deeply religious. His exact date of arrival in Pakistan or Afghanistan remains disputed but some Western intelligence agencies place it in the early 1980s. Azzam and Prince Turki bin Faisal bin Abdelaziz, chief of security of Saudi Arabia, were his early mentors, and later Dr Ayman Zawahiri, became his religious mentor. In 1982-1984 Azzam founded Maktab al Khidmatlil-mujahidin al-Arab (MaK), known commonly as the Afghan bureau. As MaK's principal financier, Bin Laden was considered the deputy to Azzam, the leader of MaK. Other leaders included Abdul Muizz, Abu Ayman, Abu Sayyaf, Samir Abdul Motaleb and Mohammad Yusuff Abass.
At the height of the foreign Arab and Muslim influx into Pakistan-Afghanistan from 1984-1986, Bin Laden spent time traveling widely and raising funds in the Arab world. He recruited several thousand Arab and Muslim youths to fight the Soviet Union, and MaK channeled several billion dollars' worth of Western governmental financial and material resources for the Afghan jihad. MaK worked closely with Pakistan, especially the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI), the Saudi government and Egyptian governments, and the vast Muslim Brotherhood network. Both the fighting and relief efforts were assisted by two banks - Dar al Mal al Islami, founded by Turki's brother Prince Mohammad Faisal in 1981 and Dalla al Baraka founded by King Fahd's brother-in-law in 1982.The banks channeled funds to 20 non-governmental organizations (NGOs), the most famous of which was the International Islamic Relief Organization (IIRO). Both IIRO and the Islamic Relief Agency functioned under the umbrella of the World Islamic League led by Mufti Abdul Aziz bin Baz.
In addition to benefitting from the vast resources and expertise of governments channeled through domestic and foreign sources, MaK developed an independent global reach through several mosques and charities throughout the world. Bin Laden' s relationship with Azzam suffered towards the end of the anti-Soviet Afghan campaign. The dispute was over Azzam's support for Ahmad Shah Massoud, the current leader (now assassinated) of the Northern Alliance fighting the Taliban. Bin Laden preferred Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, former prime minister and leader of the Hizb-i-Islami (Islamic Party), who was both anti-communist and anti-Western.
When the Soviets withdrew, Bin Laden decided to form a group that could unite the whole Muslim world into a single entity. Despite their differences, Azzam and Bin Laden worked together until Azzam was assassinated in September 1989. Although Soviet troops withdrew that year, they installed the pro-communist leader Najibullah in Kabul. MaK strengthened the organization in order to fight the Najibullah regime and to channel resources to other international campaigns where Muslims were perceived as victims. In addition to benefitting from MaK's pan-Islamic, as opposed to pan-Arab, ideology, Al-Qaeda drew from the vast financial resources and technical expertise mobilized during the decade-long anti-Soviet campaign.
At the end of the campaign Bin Laden returned to Saudi Arabia where he helped Saudi Arabia to create the first jihad group in South Yemen under the leadership of Tariq al Fadli. After Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait, the failure of Saudi rulers to honor their pledge to expel foreign troops when the Iraqi threat diminished led Bin Laden to start a campaign against the Saudi royal house. He claimed the Saudi rulers were false Muslims and it was necessary to install a true Islamic state in Saudi Arabia. The Saudi regime deported him in 1992 and revoked his citizenship in 1994. Meanwhile, the National Islamic Front, led by Hasan al Turabi, came to power in Sudan and sent a delegation to Pakistan. Bin Laden had moved his infrastructure of well-trained and experienced fighters from Pakistan to Sudan beginning in 1989 and remained there until international pressure forced him to return to Afghanistan.
The Organization:
Vertically, Al-Qaeda is organized with Bin Laden, the emir-general, at the top, followed by other Al-Qaeda leaders and leaders of the constituent groups. Horizontally, it is integrated with 24 constituent groups. The vertical integration is formal, the horizontal integration, informal. Immediately below Bin Laden is the Shura majlis, a consultative council. Four committees - military, religious-legal, finance, and media - report to the majlis.
Handpicked members of these committees - especially the military committee - conduct special assignments for Bin Laden and his operational commanders. To preserve operational effectiveness at all levels, compartmentalization and secrecy are paramount. While the organization has evolved considerably since the embassy bombings, the basic structure of the consultative council and the four committees remains intact. Bin Laden's intention to expand his operations has been curbed by the post-bombing security environment, and both Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda have become increasingly clandestine.
Al-Qaeda membership is estimated at between 3,000-5,000 men, most of whom fight alongside the Taliban against the Northern Alliance and are designated the 055 Brigade. It has camps in Khost, Mahavia, Kabul, Jalalabad, Kunar, Kandahar, and depots in Tora Bora and Liza. There are no female members.
In terms of recruitment of experienced fighters, Bin Laden has benefitted from his vast Mujahideen database, created during the anti-Soviet campaign. Al-Qaeda support and operational cells have been detected and neutralized in Italy, Germany, UK, Canada, USA, Tanzania, Kenya, Yemen and Albania, but they have since been replaced. Cells have also been identified in about 50 countries including Somalia, Eritrea, Sudan, and the Philippines. Al-Qaeda operational cells comprised of 'commandos' operate under Mohammad Atef, alias Abu Hafs. They are mostly suicide members. The organization also has a Security Service led by Mohammad Mousa.
The Ideology Al-Qaeda owes its extensive support and operational infrastructure to its broad ideological disposition. Bin Laden's ideology appeals to both Middle Eastern and non-Middle Eastern groups that are Islamic in character. Although an Arab, Bin Laden advocates pan-Islam, not pan-Arabism. His thinking in this direction was greatly influenced both by Azzam, his Palestinian mentor, and to a lesser extent by Hasan Turabi, the spiritual leader of Sudan.
To put his ideology into practice, Bin Laden dispatched several hundred Afghan veterans to join Islamic groups in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East, boosting the domestic and international guerrilla and terrorist agenda of these groups. Bin Laden's cadres are drawn from a 50,000 strong pool of two generations of Afghan veterans. The first generation fought in the multinational Afghan campaign in 1979-89, the second generation in campaigns in Tajikistan, Bosnia- Herzegovina, Kashmir, Mindanao, Chechnya, Lebanon, Nagorno-Karabakh, Algeria and Egypt. These fighters are devout Muslims inspired by Islamic scholars and are willing to sacrifice their lives for Islam.
Bin Laden supports three types of groups. First, groups fighting regimes led by Muslim rulers which they believe are compromising Islamic ideals and interests (as in Egypt, Algeria and Saudi Arabia). Second, groups that are fighting regimes perceived as oppressing and repressing their Muslim populace (as in Kosovo, India and Indonesia). Third, groups fighting regimes to establish their own Islamic state (as in Palestine, Chechnya, Dagestan and Mindanao). Bin Laden has also directed his efforts and resources to fight the USA, a country he sees as a direct threat to Islam, closely followed by Europe, Israel, Russia and India in importance as targets. Al-Qaeda's broad ideology has enabled it to infiltrate many Islam-driven groups.
After realizing the potential for inflicting damage to Europe and North America, Al-Qaeda infiltrated the European network of the Armed Islamic Group (Groupe Islamique Arme - GIA) after 1997. Although the GIA is an Al-Qaeda constituent, the Al-Qaeda fatwa did not claim GIA as one of its signatories, possibly because it believed that exposing the association would be counterproductive. Compared to other groups that openly signed the fatwa, the GIA had a greater reach into the West.
Most of Al-Qaeda's membership is drawn from the two Egyptian groups: Islamic Group of Egypt (Gamaya al Islamiya) and Egyptian Islamic Jihad (Al Gamaya Al Islamiya). Khamareddine Kherbane, an Afghan veteran, was close to both the GIA and Al-Qaeda leaderships. Two Algerian groups, the GIA of Antar Zouabri and the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (Groupe Salafiste pour la Predication et le Combat - GSPC) of Hassan Hattab developed ties with Al-Qaeda early on, but large-scale penetration of Algerian groups came in 1997-8. Bin Laden also cemented ties with Jaish Aden Abin al Islami of Yemen, and members of several small Islamist parties from Tunisia, Libya, Morocco and elsewhere also joined. With the exception of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the Abu Sayaaf Group (ASG), Al-Qaeda links with Asian Islamist groups, notably those fighting in Kashmir, developed in the second half of the 1990s. Other Al-Qaeda constituent or affiliated organizations include al Jamaa essalafya lid Daawa wal Qit al, in Nahda, Sipah e Sahaba Kashmir, Hizb-al-Islami in Kashmir, Harakat ul Mujahjideen and Harakat-ul Jihad in Kashmir, Hizbullah in Lebanon, Hamas in the Occupied Territories and the Islamic Party of Turkistan.
Due to fears of penetration, especially since the embassy bombings, Al-Qaeda is likely to become more discreet in its decision making process, with fewer operatives knowing the next target. Target selection, preparation and acquisition will remain confined to Bin Laden and a handful of leaders in the military committee.
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