Running head: AN OVERVIEW OF AL-QAEDA 1
Liberty University
An Overview of the Al-Qaeda Terrorist Network
Dr. Melvin Richards
Al-Qaeda 2
Introduction
Eighteen years ago, this month, many Americans had never even heard of Al Qaeda or
Osama Bin Laden. The Al Qaeda terrorist network had perpetrated criminal acts against the
United States of America in Africa, against the U.S.S. Cole and during a bombing at the World
Trade Center in 1993, but these were isolated incidents, or incidents that happened overseas, far
from us. All of that changed on September 11, 2001, as terrorist hijacked and flew planes into
the World Trade Center and Pentagon terrorism became a reality for all Americans. The names
Al Qaeda, Osama Bin Laden and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi became household names. Together
they changed the course of a presidency, and the lives of a generation, and Americans views on
terrorism forever.
History and Overview
Al Qaeda was formed in 1988 by Osama Bin Laden and others of the same beliefs. Al
Qaeda, meaning the base, began as a network delivering supplies to Muslim fighters in
Afghanistan opposing the occupation by the Soviet Union. The Soviets withdrew from
Afghanistan in 1989 and left no real mission for Al Qaeda. Osama Bin Laden returned to Saudi
Arabia, but eventually left taking occupancy in Sudan. Here he began his recruitment and
training for those to oppose the west. Around 1996 Osama Bin Laden returned to Afghanistan
and Al Qaeda headquartered itself here protected by the Taliban. Al Qaeda went on to grow into
a large terrorist network with training camps located around the world. Once established they
made several high-profile attacks. In 1998 the group attacked United States Embassies in Kenya
and Tanzania. In 2000 a suicide bomb attack damaged the U.S.S. Cole and killed 17 sailors.
Then on September 11, 2001 the Al Qaeda terrorist network carried out its most brazed attack.
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Nineteen Al Qaeda fighters hijacked four commercial airliners and crashed them into both towers
of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. The fourth plane crashed in a field near
Shanksville, Pennsylvania killing all aboard. It is believed that the passengers on the plane,
through phone calls found out the intentions of the terrorist hijackers and mounted the first fight
back against the horrific attacks (Scott-Clark & Levy, 2017). As the United States military began
to cripple the terrorist network in Afghanistan, its ideology spread and many off shoot groups
and lone wolf terrorist began conducting attacks in the name of Al Qaeda. While it was not the
organization itself conducting these attacks, others who shared the same beliefs carried out
attacks in their name. Despite the siege occurring in Afghanistan, Al Qaeda was involved,
directly or indirectly, in more terrorist attacks in the six years after 9/11 than the six years prior to
9/11 (Britannica Encyclopedia Online).
Ideology
It is estimated that the Al Qaeda terrorist network has between 3000-4000 fighters
(Bialik, 2011). The number of people that aid, finance, contribute or sympathize with the
organization is uncountable. While the Al Qaeda network originated in Afghanistan and
Pakistan, it has spread across the Middle East and Africa. The terrorist network has places of
operation in many countries including Algeria, Bangladesh, Djibouti, Ethiopia, France, India,
Lebanon, Libya, the United States and Yemen just to name a few (Gelvin, 2018). Al Qaeda and
its fighters are viewed as pan-Islamists, they desire to bring back the caliphate and occupy the
territories that they view as theirs. This would allow all Muslims to live in one nation under one
flag. There is no real plan in place as to who will be in charge what government system they will
live under. It is often believed that all Muslims living in one country will live in harmony. If
established the caliphate would extend from Afghanistan and Pakistan through the Middle East,
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across Northern Africa and into the Balkan Peninsula (Skovgaard-Petersen, 2017). The fighters
can also be referred to as jihadist. Westerners often translate jihad to mean “holy war” but in
Muslim countries jihad is defined as a war of self-defense (Mc Entire, 2019).
Tactics
Al Qaeda has been known to plan its attacks over a period of months if not years. They
are methodical in their attacks and want to make a statement and garner attention. Tactics they
have been known to use include car bombs, suicide bombings, roadside IEDs, and hijackings.
Other than the 9/11 attacks one of their most high-profile attacks occurred in London and
Amman, in both instances they deployed several (2-5) suicide bombers and conducted
simultaneous attacks in various locations in the city (Mc Cants, 2015).
There are several force multipliers for the Al Qaeda terrorist group, these force
multipliers enhance recruitment and funding efforts as well as helping to spread the groups
message. Al Qaeda gained notoriety following the 9/11 attacks. The images of the twin towers
falling were shown around the world. Another multiplier is the celebrity status held by Osama
Bin Laden. From his fighting the Soviets in Afghanistan, to becoming the face of the most
wanted man in the world by the United States he was able to gain funding and recruit new
fighters from who he simply was. Perhaps the biggest force multipliers for the network are the
media and the internet. The media provides live 24-hour coverage of terrorist attacks around the
globe. This coverage also helps spread Al Qaeda’s message. There are over 1.4 billion people
on the internet, that is almost one quarter of the world’s population. Part of the population using
the internet are terrorists, specifically members of Al Qaeda. These members of the terrorist
network use the internet the same way you and I do, they bank, chat and exchange messages and
information. They are in online chat rooms and are looking for those with similar beliefs
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(Jewkes & Yar, 2012). They can do all these things with out traveling, greatly reducing their
chance of being exposed or captured. This also allows the network to recruit the person
sympathetic to their cause. The lone wolf terrorist is hard to detect as they are typically already
in the country you want to attack.
Organizational Structure
Al Qaeda’s command and control, or headquarters has traditionally been found in
Afghanistan or Pakistan. The Taliban, a military organization in Afghanistan, has provided a
place of refuge to Al Qaeda following the 9/11 attacks and subsequent military campaign. In
return Al Qaeda pledged allegiance to the Taliban. Since 9/11 Al Qaeda affiliate groups have
appeared in Northern Africa, the Middle East and South Asia, all groups pledge allegiance to
Ayman al Zawahiri, the current leader and successor to Osama Bin Laden (Wright, 2016).
In the beginning the primary financer of Al Qaeda was its leader and founder Osama Bin
Laden. Since then Al Qaeda has grown to become dependent on donations. These donations
came from mosques, websites, wealthy donors, charities and other nongovernmental
organizations. It was estimated by the CIA that Al Qaeda had a $30 million annual budget prior
to 9/11. After the death of Osama Bin Laden many experts questioned if Al Qaeda could
financially survive. However, the terrorist network had set itself up for financial success with its
endeavor into illicit drugs. Al Qaeda uses the poppy’s in Afghanistan to produce heroin and sell
it abroad to finance its terror network (Wright, 2016)
Al Qaeda is a relatively young organization, being founded in 1988. Since its founding it
has had two main leaders Osama Bin Laden and following his death Ayman al Zawahiri. Osama
Bin Laden is perhaps the most infamous terrorist in the United States and around the world.
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Born in 1957, Osama was one of fifty children. His father Muhammad Bin Laden controlled one
of the largest construction companies in Saudi Arabia and was a self-made billionaire. Osama
studied business at King Abdul Aziz University. It is believed that he was radicalized while
attending the university and that his business insight helps with the marketing and financing of
Al Qaeda. Osama helped finance, recruit, train, and fight with fighters who were revisiting the
occupation of Afghanistan by the Soviet Union. In 1989 the Soviet Union withdrew from
Afghanistan and Osama returned to Saudi Arabia as a hero. In 1990 as Sadam Hussein invaded
Kuwait and began to threaten Saudi Arabia, Osama Bin Laden offered his army to defend Saudi
Arabia. Instead of using his force the King decided to allow the United States and its allies to
begin building a coalition on the border to defend Saudi Arabia and begin preparations to liberate
Kuwait. This enraged Osama and he left for Sudan in Africa. Eventually he settled in
Afghanistan and ran his terror network waging war against the west. It is believed that the
events leading up to the Persian Gulf war was what fueled his hatred for the west. On May 2,
2011, nine plus years after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Osama Bin Laden was killed by United
States special forces in Abbottabad. Pakistan (Britannica Encyclopedia Online). While he died,
his legacy lives on.
Ayman al Zawahiri became the new leader of Al Qaeda following the death of Osama Bin
Laden. For many years he had been the face of Al Qaeda while Bin Laden was a figure head of
Al Qaeda. During this transition it is believed that Bin Laden suffered from poor health. Today
a reward of up to $25 million is offered by the FBI for information leading to the capture of
Ayman al Zawahiri.
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Conclusion
Following the death of Osama Bin Laden, Al Qaeda is more of an ideology than an
organization. While the death of Osama Bin Laden by Seal Team Six was seen as a victory for
the United States, it did little to stop the spread of Al Qaeda’s beliefs. Today there may be no
formal training camps, headquarters or command and control, however the message is strong and
clear. It is attracting many new followers including lone wolf terrorist in the United States who
sympathize with their beliefs.
“Cut off the head of the snake and another will grow in its place”
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References
Bialik, C. (2011, September 10). Shadowy Figures: Al Qaeda's Size is Hard to Measure. Wall
Street Journal.
Explore Encyclopedia Britannica. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com/.
Gelvin, J. L. (2018). The New Middle East: what everyone needs to know. New York: Oxford
University Press.
Jewkes, Y., & Yar, M. (2012). Handbook of Internet crime. Abingdon: Routledge.
McCants, W. F. (2015). The Isis apocalypse: the history, strategy, and doomsday vision of the
Islamic state. New York: St. Martins Press.
McEntire, D. A. (2019). Introduction to homeland security: understanding terrorism prevention
and emergency management. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
Scott-Clark, C., & Levy, A. (2017). The exile: the stunning inside story of Osama bin Laden and
Al Qaeda in flight. New York: Bloomsbury.
Skovgaard-Petersen, J. (n.d.). Heirs of Abu Bakr: On the Ideology and Conception of History in
al-Qaeda and Islamic State. Retrieved from https://www.pfp-
consortium.org/index.php/publications/connections-journal/item/302-heirs-of-abu-bakr-
on-the-ideology-and-conception-of-history-in-al-qaeda-and-islamic-state.
Wright, L. (2016). The terror years: from al-Qaeda to the Islamic State. New York: Alfred A.
Knopf.
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