Organizational History

Al Qaeda (“The Base” in Arabic), is a jihadist group which evolved from the “Bureau of Services” organization which was located in various countries, including Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the United States during the 1980s.  The “Mekhtab al Khidemat”, MAK or Bureau of Services, was led by Abdullah Azzam and Usama bin Laden (UBL). Azzam, a Palestinian disciple of Sayyid Qutb, inspired bin Laden while he was attending the University of Saudi Arabia with taped recordings of Azzam’s sermons. The two leaders helped lure recruits into Afghanistan for the purpose of fighting the Soviet Union which in 1979 was attempting to keep Afghanistan under Moscow’s influence. Backed by billions of dollars worth of secret assistance and training to rebel groups, the United States and Saudi Arabia funneled the aid through Pakistan and its military intelligence service, Inter-Services Intelligence, or ISI. This funding was used to train and arm the rebels. 

The Soviets began to withdraw from Afghanistan in April of 1998, marking a monumental victory for the jihadist leaders. Reveling in the success of MAK, bin Laden and Azzam established a base or foundation (Al Qaeda) as headquarters for future jihad in 1988.  Though Azzam and UBL had together helped drive the Soviets out of Afghanistan, they disagreed on the future of Al Qaeda. UBL was determined to prepare the mujahedeen to fight worldwide, whereas Azzam favored fighting in Afghanistan until a true Islamic government was in control. Bin Laden received full leadership powers over MAK and Al Qaeda on November 24, 1989, when it is believed that rival Egyptians detonated a remote controlled car bomb, killing Azzam and his two sons. 

During the late 1980s, the Egyptian Islamic Jihad was headed by the blind Sheik named Omar Abdel Rahman, who inspired through his teachings the assassination of President Sada, and Ayman al Zawahiri, who is a surgeon.  Many of al Zawahiri’s followers later became key members within the new al Qaeda, and he himself would develop such a strong bond with UBL that Zawahiri became his deputy when the two organizations later merged. During the fall of 1989, bin Laden was urged by a Sudanese political leader, Hassan Al Turabi, to transport his organization to Sudan. UBL approved the move in support of Turabi in the war against African Christians. In return, UBL was allowed to build roads for the Sudanese, as well as to use Sudan as a base for worldwide operations and preparations for jihad. After a brief stint in Saudi Arabia, where his passport was eventually revoked, bin Laden returned to Sudan in 1991. By 1994, his assets were frozen and his citizenship revoked.  In Sudan, UBL created a large and complex system of business and terrorist enterprises that included numerous companies and bank accounts. During this, al Qaeda officers and operatives used their leverage working with the leader to obtain weapons, explosives, and equipment used for terrorist purposes. The arrays of businesses were providing funding for al Qaeda terrorist activities. In reaching out to other extremist groups, bin Laden, provided training and equipment to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), as well as the Abu Sayyaf Brigade, both located in the Philippines. Al Qaeda also helped Jemaah Islamiya (JI), who has cells across Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, and the Philippines.

U.S. intelligence officers believe there are less than 100 al Qaeda members left in Afghanistan as of December 2009.[1]   Al Qaeda has underground cells in an estimated 100 countries. Law enforcement has disbanded Al Qaeda cells in the United Kingdom, the United States, Italy, France, Spain, Germany, Albania, and Uganda.  The largest hit to the al Qaeda organization to date took place on May 1, 2011, when U.S. Navy SEALs ambushed Usama bin Laden's hideout approximately 30 miles outside of Islamabad.  Years of intel and investigative work by U.S. authorities led to a courier who unknowingly revealed the leader's compound, a mansion in Abbottabad, Pakistan.  Bin Laden was killed, along with three other male and one female family members and/or associates.  While it remains to be seen whether or not his death will have a signficant impact on the global jihadist movement; security agencies from around the world have heightened security measures in anticipation of increasing terrorist attacks.[2]

According to the State Department, AQ is assessed to be the top terrorist threat to the U.S., and is continuing to develop operational associations with affiliates in the Middle East, North Africa, and Europe. The group, and their counter-parts, remain committed to attacking U.S. targets internationally and domestically, and focus logistical planning on targets that would “produce mass casualties, dramatic visual destruction, and economic dislocation.”[3]  

Structure

Al Qaeda's structure was formed based on command and control, and includes an intelligence component, a military component, a financial committee, a political committee, and a committee in charge of media affairs and propaganda. All acts are closely watched or decided on by the Advisory Council or Shura (meaning "consultation" in Arabic), which is made up of those within UBL's inner circle.  Al Qaeda's structure consists of small autonomous cells whose exposure or destruction has little effect on the organizations’ future success.

AQ both functions on its own and through various other terrorist organizations operating under its umbrella. Groups involved include Egyptian Islamic Jihad, Jemaat Islamiya, and other groups from countries such as: Yemen, Somalia, Eritrea, Djibouti, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bosnia, Croatia, Albania, Algeria, Tunisia, Lebanon, the Philippines, Tajikistan, Azerbaijan, and the Kashmiri region of India and the Chechnya region of Russia. Al Qaeda has also maintained cells and personnel in a number of countries to facilitate its activities, including in Kenya, Tanzania, the United Kingdom, Germany, Canada, Malaysia, and the United States. Also, the group has forged a pact with the National Islamic Front, located in Sudan and with personnel working within the government of Iran, and its extremist group Hezbollah, whom share the West and the United States as an enemy. 

Funding

Bin Laden's father built for the Saudi royal family, roads, buildings, mosques, airports, and the entire infrastructure of many of Arab countries of the Persian Gulf. It is estimated that UBL’s personal wealth is $250 million in U.S., though throughout the years, he has built a network of investments and partnerships located around the world that contribute to al Qaeda's terrorist funding. Also, al Qaeda receives money from various charities, other non-profit organizations, and individuals who have provided support to the group. Following the September 11 attacks, the U.S. government shut down numerous charities, which included the Al-Haramain Foundation and the Holy Land Foundation, whom allegedly funded the terrorist group. The CIA estimates that it cost al Qaeda around $30 million a year to finance the group’s activities before September 11. Several countries followed the U.S. in freezing or shutting down financing sources of al Qaeda. Though the U.S. as well as other countries has moved to strike a blow into al Qaeda's financial sources and structure, the group requires little money in order to survive, now that it has moved to the internet. According to the Treasury Department, since 9/11, countries around the world have frozen $147 million in assets linked to groups including al Qaeda, the Taliban, HAMAS and Hezbollah.[4]

Recruitment

Most individuals who claim to be AQ members are inspired by the group’s ideology and mission, although don’t receive any direction from al Qaeda leadership.  The global terrorist group serves as a focal point of motivation for a networkof Sunni extremists around the world.  In 2008, security officials stated that AQ was expanding its network into central Asia and attempting to recruit young boys to enlarge its militant and suicide bombing forces.[5]

Tactics

Al Qaeda uses a variety of tactics, such as: suicide bombings, car bombings, roadside bombings, hijackings, and paramilitary operations against civilians and military targets. The organization and planning of such attacks may take years to implement. Al Qaeda also uses the media in furthering its goals. Attacks as well as taped messages from Al Qaeda’s top leaders are sent and thereafter shown by media outlets worldwide. 

Al Qaeda is able to promote their ideology, as well as justify their actions by issuing fatwas, or religious opinion.  AQ claims that attacks against U.S. foreign and domestic interests, in a military or civilian capacity, were both appropriate and necessary. These fatwas have resulted in attacks against U.S. targets around the world including Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania, Yemen, and even on the homeland. The FBI claims that since 1993, thousands of people have died in these attacks.[6]  

Al Qaeda’s most infamous attacks to date have focused on high-value targets which caught extensive media attention, and often resulted in mass casualties and destruction.   Some of their most important attacks to date have been initiated by fatwas. In 1992, UBL directed that American forces stationed in the Horn of Africa be attacked.  The organization subsequently claimed responsibility for the deaths of 18 U.S. soldiers killed during “Operation Restore Hope” in Somalia in 1994, also referred to as the Battle of Mogadishu, popularized in the film, Black Hawk Down.  In 1998, UBL issued another fatwa stating in this one that "it is the duty of all Muslims to kill Americans." The fatwa read, "in compliance with God's order, we issue the following fatwa to all Muslims: the ruling to kill the Americans and their allies, including civilians and military, is an individual duty for every Muslim who can do it in any country in which it is possible to do it." This fatwa essentially provided religious justification to individuals to attack U.S. interests abroad, resulting in the U.S. Embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania.

Al Qaeda is to blame for many other major operations across the globe.  In 1993, the group was responsible for planning and executing the first World Trade Center bombing where six people died due to the blast from a urea-hydrogen nitrate truck bomb.  In 2000, AQ operatives rammed an explosives-laden boat into the USS Cole, a U.S. Navy destroyer located in the port of Aden.  The most notorious terrorist attack in American history was also the result of calculated planning of the organization, resulting in the deaths of almost 3,000 people.  On September 11, 2001, nineteen al Qaeda terrorists hijacked several aircraft and targeted the World Trade Center buildings in New York, the Pentagon in Arlington, VA, and the White House in Washington D.C.  Even though the last airplane did not reach its target because passengers attempted to retake control of the plan, all of those on board were killed when the plane crashed into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.  Following the United States’ declaration of the War on Terror, al Qaeda has been responsible for several other major attacks including the 2002 Bali bombing targeting a nightclub and the London train bombings in 2005.  Some officials even accuse AQ of being responsible for the assassination of Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto in late 2007.

Publications

• Declaration of Jihad (Holy War) Against the Country's Tyrants: Military Series (training manual)
• Guide to the Laws Regarding Muslim Spies (online book)

References

1. US Department of State. (2009, April). Chapter 8: Other groups of concern: Al Qa’ida. Country reports on terrorism 2008. 317-319.
2. Chediak, M. (2005, January 25). Following the money: Tracking down al Qaeda’s fund raisers in Europe. PBS: Frontline. Retrieved from [1]
3. Bokhari, F. (2008, July 4). Al Qaeda expanding recruitment of children. CBS News. Retrieved from [2]
4. Caruso, J.T. (2001, December 18). Acting Assistant Director, Counterterrorism Division, Federal Bureau of Investigation, “Al-Qaeda International,” Statement before the Subcommittee on International Operations and Terrorism, U.S. Senate, December 18, 2001.