Congress's Joint Resolution Oct. 16, 2002
Public Law 107-243 107th Congress Joint Resolution (H.J. Res. 114) To authorize the use of United States Armed Forces against Iraq.
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[10th]Whereas members of al Qaida, an organization bearing responsibility for attacks on the United States, its citizens, and interests, including the attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001, are known to be in Iraq
Congressional Intelligence Report 09/08/2006
Postwar information indicates that the Intelligence Community accurately assessed that al-Qa'ida affiliate group Ansar al-Islam operated in Kurdish-controlled northeastern Iraq
Ansar-al-Islam
Ansar al-Islam was formed in December 2001.
...
Ansar al-Islam comprised about 300 armed men, many of these veterans from the Afghan war, and a proportion being neither Kurd nor Arab. Ansar al-Islam is alleged to be connected to al-Qaeda, and provided an entry point for Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and other Afghan veterans to enter Iraq.
Speech to UN February 5, 2003
When our coalition ousted the Taliban, the Zarqawi network helped establish another poison and explosive training center camp, and this camp is located in northeastern Iraq.
...
American Soldier, page 519, by General Tommy Franks, 7/1/2004
"10" Regan Books, An Imprint of HarperCollins Publishers
... a steep valley in far northeastern Iraq, right on the border with Iran. These were the camps of the Ansar al-Isla terrorists, where al Qaeda leader Abu Musab Zarqawi had trained disciples in the use of chemical and biological weapons
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/terrorism/international/fatwa_1996.html
Osama Bin Laden "Declaration of War Against the Americans Occupying the Land of the Two Holy Places"-1996.
I say to you ... These youths [love] death as you love life.
Those youths know that their rewards in fighting you, the USA, is double than their rewards in fighting some one else not from the people of the book. They have no intention except to enter paradise by killing you. An infidel, and enemy of God like you, cannot be in the same hell with his righteous executioner.
Few days ago the news agencies had reported that the Defence Secretary of the Crusading Americans had said that "the explosion at Riyadh and Al-Khobar had taught him one lesson: that is not to withdraw when attacked by coward terrorists".
We say to the Defence Secretary that his talk can induce a grieving mother to laughter! and shows the fears that had enshrined you all. Where was this false courage of yours when the explosion in Beirut took place on 1983 AD (1403 A.H). You were turned into scattered pits and pieces at that time; 241 mainly marines solders were killed. And where was this courage of yours when two explosions made you to leave Aden in lees than twenty four hours!
But your most disgraceful case was in Somalia; where- after vigorous propaganda about the power of the USA and its post cold war leadership of the new world order- you moved tens of thousands of international force, including twenty eight thousands American solders into Somalia. However, when tens of your solders were killed in minor battles and one American Pilot was dragged in the streets of Mogadishu you left the area carrying disappointment, humiliation, defeat and your dead with you. Clinton appeared in front of the whole world threatening and promising revenge , but these threats were merely a preparation for withdrawal. You have been disgraced by Allah and you withdrew; the extent of your impotence and weaknesses became very clear. It was a pleasure for the "heart" of every Muslim and a remedy to the "chests" of believing nations to see you defeated in the three Islamic cities of Beirut , Aden and Mogadishu.
http://www.ict.org.il/articles/fatwah.htm
Osama Bin Laden: Text of Fatwah Urging Jihad Against Americans-1998
On that basis, and in compliance with Allah's order, we issue the following fatwa to all Muslims:
The ruling to kill the Americans and their allies -- 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, in order to liberate the al-Aqsa Mosque and the holy mosque [Mecca] from their grip, and in order for their armies to move out of all the lands of Islam, defeated and unable to threaten any Muslim. This is in accordance with the words of Almighty Allah, "and fight the pagans all together as they fight you all together," and "fight them until there is no more tumult or oppression, and there prevail justice and faith in Allah."
http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/msg00035.html
Al-Qaida Statement Warning Muslims Against Associating With The Crusaders And Idols; Translation By JUS; Jun 09, 2004 from the Al-Qaida Organization of the Arab Gulf; 19 Rabbi Al-Akhir 1425
No Muslim should risk his life as he may inadvertently be killed if he associates with the Crusaders, whom we have no choice but to kill.
Everything related to them such as complexes, bases, means of transportation, especially Western and American Airlines, will be our main and direct targets in our forthcoming operations on our path of Jihad that we, with Allah's Power, will not turn away from.
Al Qaeda's seven phase plan for world conquest.
Phase 1, the "wakeup call." Spectacular terrorist attacks on the West
(like September 11, 2001) get the infidels (non-Moslems) to make war on
Islamic nations. This arouses Moslems, and causes them to flock to al
Qaedas banner. This phase is considered complete.
Phase 2, the "eye opening." This is the phase we are in, where al Qaeda
does battle with the infidels, and shows over a billion Moslems how
it's done. This phase is supposed to be completed by next year.
Phase 3, "the rising." Millions of aroused (in a terrorist sense)
Moslems go to war against Islam's enemies for the rest of the decade.
Especially heavy attacks are made against Israel. It is believed that
major damage in Israel will force the world to acknowledge al Qaeda as a major power, and negotiate with it.
Phase 4, "the downfall." By 2013, al Qaeda will control the Persian
Gulf, and all its oil, as well as most of the Middle East. This will
enable al Qaeda to cripple the American economy, and American military
power.
Phase 5, "the Caliphate." By 2016, the Caliphate (one government for
all Moslem nations) will be established. At this point, nearly all
Western cultural influences will be eliminated from Islamic nations. The
Caliphate will organize a mighty army for the next phase.
Phase 6, "world conquest." By 2022, the rest of the world will be
conquered by the righteous and unstoppable armies of Islam. This is the
phase that Osama bin Laden has been talking about for years.
Phase 7, "final victory." All the world's inhabitants will be forced to
either convert to Islam, or submit (as second class citizens) to
Islamic rule. This will be completed by 2025 or thereabouts.
... the U.S., Israel and India [are] existential enemies of Islam and lists eight reasons for global jihad. These include the restoration of Islamic sovereignty to all lands where Muslims were once ascendant, including Spain, "Bulgaria, Hungary, Cyprus, Sicily, Ethiopia, Russian Turkistan and Chinese Turkistan. . . Even parts of France reaching 90 kilometers outside Paris."
National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States
The Commission closed on August 21, 2004. This site is archived.
9/11 Commission Report
2 THE FOUNDATION OF THE NEW TERRORISM
2.1 A DECLARATION OF WAR
In February 1998, the 40-year-old Saudi exile Usama Bin Ladin and a fugitive Egyptian physician, Ayman al Zawahiri, arranged from their Afghan headquarters for an Arabic newspaper in London to publish what they termed a fatwa issued in the name of a "World Islamic Front." A fatwa is normally an interpretation of Islamic law by a respected Islamic authority, but neither Bin Ladin, Zawahiri, nor the three others who signed this statement were scholars of Islamic law. Claiming that America had declared war against God and his messenger, they called for the murder of any American, anywhere on earth, as the "individual duty for every Muslim who can do it in any country in which it is possible to do it."1
Three months later, when interviewed in Afghanistan by ABC-TV, Bin Ladin enlarged on these themes.2 He claimed it was more important for Muslims to kill Americans than to kill other infidels. "It is far better for anyone to kill a single American soldier than to squander his efforts on other activities," he said. Asked whether he approved of terrorism and of attacks on civilians, he replied: "We believe that the worst thieves in the world today and the worst terrorists are the Americans. Nothing could stop you except perhaps retaliation in kind. We do not have to differentiate between military or civilian. As far as we are concerned, they are all targets."
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Plans to attack the United States were developed with unwavering single-mindedness throughout the 1990s. Bin Ladin saw himself as called "to follow in the footsteps of the Messenger and to communicate his message to all nations,"5 and to serve as the rallying point and organizer of a new kind of war to destroy America and bring the world to Islam.
...
9/11 Commission Report
2.3 THE RISE OF BIN LADIN AND AL QAEDA (1988-1992)
...
Bin Ladin understood better than most of the volunteers the extent to which the continuation and eventual success of the jihad in Afghanistan depended on an increasingly complex, almost worldwide organization. This organization included a financial support network that came to be known as the "Golden Chain," put together mainly by financiers in Saudi Arabia and the Persian Gulf states. Donations flowed through charities or other nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). Bin Ladin and the "Afghan Arabs" drew largely on funds raised by this network, whose agents roamed world markets to buy arms and supplies for the mujahideen, or "holy warriors."21
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Bin Ladin now had a vision of himself as head of an international jihad confederation. In Sudan, he established an "Islamic Army Shura" that was to serve as the coordinating body for the consortium of terrorist groups with which he was forging alliances. It was composed of his own al Qaeda Shura together with leaders or representatives of terrorist organizations that were still independent. In building this Islamic army, he enlisted groups from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, Oman, Algeria, Libya, Tunisia, Morocco, Somalia, and Eritrea. Al Qaeda also established cooperative but less formal relationships with other extremist groups from these same countries; from the African states of Chad, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, and Uganda; and from the Southeast Asian states of Burma, Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia. Bin Ladin maintained connections in the Bosnian conflict as well.37 The groundwork for a true global terrorist network was being laid.
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Bin Ladin seemed willing to include in the confederation terrorists from almost every corner of the Muslim world. His vision mirrored that of Sudan's Islamist leader, Turabi, who convened a series of meetings under the label Popular Arab and Islamic Conference around the time of Bin Ladin's arrival in that country. Delegations of violent Islamist extremists came from all the groups represented in Bin Ladin's Islamic Army Shura. Representatives also came from organizations such as the Palestine Liberation Organization, Hamas, and Hezbollah.51
...
9/11 Commission Report
2.5 AL QAEDA'S RENEWAL IN AFGHANISTAN (1996-1998)
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The Taliban seemed to open the doors to all who wanted to come to Afghanistan to train in the camps. The alliance with the Taliban provided al Qaeda a sanctuary in which to train and indoctrinate fighters and terrorists, import weapons, forge ties with other jihad groups and leaders, and plot and staff terrorist schemes. While Bin Ladin maintained his own al Qaeda guesthouses and camps for vetting and training recruits, he also provided support to and benefited from the broad infrastructure of such facilities in Afghanistan made available to the global network of Islamist movements. U.S. intelligence estimates put the total number of fighters who underwent instruction in Bin Ladin-supported camps in Afghanistan from 1996 through 9/11 at 10,000 to 20,000. 78
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Now effectively merged with Zawahiri's Egyptian Islamic Jihad,82 al Qaeda promised to become the general headquarters for international terrorism, without the need for the Islamic Army Shura. Bin Ladin was prepared to pick up where he had left off in Sudan. He was ready to strike at "the head of the snake."
...
On February 23, 1998, Bin Ladin issued his public fatwa. The language had been in negotiation for some time, as part of the merger under way between Bin Ladin's organization and Zawahiri's Egyptian Islamic Jihad. Less than a month after the publication of the fatwa, the teams that were to carry out the embassy attacks were being pulled together in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam. The timing and content of their instructions indicate that the decision to launch the attacks had been made by the time the fatwa was issued.88
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9/11 Commission Report
The attack on the U.S. embassy in Nairobi destroyed the embassy and killed 12 Americans and 201 others, almost all Kenyans. About 5,000 people were injured. The attack on the U.S. embassy in Dar es Salaam killed 11 more people, none of them Americans. Interviewed later about the deaths of the Africans, Bin Ladin answered that "when it becomes apparent that it would be impossible to repel these Americans without assaulting them, even if this involved the killing of Muslims, this is permissible under Islam." Asked if he had indeed masterminded these bombings, Bin Ladin said that the World Islamic Front for jihad against "Jews and Crusaders" had issued a "crystal clear" fatwa. If the instigation for jihad against the Jews and the Americans to liberate the holy places "is considered a crime," he said, "let history be a witness that I am a criminal."93
...
www.dni.gov/release_letter_101105.html
Summary of Letter from al-Zawahiri to al-Zarqawi July 9, 2005.
The war in Iraq is central to al Qa'ida's global jihad.
The war will not end with an American departure.[/b]
The strategic vision is one of inevitable conflict with a call by al-Zawahiri for political action equal to military action.
More than half the struggle is taking place "in the battlefield of the media."
Popular support must be maintained at least until jihadist rule has been established.
Shiite sacred mosque explosion in Samarra
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In Baghdad, National Security Adviser Mouwafak al-Rubaie blamed religious zealots such as the al-Qaida terror network, telling Al-Arabiya television that the attack was an attempt "to pull Iraq toward civil war."
The country's most revered Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, sent instructions to his followers forbidding attacks on Sunni mosques, especially the major ones in Baghdad. He called for seven days of mourning, his aides said.
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President Jalal Talabani condemned the attack and called for restraint, saying the attack was designed to sabotage talks on a government of national unity following the Dec. 15 parliamentary election.
Capture of al-Qaeda mastermind of Golden Mosque explosion
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Abu Qudama operated under terrorist cell leader Haitham al-Badri.
Al-Badri was "a known terrorist," a member of Ansar al-Sunna before he joined terror group al Qaeda in Iraq, al-Rubaie said.
However, Iraqi authorities "were not aware of his being the mastermind behind the golden mosque explosion" until Abu Qudama's arrest, al-Rubaie said. "The sole reason behind his action was to drive a wedge between the Shiites and Sunnis and to ignite and trigger a sectarian war in this country," al-Rubaie said, referring to al-Badri.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2006-11-10-iraq_x.htm?csp=34
Al-Qaeda in Iraq taunts Bush, claims it's winning war
Updated 11/10/2006 2:33 PM
BAGHDAD (AP) -- A recording Friday attributed to the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq mocked U.S. President George W. Bush as a coward whose conduct of the war had been rejected by U.S. voters, challenging him to keep American troops in the country to face more bloodshed.
"We haven't had enough of your blood yet," terror chieftain Abu Hamza al-Muhajir, identified as the speaker on the tape, said as he claimed to have 12,000 fighters under his command who "have vowed to die for God's sake."
The Egyptian said his fighters would not rest until they blew up the White House and occupied Jerusalem.
It was impossible to verify the authenticity of the 20-minute recording, posted on a website used by Islamic militants.
Al-Muhajir, also known as Abu Ayyub al-Masri, boasted that al-Qaeda in Iraq was moving toward victory faster than expected because of Bush's mistakes.
...
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/iraq_dc
Dozens of al Qaeda killed in Anbar: Iraq police By Waleed Ibrahim and Ibon Villelabeitia
Thu Mar 1, 3:17 PM ET [2007]
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi security forces killed dozens of al Qaeda militants who attacked a village in western Anbar province on Wednesday, during fierce clashes that lasted much of the day, police officials said on Thursday.
Sunni tribal leaders are involved in a growing power struggle with Sunni al Qaeda for control of Anbar, a vast desert province that is the heart of the Sunni Arab insurgency in Iraq.
In Baghdad, U.S. and Iraqi troops are engaged in a security crackdown to stop bloodshed between Shi'ites and Sunni Arabs.
U.S. and Iraqi military officials said troops would soon launch aggressive operations to seize weapons and hunt gunmen in the Shi'ite militia bastion of Sadr City, signaling resolve to press ahead with the plan even in sensitive areas.
Dozens of loud explosions that sounded like mortar bombs rocked southern Baghdad in quick succession on Thursday evening, Reuters witnesses said.
Iraqi military spokesman Brigadier Qassim Moussawi said the blasts were part of the new security offensive, Iraqiya state television reported, without giving details. A U.S. military spokeswoman said she had no information on the explosions.
Interior Ministry spokesman Abdul Karim Khalaf said foreign Arabs and Afghans were among some 80 militants killed and 50 captured in the clashes in Amiriyat al Falluja, an Anbar village where local tribes had opposed al Qaeda.
A police official in the area, Ahmed al-Falluji, put the number of militants killed at 70, with three police officers killed. There was no immediate verification of the numbers.
A U.S. military spokesman in the nearby city of Falluja, Major Jeff Pool, said U.S. forces were not involved in the battle but had received reports from Iraqi police that it lasted most of Wednesday. He could not confirm the number killed.
Another police source in Falluja put the figure at dozens.
"Because it was so many killed we can't give an exact number for the death toll," the police source told Reuters.
Witnesses said dozens of al Qaeda members attacked the village, prompting residents to flee and seek help from Iraqi security forces, who sent in police and soldiers.
http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/11/10/iraq.main/
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- A purported audio recording by the leader of al Qaeda in Iraq vows to step up the group's fight against the United States, saying, "We haven't had enough of your blood yet."
The recording was posted Friday on an Islamist Web site and the speaker is identified as Abu Hamza al-Muhajer, successor to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Al-Muhajer is also known as Abu Ayyub al-Masri.
"Come down to the battlefield, you coward," the speaker says on the recording, which CNN cannot independently confirm as the voice of al-Muhajer.
Calling President Bush a "lame duck" the speaker tells Bush not to "run away as your lame defense secretary ran away," referring to Donald Rumsfeld, who resigned Wednesday.
Critics of the U.S.-led war in Iraq have placed much of the blame for its problems on Rumsfeld. The war's growing unpopularity contributed to toppling the majority Republican Party in both chambers of Congress in Tuesday's election. (Watch Rumsfeld acknowledge what's going wrong -- 2:23)
Much of the Iraqi insurgency has been blamed on al Qaeda in Iraq, whose former chief al-Zarqawi was killed in a U.S.-led airstrike in June.
The speaker on the tape vows that al Qaeda in Iraq will not stop its jihad "until we sit under the olive trees in Rumiya after we blow up the wicked house known as the White House." He says the first phase of the jihad is now over, and that the next phase -- building an Islamic nation -- has begun.
"The victory day has come faster than we expected," he says. "Here is the Islamic nation in Iraq victorious against the tyrant. The enemy is incapable of fighting on and has no choice but to run away."
The speaker claims his al Qaeda army has 12,000 soldiers -- with 10,000 more waiting in the wings to join them.
...
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/02/15/iraq/main2479937.shtml
BAGHDAD, Iraq, Feb. 15, 2007
(CBS/AP) The leader of al Qaeda in Iraq was wounded and an aide was killed Thursday in a clash with Iraqi forces north of Baghdad, the Interior Ministry spokesman said.
The clash occurred near Balad, a major U.S. base about 50 miles north of the capital, Brig. Gen Abdul-Karim Khalaf said.
Khalaf said al Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Ayyub al-Masri was wounded and his aide, identified as Abu Abdullah al-Majemaai, was killed.
Khalaf declined to say how Iraqi forces knew al-Masri had been injured, and there was no report on the incident from U.S. authorities. Deputy Interior Minister Maj. Gen. Hussein Ali Kamal said he had no information about such a clash or that al-Masri had been involved.
Al-Masri took over the leadership of al Qaeda in Iraq after its charismatic leader, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, was killed in a U.S. air strike last June in Diyala province northeast of Baghdad.
Meanwhile U.S. and Iraqi forces pushed deeper into Sunni militant strongholds in Baghdad -- where cars rigged with explosives greeted their advance -- while British-led teams in southern Iraq used shipping containers to block suspected weapon smuggling routes from Iran.
The series of car bomb blasts, which killed at least seven civilians, touched all corners of Baghdad. But they did little to disrupt a wide-ranging security sweep seeking to weaken militia groups' ability to fight U.S.-allied forces -- and each other.
The attacks, however, pointed to the critical struggle to gain the upper hand on Baghdad's streets. The Pentagon hopes its current campaign of arrests and arms seizures will convince average Iraqis that militiamen are losing ground.
It will take a lot of convincing.
Iraqis, such as Sunnis living on Haifa Street in central Baghdad, still live in mortal fear, reports CBS News chief foreign correspondent Lara Logan.
"Right now it is very difficult with the enemy that is around here in this area -- it is a real hostile area" says Lt. Juan Cantu, whose Crazyhorse Troop is guarding Haifa Street. "These people are scared just to go outside their front door."
al-Qaeda in Iraq
Al Qaeda in Iraq -- A profile of Sunni jihadist organization Al Qaeda in Iraq
From Amy Zalman, Ph.D.,
Name: Al Qaeda in Iraq
"Al Qaeda in Iraq is a shortening of the organization's original name Tanzim Qaidat Al Jihad fi Bilad Al Rafidin: Organization of Qaidat Al Jihad in the Land of Two Rivers. Iraq is called the land between two rivers, the Euphrates and the Tigris.
There has been considerable speculation about the name of the organization and how it was arrived at.
According to Egyptian journalist Abd Al Rahim Ali, the name "Qaida Al Jihad" is interesting because it reveals the roots of the joint organization formed in 2001 when Al Qaida head Osama bin Laden and Al Jihad of Egypt head Ayman Al Zawahiri joined forces to create "Qaida Al Jihad."
In the view of the U.S. State Department the name is "understood to mean the base of organized jihadist operations in Iraq" (The word "al qaeda" means "base"). This name was given by Jordanian born Abd al Musab Al Zarqawi, who assumed leadership in late 2004, after pledging allegiance to bin Laden.
Iraq Army captures al-Qaeda
IA Captures Al Qaeda In Iraq Cell Leader, Recovers Weapons Cache
BAGHDAD -- Soldiers of the 5th Iraqi Army Division captured a suspected Al Qaeda in
Iraq cell leader during operations Feb. 15 in Muqdadiyah. The suspect is believed
responsible for coordinating and carrying out several improvised explosive device and
rocket attacks targeting Iraqi civilians and Iraqi Security Forces in the area.
During the operation, several munitions caches were recovered by Iraqi Forces.
Munitions confiscated included 12 152mm artillery projectiles, ten 130mm artillery
projectiles, five 105mm artillery projectiles, ten 120mm mortar rounds, 15 82mm mortar
rounds, ten 60mm mortar rounds, 23 anti-tank mines, explosives and detonation cord.
The operation was planned and conducted by 5th IA Division forces. Coalition
Forces accompanied the Iraqi force in an advisory role. Operations caused minimal
damage and there were no Iraqi civilian, Iraqi forces or Coalition Forces casualties.
The operation is another example of the increasing capability of Iraqi Forces to combat violent elements operating within Iraq and Iraqi Forces ability to provide for the safety and security of citizens within Muqdadiyah.
attacks on al-Qaeda in Iraq
Daily Iraq Report for February 27, 2007
Less than two weeks after the official announcement of the Baghdad security plan, "reporting of sectarian murders is at the lowest level in almost a year," and "170 suspected insurgents have been arrested and 63 weapons caches of various sizes have been seized," reports Stars and Stripes. Bomb attacks have decreased by 20 percent.
Over the past 24 hours, Iraqi and Coalition forces have pressed raids against al Qaeda in Iraq targets. Yesterday, U.S. forces captured 15 al Qaeda, including an emir (equivalent to a battalion commander in the U.S. military), during raids in Baghdad, Ramadi, Mahmudiyah, and Samarra. The Iraqi Army detained 6 insurgents near Baqubah. Today, 11 al Qaeda, including an emir, were captured during raids in Baghdad, Mosul and Ramadi.
One reason for the decrease in sectarian attacks is the pressure being placed on the Mahdi Army. While Muqtada al-Sadr is hiding in Iran, Iraqi and Coalition forces continue to dismantle his Mahdi Army. U.S. and Iraqi troops conducted raids throughout Sadr City, Muqtada's stronghold in Baghdad, and 16 Mahdi fighters were detained. The rumor in Baghdad is that Sadr himself is "doing some very deadly housecleaning," as "Mahdi Army members have been disappearing or turning up dead in the Sadr City, Kadhimiya, and Baladiyat areas of the capital." But Iraqi and Coalition forces have been conducting a shadow war against Sadr since last summer, maintaining the fiction that only "rogue elements of the Mahdi Army" are being targeted.
Two major attacks have occurred in the past 24 hours. The most significant was an explosion yesterday at the Ministry of Public Works, which nearly killed Adel Abdul Mahdi, one of Iraq's two vice presidents, as well as Riad Ghraib, the minister of public works. Twelve were killed and 42 wounded after a bomb placed in the ceiling of a ministry conference room exploded. Mahdi and Ghraib were both "lightly wounded" in the explosion, and were treated for "scratches" at a U.S. military hospital. An American intelligence source informs us that al Qaeda and Sadr are the prime suspects. Today, an IED attack outside of a Ramadi mosque killed 15 civilians and wounded 9, including women and children. Al Qaeda recently targeted a mosque in Habbaniyah, and assassinated an imam that spoke out against al-Qaeda.
The evidence that Iran is supplying weapons and explosives to insurgents and militias continues to mount. Iraqi newspapers are now reporting on this development, and are blaming Iran for fueling the violence in Baghdad. A significant find linking weapons and explosives back to Iran was discovered by the U.S. Army in the violent Diyala province. The cache included Iranian made C-4 explosives and mortars. "The explosives were found alongside enough bomb-making materials to build 150 EFPs [Explosively Formed Projectiles] capable of penetrating heavily armored vehicles, according to the expert, Maj. Martin Weber." This latest find follows an MNF-Iraq briefing that provided further evidence of Iranian munitions and support being supplied to insurgents and militias, as well as evidence that Austrian Steyr HS50 sniper rifles purchased by Iran had found their way into Iraq.
since al qaeda operates quite freely in the pakistan-afghanistan border area and finds plenty of new recruits there , whatever happens in iraq will likely be of secondary importance - at best .
since the pakistani government has already made "a pact with the devil" (al qaeda) , it wouldn't surprise me at all if al qaeda would make further territorial gains in the frontier area .
i shudder to think what would happen if al qaeda gains a foothold in other areas of pakistan .
unless the pakistani government is able to to provide "good government" for its citizens , the unrest and dis-satisfaction of the citizens will likely continue to grow - all to the benefit of al qaeda , i would think .
i wonder why so little attention is being paid to pakistan ?
it's certainly much larger and has a larger population and military than iraq , iran , syria etc. AND they have atomic weapons !
since it was pakistani scientists who supplied the initial know-how/material for atomic "research" to iran , i'm surprised that pakistan doesn't even seem to be on the radar screen - at least not officially .
hbg
hamburger wrote:since al qaeda operates quite freely in the pakistan-afghanistan border area and finds plenty of new recruits there , whatever happens in iraq will likely be of secondary importance - at best .
since the pakistani government has already made "a pact with the devil" (al qaeda) , it wouldn't surprise me at all if al qaeda would make further territorial gains in the frontier area .
i shudder to think what would happen if al qaeda gains a foothold in other areas of pakistan .
unless the pakistani government is able to to provide "good government" for its citizens , the unrest and dis-satisfaction of the citizens will likely continue to grow - all to the benefit of al qaeda , i would think .
i wonder why so little attention is being paid to pakistan ?
it's certainly much larger and has a larger population and military than iraq , iran , syria etc. AND they have atomic weapons !
since it was pakistani scientists who supplied the initial know-how/material for atomic "research" to iran , i'm surprised that pakistan doesn't even seem to be on the radar screen - at least not officially .
hbg
With the exception of one statement, I agree with what you wrote. That one statement is:
"whatever happens in iraq will likely be of secondary importance - at best. since the pakistani government has already made "a pact with the devil" (al qaeda)."
Al -Qaeda must be exterminated, or at least rendered controllable, wherever it now is located or will be located. Our current global strategy for accomplishing this appears inadequate. We have to find a way to convince more nations in the world that al-Qaeda is as much a threat to them as to America. Even so, we must rid al-Qaeda from Afghanistan and Iraq, regardless of the many other places they are currently located.
ican711nm wrote:hamburger wrote:since al qaeda operates quite freely in the pakistan-afghanistan border area and finds plenty of new recruits there , whatever happens in iraq will likely be of secondary importance - at best .
since the pakistani government has already made "a pact with the devil" (al qaeda) , it wouldn't surprise me at all if al qaeda would make further territorial gains in the frontier area .
i shudder to think what would happen if al qaeda gains a foothold in other areas of pakistan .
unless the pakistani government is able to to provide "good government" for its citizens , the unrest and dis-satisfaction of the citizens will likely continue to grow - all to the benefit of al qaeda , i would think .
i wonder why so little attention is being paid to pakistan ?
it's certainly much larger and has a larger population and military than iraq , iran , syria etc. AND they have atomic weapons !
since it was pakistani scientists who supplied the initial know-how/material for atomic "research" to iran , i'm surprised that pakistan doesn't even seem to be on the radar screen - at least not officially .
hbg
With the exception of one statement, I agree with what you wrote. That one statement is:
"whatever happens in iraq will likely be of secondary importance - at best. since the pakistani government has already made "a pact with the devil" (al qaeda)."
Al -Qaeda must be exterminated, or at least rendered controllable, wherever it now is located or will be located. Our current global strategy for accomplishing this appears inadequate. We have to find a way to convince more nations in the world that al-Qaeda is as much a threat to them as to America. Even so, we must rid al-Qaeda from Afghanistan and Iraq, regardless of the many other places they are currently located.
How does this jibe with your assertion that we should leave Iraq if asked to do so?
If AQ must be exterminated, then we don't have the option of leaving Iraq, do we?
Cycloptichorn
Cycloptichorn wrote:Hanburger asked me this same question a few weeks back. I answered it then. I'll answer it again now.ican711nm wrote:hamburger wrote:since al qaeda operates quite freely in the pakistan-afghanistan border area and finds plenty of new recruits there , whatever happens in iraq will likely be of secondary importance - at best .
since the pakistani government has already made "a pact with the devil" (al qaeda) , it wouldn't surprise me at all if al qaeda would make further territorial gains in the frontier area .
i shudder to think what would happen if al qaeda gains a foothold in other areas of pakistan .
unless the pakistani government is able to to provide "good government" for its citizens , the unrest and dis-satisfaction of the citizens will likely continue to grow - all to the benefit of al qaeda , i would think .
i wonder why so little attention is being paid to pakistan ?
it's certainly much larger and has a larger population and military than iraq , iran , syria etc. AND they have atomic weapons !
since it was pakistani scientists who supplied the initial know-how/material for atomic "research" to iran , i'm surprised that pakistan doesn't even seem to be on the radar screen - at least not officially .
hbg
With the exception of one statement, I agree with what you wrote. That one statement is:
"whatever happens in iraq will likely be of secondary importance - at best. since the pakistani government has already made "a pact with the devil" (al qaeda)."
Al -Qaeda must be exterminated, or at least rendered controllable, wherever it now is located or will be located. Our current global strategy for accomplishing this appears inadequate. We have to find a way to convince more nations in the world that al-Qaeda is as much a threat to them as to America. Even so, we must rid al-Qaeda from Afghanistan and Iraq, regardless of the many other places they are currently located.
How does this jibe with your assertion that we should leave Iraq if asked to do so?
If AQ must be exterminated, then we don't have the option of leaving Iraq, do we?
Cycloptichorn
We have zero chance of winning and succeeding in Iraq (or in any other country with an elected government), if we are asked by their elected government to leave before we win and succeed. Without the support of the elected Iraq government we have zero chance. With their active opposition we have zero chance. With their support we have a good chance of winning and succeeding by 2033.
Yes, if we are ask to leave before we win and succeed in Iraq we will have lost and failed in Iraq. Were that to happen we must then devise an alternate strategy that has a non-zero chance to win and succeed. At the moment, I cannot think of any such strategy. So I continue to think we must win and succeed in Iraq in order to protect the freedoms of Americans.
The big problem you can't seem to grasp ican is you cannot defeat AQ as long as you invade countries like Iraq. Our presence in Iraq is the food AQ needs to grow and become stronger. The hate we have created by our invasion of Iraq is not confined to Iraq alone but to most all of the Muslim world. That is where AQ gets its support and recruits from.
xingu, your statements are false. Go back and study what I posted earlier today and you will find substantial evidence that the Iraqi people hate al-Qaeda far more than they hate America (if in deed they really hate America like you say). Once they rid themselves of the dangers of al-Qaeda or feel competent to do that without anymore help from us, then they will quickly ask us to leave. But at that point, we will have won and succeeded.
Defeating a small band of AQ is not going to mean spit. You have to defeat the idea. We can't do that as long as we are in Iraq, Saudi Arabia and give Israel free rein to steal land from the Palestinians.
Al-Qaeda grew rapidly in Afghanistan for 5 years before we ever invaded Afghanistan. They grew from less than 100 in May 1996 to more than 10,000 in September 2001. After we invaded Afghanistan some fled to Pakistan and Iraq. Yes, we have to "defeat the idea." That's what we did when we defeated the Nazis in WWII. We defeated the Nazi's idea. That's what we did when we defeated the Shintos in WWII. We defeated the Shinto's idea.
By the way, all that the Palestinian Arabs have to do to get back that land not part of Israel when Israel declared its independence in 1948, is to recognize Israel's right to exist and stop murdering Israelis.
In the meantime the quality of the army has shrunk so low it is now recruiting soldiers from prison. Can you imagine them doing that 10 years ago?
http://snafu-ed.blogspot.com/2007/10/army-meets-recruiting-goals-with-help.html
This is too stupid to deserve a response. But I'll respond anyway. Former legally released inmates are being recruited; not current inmates. By the way, this was also done during WWII.
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Option three. We stay in Iraq and remove the elected gov't.
If the stakes are as high as you say they are, then that is what we will do. Otherwise, there's no must to anything in Iraq. We can elect to go at will and prepare for the consequences of doing so - just as I have continually advocated for three years.
Cycloptichorn
Al-Qaeda grew rapidly in Afghanistan for 5 years before we ever invaded Afghanistan. They grew from less than 100 in May 1996 to more than 10,000 in September 2001. After we invaded Afghanistan some fled to Pakistan and Iraq.
By the way, all that the Palestinian Arabs have to do to get back that land not part of Israel when Israel declared its independence in 1948, is to recognize Israel's right to exist and stop murdering Israelis.
This is too stupid to deserve a response. But I'll respond anyway. Former legally released inmates are being recruited; not current inmates. By the way, this was also done during WWII.
To describe AQI's presence, intelligence experts cite a spectrum of estimates, ranging from 8 percent to 15 percent. The fact that such "a big window" exists, says Vincent Cannistraro, former chief of the CIA's Counterterrorism Center, indicates that "[those experts] really don't have a very good perception of what is going on."
It's notable that military intelligence reports have opted to cite a figure at the very top of that range. But even the low estimate of 8 percent may be an overstatement, if you consider some of the government's own statistics.
The first instructive set of data comes from the U.S.-sponsored Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. In March, the organization analyzed the online postings of eleven prominent Sunni insurgent groups, including AQI, tallying how many attacks each group claimed. AQI took credit for 10 percent of attacks on Iraqi security forces and Shiite militias (forty-three out of 439 attacks), and less than 4 percent of attacks on U.S. troops (seventeen out of 357). Although these Internet postings should not be taken as proof positive of the culprits, it's instructive to remember that PR-conscious al-Qaeda operatives are far more likely to overstate than understate their role.
Edward Gistaro, the national intelligence officer for transnational threats -- a principal author of last week's National Intelligence Estimate on al-Qaeda -- called AQI an "al-Qaeda affiliate," which is as good a term as any. al-Qaeda exists around the world as a series of franchise organizations united by a shared ideology, not as an organization with a clear command structure between franchisees and the senior leadership. In response to a question from Rep. Bud Cramer (D-AL), Gistaro clarified that he didn't want to portray al-Qaeda as a "monolithical" entity, in which the al-Qaeda senior leadership calls all the shots over its franchisees. That was probably the furthest Gistaro went to contradict President Bush's contention that al-Qaeda in Iraq is essentially the same organization that attacked the U.S. on September 11.
The Turks find American guns
Remember those American-bought guns that went missing in Iraq? Some of them have ended up in the hands of Kurdish separatists in Turkey, according to the Washington Post:
[quote]After the past two weeks' spate of PKK attacks, which killed a total of 30 soldiers, police officers and civilians, Turkish authorities arrested suspected rebels who were carrying U.S. military-issue 9mm Glock semiautomatic pistols. U.S. officials said at the time that the weapons had been stolen.
Al-Qaeda: The Hidden Enemy
On September 11th 2001 the world was introduced to a new word - Al Qaeda. They seem to have sprung out of nowhere. Who are they and what do they want?
Al-Qaeda - the faceless threat
After the attacks on September 11th 2001 everything changed. When the Twin Towers crumbled in flames the name Osama Bin Laden and his network of militant Islamic fundamentalists known as al-Qaeda has filtered through into the collective consciousness of every country in the world. The London bombings on July 7th of this year have rekindled fear in our society, a fear that frequently merges into paranoia, thanks to the sensationalist nature of the British and American press; it is very difficult to watch any news report that doesn't feature Bush or Blair referring to the war that the West has declared on al-Qaeda. But what does this mean? Who are al-Qaeda and what do they want?
The fundamental principals
Taken from the Arabic for 'the foundation' 'or 'the base', al-Qaeda is the name given to an international campaign comprised of independent and collaborative groups that all claim to be striving towards the reduction of any outside influence on Islamic affairs. Interestingly the organisation rarely uses the name to refer to itself - the use of the name "al-Qaeda" dates to as recently as early 2001, when the American government decided to prosecute Osama bin Laden in his absence and had to use anti-Mafia laws that required the existence of a named criminal organisation. In the fundamental tenants of its ideology, al-Qaeda has placed itself in direct opposition to the western world in a conflict that has directly led to the recent terrorist acts throughout the globe.
The face of al-Qaeda
In order to understand al-Qaeda, the western media has tried to describe it as an organised network that has a structure and a chain of command, but this is not the case. There is no single leader of al-Qaeda, but we have personified the movement in the form of Osama bin Laden. Born in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia to a wealthy family with close ties to the Saudi royal family, he is widely believed to have conceived of, incited and been instrumental in the attacks on 9/11 and is the "most wanted" man in the world with a reward for information leading to his capture of $50 million. While bin Laden is unquestionably a prominent figurehead representing al-Qaeda and was instrumental in its origins, the danger in presuming that he is the single leader has led to the rather simplistic idea that if he were captured, al-Qaeda would crumble. Al-Qaeda has become a term that actually represents a more general belief system, an ideology that is philosophical as well as political, and is held by a great many people within the far right of the Islamic world. Bin Laden is one of many likeminded individuals and the roots of their ideology go much deeper than many would like to admit.
East against West
Anti-Western sentiment by the Middle East in modern terms can actually be traced back to events that took place nearly a century ago, following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire at the end of World War I. This power was one of the largest empires of all times, and, at its height included the Middle East, parts of North Africa, and much of southeastern Europe. When the Empire fell to the Allies the land in the Middle East was divided up by the victors into the countries that exist to this day. The humiliation and enforced nationalism put upon those in the Arab world by this act paved the way for deep resent for Western powers, a sentiment that grew deeper following the foundation of Israel in 1948. Seen by several groups in the Arab world as nothing more than military and political base for the United States to keep an eye on its oil reserves, Israel has become for them a symbol of the constant Western dominance and influence that they see as being a great threat to Islamic world. The Six Day War of 1967 led to further humiliation when Israel launched a pre-emptive war on its Arab neighbours, resulting in Israel controlling the Gaza Strip, the Sinai Peninsula, the West Bank, and the Golan Heights. Of course, this is a simplified account of a very complicated matter, but nonetheless it can be said that the seeds of Al-Qaeda were sown out of this chain of events. However, it was during the conflict with the Soviet Union that bin Laden could rise to prominence within the realm of global affairs.
Afghanistan - the birthplace of al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda in modern terms evolved specifically from the Maktab al-Khadamat (MAK) -- a Mujahidin resistance organisation fighting against the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in the 1980s. Osama bin Laden was a founding member of the MAK, along with Palestinian militant Abdullah Yusuf Azzam. The role of the MAK was to channel funds from a variety of sources into training Mujahidin from around the world in guerrilla combat, and to transport these fighters to Afghanistan. Aided by Pakistani, Saudi and US governments, the Arab contingent in Afghanistan was initially quite small and not generally involved in the fighting, rather limiting its activities to logistics, housing, recruitment and financing the cause. Toward the end of the Soviet occupation, there was a desire amongst several prominent figures, notably bin Laden within the movement to expand their operations to include Islamic struggles in other parts of the world and hit non-military targets, thus moving the fight into the realm of global terrorism against the West. One of these organisations would eventually be known as al-Qaeda.
Their beliefs
Al-Qaeda's philosophical inspiration comes from the writings of Sayed Qutb, a prominent Muslim thinker, whose essays inspired most of the principal militant Islamic movements in the Middle East today. Though it adheres to no particular sect, in general its philosophy harks back to a more literal, traditional understanding of the Qur'an and its teachings, in that members are persuaded to give up their own lives for the promise of a paradise beyond. This technique was used a millennium ago by Hassan i Sabbah, a mystic, alchemist and master terrorist on whom bin Laden may well model himself. Hassan's Order of Assassins was made up of suicide killers with poisoned daggers who believed that their leader had the key to the gates of Heaven. According to statements broadcast by al-Qaeda on the internet and on satellite TV channels, the ultimate goal of al-Qaeda is to re-establish the dominance of Islam throughout the world, by working with allied Islamic extremist groups to overthrow secular or Western-supported regimes that are believed to interfere in the affairs of Islamic nations against the interests of Muslims. Besides 9/11, al-Qaeda has also taken responsibility for the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar-Es-Salaam, Tanzania, and the recent London bombings.
Is al-Qaeda real?
It has been established that al-Qaeda has no clear structure, nor is it clear how many members make up the organisation, whether it is millions scattered across the globe, or whether it is even a handful of rebels. In fact, it has been argued that al-Qaeda is so weakly linked together that it is hard to say it even exists apart from Osama bin Laden and a small clique of close associates. The lack of any significant numbers of convicted al-Qaeda members despite a large number of arrests on terrorism charges is often cited as a reason to doubt whether a widespread entity that meets the description of al-Qaeda exists at all. However, a useful distinction can be made between al-Qaeda and Islamic terrorists. The latter generally operate nationally within one country, whereas al-Qaeda is mostly involved in international terrorism. Certainly in popular culture we have come to understand the term as applying to any Islamic operation that plans the harm or death of innocent civilians in the name of their faith and putting the debate aside, what is more important is understanding that this movement is not about to fade away, and that perhaps a reappraisal of how such a deep-seated contempt for the western world can be diffused if indeed, it's not too late.
Ican
You don't seem to understand what you read. Nowhere did I say anything about the Iraqi people supporting AQ. AQ has support (financial) outside of Iraq and the AQI leadership are outside. Most of the members of AQI are Iraqis.
What you actually said is irrelevant. What is relevant is the Iraqi people hate al-Qaeda much more than they hate Americans (if in deed they do hate Americans). Consequently they are increasingly joining with the Americans to destroy al-Qaeda.
Quote:Al-Qaeda grew rapidly in Afghanistan for 5 years before we ever invaded Afghanistan. They grew from less than 100 in May 1996 to more than 10,000 in September 2001. After we invaded Afghanistan some fled to Pakistan and Iraq.
This has nothing to do with what I said. You seem to read what you want to see and not what I say.
Al-Qaeda doesn't depend on the US attacking them to help them attrack recruits and grow. For more than 5 years prior to 9/11 they grew without our help in Afghanistan.
Quote:By the way, all that the Palestinian Arabs have to do to get back that land not part of Israel when Israel declared its independence in 1948, is to recognize Israel's right to exist and stop murdering Israelis.
Would it be fair to have the Israelis stop murdering the Palestinians?
The Israelis have frequently stopped retaliating in response to Palestinians Arab attacks on Israelis. The Israelis would permanently stop retaliating against the Palestinian Arabs if the Palestinian Arabs would permanently stop killing Israelis.
Quote:This is too stupid to deserve a response. But I'll respond anyway. Former legally released inmates are being recruited; not current inmates. By the way, this was also done during WWII.
You fail to grasp the point I'm making. Not unusual, you fail to grasp a lot of things.
I think your problem is you still believe what Bush says. Every time he says so and so bombing was caused by AQI you believe him. You'd think every bombing and act of violence was caused by AQI. Understand that most of the violence is not caused by AQI but by sectarian warfare.
For the 10th time, I think Bush is incompetent. I do not base my judgments on what he said or failed to say unless I can verify it with additional references.
AQI is not a big thing in Iraq. It's just blown out of proportion by the Bush administration. Defeating AQI is not going to stop the violence in Iraq and it will not destroy AQ. It has many other AQI type organizations around the Muslim world. You can find them in most all Muslim countries.
Al-Qaeda is a big thing in Iraq according to the Iraqis. Read again what I previously posted about a couple of pages back.
Quote:To describe AQI's presence, intelligence experts cite a spectrum of estimates, ranging from 8 percent to 15 percent. The fact that such "a big window" exists, says Vincent Cannistraro, former chief of the CIA's Counterterrorism Center, indicates that "[those experts] really don't have a very good perception of what is going on."
It's notable that military intelligence reports have opted to cite a figure at the very top of that range. But even the low estimate of 8 percent may be an overstatement, if you consider some of the government's own statistics.
The first instructive set of data comes from the U.S.-sponsored Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. In March, the organization analyzed the online postings of eleven prominent Sunni insurgent groups, including AQI, tallying how many attacks each group claimed. AQI took credit for 10 percent of attacks on Iraqi security forces and Shiite militias (forty-three out of 439 attacks), and less than 4 percent of attacks on U.S. troops (seventeen out of 357). Although these Internet postings should not be taken as proof positive of the culprits, it's instructive to remember that PR-conscious al-Qaeda operatives are far more likely to overstate than understate their role.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/100107D.shtml
Quote:Edward Gistaro, the national intelligence officer for transnational threats -- a principal author of last week's National Intelligence Estimate on al-Qaeda -- called AQI an "al-Qaeda affiliate," which is as good a term as any. al-Qaeda exists around the world as a series of franchise organizations united by a shared ideology, not as an organization with a clear command structure between franchisees and the senior leadership. In response to a question from Rep. Bud Cramer (D-AL), Gistaro clarified that he didn't want to portray al-Qaeda as a "monolithical" entity, in which the al-Qaeda senior leadership calls all the shots over its franchisees. That was probably the furthest Gistaro went to contradict President Bush's contention that al-Qaeda in Iraq is essentially the same organization that attacked the U.S. on September 11.
http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/003780.php
BTW, there is friction between AQI and some other Sunnis insurgent groups. I wouldn't put to high a hopes on the Sunnis destroying AQI. They both hate Americans and Shiites.
9/11 Commission Report
2.3 THE RISE OF BIN LADIN AND AL QAEDA (1988-1992)
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Bin Ladin understood better than most of the volunteers the extent to which the continuation and eventual success of the jihad in Afghanistan depended on an increasingly complex, almost worldwide organization. This organization included a financial support network that came to be known as the "Golden Chain," put together mainly by financiers in Saudi Arabia and the Persian Gulf states. Donations flowed through charities or other nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). Bin Ladin and the "Afghan Arabs" drew largely on funds raised by this network, whose agents roamed world markets to buy arms and supplies for the mujahideen, or "holy warriors."21
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Bin Ladin now had a vision of himself as head of an international jihad confederation. In Sudan, he established an "Islamic Army Shura" that was to serve as the coordinating body for the consortium of terrorist groups with which he was forging alliances. It was composed of his own al Qaeda Shura together with leaders or representatives of terrorist organizations that were still independent. In building this Islamic army, he enlisted groups from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, Oman, Algeria, Libya, Tunisia, Morocco, Somalia, and Eritrea. Al Qaeda also established cooperative but less formal relationships with other extremist groups from these same countries; from the African states of Chad, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, and Uganda; and from the Southeast Asian states of Burma, Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia. Bin Ladin maintained connections in the Bosnian conflict as well.37 The groundwork for a true global terrorist network was being laid.
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Bin Ladin seemed willing to include in the confederation terrorists from almost every corner of the Muslim world. His vision mirrored that of Sudan's Islamist leader, Turabi, who convened a series of meetings under the label Popular Arab and Islamic Conference around the time of Bin Ladin's arrival in that country. Delegations of violent Islamist extremists came from all the groups represented in Bin Ladin's Islamic Army Shura. Representatives also came from organizations such as the Palestine Liberation Organization, Hamas, and Hezbollah.51
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9/11 Commission Report
2.5 AL QAEDA'S RENEWAL IN AFGHANISTAN (1996-1998)
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The Taliban seemed to open the doors to all who wanted to come to Afghanistan to train in the camps. The alliance with the Taliban provided al Qaeda a sanctuary in which to train and indoctrinate fighters and terrorists, import weapons, forge ties with other jihad groups and leaders, and plot and staff terrorist schemes. While Bin Ladin maintained his own al Qaeda guesthouses and camps for vetting and training recruits, he also provided support to and benefited from the broad infrastructure of such facilities in Afghanistan made available to the global network of Islamist movements. U.S. intelligence estimates put the total number of fighters who underwent instruction in Bin Ladin-supported camps in Afghanistan from 1996 through 9/11 at 10,000 to 20,000. 78
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Now effectively merged with Zawahiri's Egyptian Islamic Jihad,82 al Qaeda promised to become the general headquarters for international terrorism, without the need for the Islamic Army Shura. Bin Ladin was prepared to pick up where he had left off in Sudan. He was ready to strike at "the head of the snake."
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On February 23, 1998, Bin Ladin issued his public fatwa. The language had been in negotiation for some time, as part of the merger under way between Bin Ladin's organization and Zawahiri's Egyptian Islamic Jihad. Less than a month after the publication of the fatwa, the teams that were to carry out the embassy attacks were being pulled together in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam. The timing and content of their instructions indicate that the decision to launch the attacks had been made by the time the fatwa was issued.88
here is an article published by the U.K.'s VIRGIN-TV HISTORY CHANNEL .
their point is that there is no clear definition of al qaeda since it's really a title bestowed by the western press upon a group of very loosely organized - perhaps "unorganized" - revolutionaries/terrorists( depending upon the viewers point of view) .
i found it quite interesting , since it takes a somewhat detached look at al qaeda and is trying to give the reader some understanding of what makes up this group of people and what drives them .
i think it's quite different from any press reports i've read so far .
hbg
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