HLSS522Wk2

Religious-based terrorism gets a lot of attention in today’s world, and it is true that about one-half of the world’s terrorist groups are religiously motivated. Islamic groups such as al-Qaeda and the Islamic State pose the greatest threats to U.S. national security today, but at various times in history the most dangerous religious-based groups have included Catholics, Protestants, Jews, Buddhists, and many others. Atheist and secular groups have shown to be just as dangerous.

It is important to remember than no matter how a group represents itself or what it purports its beliefs to be, power and politics are the true motivators behind terrorism. Religious belief is merely the reasoning and justification employed by these terrorists. These individuals desire nothing more than the power to define the environment in which others will live.

 

 

Since its inception, al-Qaeda has focused on symbolic acts of terrorism rather than the military activities of other Islamist groups, and for nearly as long it has expressed its interest and desire to acquire and use WMDs. The year 1993 saw one of al- Qaeda’s first major attacks, a truck bombing in the basement of the World Trade Center that killed five people. The perpetrators of this attack had intended to fill the building with cyanide gas and kill all of its occupants, a plan that failed. But later that same year, al-Qaeda operatives began their earliest efforts to acquire nuclear material, attempting to purchase raw uranium from mines in South Africa.

2/3

Al-Qaeda

‹ ›

Back