Al Qaeda
Al Qaeda (in Arabic, القاعدة, al-Qā'idah, pronounced /ælqɑːʕɪdɐ/, "the base", alternately spelled al-Qaida and al-Qa'ida) is a terrorist, paramilitary and jihadist organization. The organization uses terrorist practices and attacks and poses as a resistance movement around the world, being that it is commonly pointed out as an international terrorism network. This organization has not only become known worldwide for being the terrorist organization responsible for the attacks of September 11, 2001, those of March 11, 2004, and its series of multiple other terrorist attacks in different places, but also for having many branches in various Islamic countries and dividing itself into branches and subgroups such as the Jabhat al-Nusra (known as the al-Nusra Front) today called Tahrir Al Sham, and other branches and subgroups such as Al-Qaeda of the Islamic Maghreb (branch in North Africa), or Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (branch in Yemen and Saudi Arabia), or as the popular terrorist group calling itself the Islamic State (now an independent group), a terrorist group which formerly Before it managed to become independent, it was its branch in Iraq and Syria before the aforementioned al-Nusra Front, and also the well-known group Al Shabbaab, a branch of Al Qaeda in Somalia and Kenya.
Its founder, leader and greatest collaborator was Osama bin Laden (1957-2011), a billionaire of Saudi origin who studied Religion and Economics at the King Abdul Aziz University. Aymán al-Zawahiri succeeded him as sole chief of the organization until his death in August 2022.
Recent investigations —journalists, researchers, analysts and specialists— affirm that Bin Laden was financed by the CIA in the fight against the Soviet Union troops in Afghanistan during the so-called Afghanistan war (1978-1992) in the middle of the Cold War. The support ranged from combat training to the delivery of weapons.
Its organizational structure based on cells of militants and clandestine contact networks, very similar to the modus operandi of drug cartels, has given it a very wide mobility of action and great difficulty in dismantling it (see: network warfare).
Origin of name
The name comes from the Arabic noun qāʕidah, meaning 'strength, foundation, foundation' and that it can also refer to a military base. al- is the form of the Arabic definite article al-. It would be, therefore, the base or the foundation. British politician Robin Cook noted that the name would indicate the database, since Bin Laden managed financial operations in a computer file called al Qaida (literally 'the base [ of data]'). Since then, many fighters who are members of the mujahidin have joined the Al Qaeda network.
Bin Laden explained the origin of the name in an interview with Al Jazeera journalist Tayseer Alouni in October 2001.
The name 'al-Qaeda' was established a long time ago by mere chance. The late Abu Ebeida El-Banashiri established the training camps for our mujahedeen against Russia's terrorism. We used to call the training camp al-Qaeda. The name stayed.
The name 'al Qaeda' was established a long time ago by simple chance. Abu Ubaidah al-Banshiri founded training camps for our Russian counter-terrorism warlord. We used to call al-Qaeda training camps. The name has remained.
History
At the end of the 1970s, the factions of the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (communist) were competing for power, with the USSR intervening in favor of the one that affected it the most (Taraki's faction), sending its armies and battalions commando, who assassinated President Amin (faction then in power) starting the war in Afghanistan. In this war period, of great importance and influence in the internal situation of the USSR, the Afghan people, their different ethnic groups and their religious leaders, began an uprising and people's war against the Soviet army and the Afghan communist militias that were subordinate to it. During the war, Soviet forces numbered close to 200,000 men, with state-of-the-art training and weaponry. Coinciding with the decomposition and collapse of real socialism, the war in Afghanistan became the "Vietnam" of the USSR, to which the Russian people refused to collaborate and after ten years of Islamic people's war, the communist forces were defeated and the Soviet army beat a retreat.
There are several reasons for the Islamic victory: the conviction of the Afghans that they are fighting against hated historical invaders; a religious vision of the world, which places atheistic communism in the front line of its adversaries; a mystique that awakened the solidarity of the peoples of the world, especially the Islamic countries, which sent battalions of mujahideen to liberate Afghanistan, training on the bases that the Arab countries and the West —especially the US— supported and financed with firmness and resolution. One of those bases —La Base— was founded and directed by a young Saudi, of Muslim religious convictions, fundamentalist and radically anti-communist.
After the war against the Soviets, Al Qaeda (The Base) was not demobilized by its leader, who soon became involved in the factional fighting that followed the defeat of the communists. In it, Bin Laden aligned his group with the Taliban, also participating in significant operations for the Muslim world, such as in the extinct Yugoslavia (to stop the Muslim genocide in Bosnia and Herzegovina). Partly due to his radical fundamentalism, partly due to the dynamics of the alignments that occurred in the Afghan civil war, Bin Laden ended up fighting whoever gave him support and encouragement (the US), a country that they consider essentially anti-religious., pro-Zionist and eroder of the Islamic way of life. In turn, Al Qaeda is quickly viewed by the US as a group that drifts towards anti-Western terrorism, which threatens American and Western security and the stability of allied Arab countries.
In 1993 the United States of America sent troops to Somalia to distribute food and water, in addition to guaranteeing the safety of civilians in the face of the civil war that the country was suffering. Two UH-60 Black Hawks were shot down during a capture mission by the 1st Delta Special Operations Forces Detachment (Delta Force) and the 75th Ranger Regiment. Subsequently, the intelligence of the United States military service concluded that a large part of the Somali militia was trained by members of Al-Qaeda, something that would be verified in May 2006 when the country plunged again into a second civil war between the Alliance for the Restoration of Peace and Against Terrorism (ARPCT) and militias loyal to the Union of Islamic Courts. By June 5, at least 350 people had been killed in the crossfire.
The organization has built training camps for those militants scattered around the world, training thousands in guerrilla techniques, the use of explosives and knowledge of paramilitary practice. Its agents have been involved in numerous attacks, including the 1998 terrorist bombings of the US embassies, in which they destroyed the US embassies in Nairobi, Kenya and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Eleven people were killed in Dar-es-Salaam, while 213 people were killed in Nairobi, and only twelve were American. off the coast of Yemen, killing 17 sailors and wounding 39 more.
In 2001 they attacked the twin towers in New York and the Pentagon in Washington hijacking 4 planes. It was the attack where they destroyed two of the tallest buildings in the United States and damaged the headquarters of the United States Army.
In 2008, threats by Al-Qaeda caused the total suspension of the 2008 Dakar Rally, which from then on began to take place in South America.
On December 26, 2009, Umar Faruk Abdulmutallab was arrested on time after trying to blow up a plane with 278 passengers on board headed for Detroit.
On May 1, 2011, the leader of this organization, Osama Bin Laden, was assassinated by the US army in the town of Abbottabad, located north of the Pakistani capital.
The organization since September 11, 2001
In 2001, bin Laden and other al Qaeda leaders were believed to be under the protection of the Taliban, an Islamic group that controlled most of Afghanistan. In that same year, the activity of this group radically changed, reaching levels of terror never before imagined. According to the CIA and the FBI, 19 Al Qaeda militants led by the Egyptian Mohammed Atta carried out 9/11 (attack of September 11) against the Pentagon and the World Trade Center (WTC). That was the most terrible attack in the US in the history of this country, with some 3,000 deaths.
Initially according to "al Qaeda plans" in 1995 it was to project planes like missiles at buildings in the United States and bring down the icons of American power; Among these points were: the Sears Tower (Chicago), the Pentagon (Washington D. C.), the Transamerica Pyramid (San Francisco), the World Trade Center (New York), the White House (Washington D. C.), the Empire State Building (New York), the United States Capitol (Washington D.C.) and the U.S. Bank Tower (Los Angeles).
USA The US responded by launching a massive attack on Taliban and Al Qaeda forces in Afghanistan, killing and capturing thousands of militants and civilians with no connection to the conflict, forcing the rest of its leaders initially into hiding. Despite the subsequent capture of several of its key members (including the militant who allegedly planned and organized the 9/11 attacks), the group's activity and its franchises, far from disappearing, changed organization to become an international organization. and coordinated with militants spread all over the world.
The following attacks this time were in Indonesia:
- Explosion of a bomb at a nightclub on Bali Island that left over 200 dead (85 of them, Australians).
- Attacks on the Australian Embassy in Jakarta.
Later in 2003, bombings in Saudi Arabia left 35 dead in buildings inhabited by Westerners, among other coordinated actions in an effort to destabilize the Saudi monarchy. On May 16, a chain of suicide attacks in Casablanca against three catering establishments, including the Casa de España, the Israeli Alliance and a Jewish cemetery, cost the lives of 45 people.
In recent times and several years after 9/11, they reappeared with Al Qaeda cells in Europe, claiming responsibility for the London attacks on July 7, 2005 with more than 50 dead, 9/11 attack M in Madrid in which 191 people died and 1,858 were injured, and attempting failed attacks in Barcelona and Germany, in addition to threatening countries such as France, the United States, the United Kingdom, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Poland, Denmark, Australia, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Cyprus, Israel and Kuwait.
All member countries of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization NATO led by the United States and the European Union and all member countries of the CIS Commonwealth of Independent States led by Russia are also threatened.
Parallel to this, factions of Al Qaeda in Iraq are fighting fiercely against the US occupation, the Tawhid wal Jihad group led by the Jordanian Abu Musab Al Zarqawi, who was killed by US troops in June 2006, carry out daily actions against the American and British occupation troops, and Iraqis sympathetic to the new government as well as civilians. These attacks add up to thousands of deaths among the armed forces of both sides, but have especially caused casualties among the civilian population.
On April 11, 2007, the armed wing of Al Qaeda in the Maghreb carried out an attack in Algiers (Algeria), leaving at least 24 dead and 222 injured. This same day Al Qaeda claimed responsibility for the attacks carried out on April 10, 2007 in Casablanca (Morocco).
Death of Al Qaeda leader
On May 1, 2011, US President Barack Obama announced that leader Osama Bin Laden had been executed in a US military operation in Pakistan.
New leader of Al Qaeda
The new leader of the organization was the 71-year-old Egyptian, Aymán al-Zawahirí, until his death on July 31, 2022 in an airstrike.
On Tuesday, June 5, 2012, the US Pentagon reported that the previous day a drone attack on a location in the northwest region of Pakistan had killed Abu Yaliya al Libi, alleged number two of Al Qaeda. If the news is confirmed, it would be the greatest success achieved by the US army since the death of Osama Bin Laden, since Libi was considered the head of operations of the terrorist organization.
Al Qaeda and Spain
2004 Madrid attacks
The attacks of March 11, 2004 (also known by the numeronym 11-M) were a series of terrorist attacks on four trains of the Madrid suburban network carried out by jihadist terrorists.
This is the second largest attack in Europe to date, with 10 almost simultaneous explosions in four trains at morning rush hour (between 07:36 and 07:40). Later, after a deactivation attempt, the police would detonate, in a controlled manner, two devices that had not exploded, deactivating a third that would allow, due to its content, to initiate the first investigations that would lead to the identification of the perpetrators. 192 people died, and 1,858 were injured.
On the afternoon of March 13, a call made to the Telemadrid television channel allowed them to locate a video in a trash bin in which a man with a Moroccan dialect, who claimed to be Abu Dujan al Afghani, later convicted of these attacks, calling himself a spokesman military of Al Qaeda in Europe, claimed responsibility.
On April 3, 2004, the police located and surrounded several members of the terrorist commando in Leganés. Finding themselves cornered, its members committed suicide by blowing up the floor in which they had entrenched themselves —this being the first suicide attack in Europe— when the Geos began the assault. In this action, an agent of the police group died, in addition to all the members of the Islamist cell present there.
Kidnapping of Spanish volunteers in 2009
On the morning of December 8, 2009, the branch of Al Qaeda of the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) claimed responsibility for the kidnapping of the three Spanish volunteers in Mauritania, on November 29, as well as that of a French botanist four days earlier in Mali. The Spaniards are Albert Vilalta, Alicia Gámez and Roque Pascual.
The Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs gave credibility to the claim, made on an audiotape passed to the Doha-based television station, after submitting it for study by a technical committee, it said in a statement. "This is an audio recording that explicitly mentions the name of the hostages," the ministry note said.
The Islamist group's spokesman, who gave his name as Saleh Abu Mohammad, said "France and Spain will be informed later of the legitimate demands of the mujahideen," also referring to the kidnapping of a French man in the east from Mali on November 30.
The three volunteers from the Catalan NGO Barcelona Acció Solidària disappeared on November 29 in Mauritania when they were kidnapped from the convoy carrying humanitarian aid to various African countries and heading along the highway between Nouadhibou and the capital, Nouakchott.
The convoy left Barcelona on November 22, crossed Morocco, headed for Senegal and was going to end the Gambia with 100,000 kilos of aid material that it planned to distribute as part of its annual caravan.
The National Court opened an investigation into the kidnapping for being a crime against Spaniards abroad and for being a possible crime of terrorism.
France has asked its citizens to leave northern and eastern Mali as the fundamentalist threat increases.
Alicia Gámez was released on March 10, 2010. Albert Vilalta and Roque Pascual were released on August 23, 2010.
Ideology and motivation
Basically, the vision of al-Qaeda ideology is an extreme form of Islam, jihad, with countries or governments that supposedly act against Islam, religious communities and ethnic groups as the only possibility to represent the interests of islam. Al-Qaeda believes that the only answer is for Islam to play its rightful role in the world, that there is a conspiracy of various parts of the world against Islam, which is led by Israel, the US and the countries of Western Europe. In addition, she is convinced that as long as Israel exists and follows the political and cultural influences of the West, Muslim society, Islam, cannot be united.
As justification for its actions, al-Qaeda points to various religious teachings and messages taken from the Koran. For which, it is based mainly on the so-called primitive form of Islam, in which it is interpreted that the focus is placed on the war against the infidels, their conversion and the unification of all Muslims under a common caliphate. In much of the organization there is marked anti-Semitism, the result of decades of fighting against Israel.
Some members of al-Qaeda, such as Mohammed Atta, are considered anti-Semitic. In this world view, Jews are seen as infidels who cannot convert, or even as anti-Muslims who control liberal democratic countries and ex-socialist states and control these in turn against Islam. Both, supposedly created and controlled by the supposed primary enemy systems, are the chosen archenemies of Al-Qaeda. Al-Qaeda fights these two ideologies less for what they do than for what they stand for: socialism because it preaches the equality of all people and especially because its followers prefer atheism, and liberal Western countries because their enterprises are seen as rampant and no religion.
Osama bin Laden stated in an interview in 1999[citation needed], that for him and his followers, there are no civilians, just enemies to kill, without exception; this is the sacred duty of every Muslim.
The first attacks were carried out in the 1990s, such as the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. The Clinton administration's counterterrorism operation began thereafter, involving terrorist attacks against the United States embassies in Dar se Salaam and Nairobi and airstrikes against Al-Qaeda bases in Sudan and Afghanistan. In the year 2000 there was an attack by Islamists on the Christmas market in Strasbourg that was thwarted by the German security authorities. From the outset, an alleged link to the Al-Qaeda terrorist network could not be proven in court. The reason for this is that Germany is, apart from the US, Israel's closest ally. On the other hand, the lifestyle is perceived, as in other European countries, as a liberal, sinful and vulgar way of life (illegitimate sexual relations, alcohol consumption, legal homosexuality) and as an imposition for Muslims living in Germany.
Al-Qaeda also relies on propaganda, especially in Arab and Muslim societies. He sees violence as a means to unite all Muslims in the "liberation war" against the dominance of the West. These acts of terrorism are also carried out against Muslim civilians considered to be "collaborators" or victims of terrorism as random variables in the negotiation. The main field of action after bin Laden's last appeal to Iraq, the largest number of victims, as well as the perpetrators themselves, are members of Islam. A new feature here is the legitimacy of suicide attacks which were previously unused due to religious reservations.
Al-Qaeda has found little uniform support in Iraq and is supported mostly by foreign terrorists. The organization has found stronger support in Pakistan, Egypt, Indonesia and Saudi Arabia. In addition to political causes, such as persistent civil wars, traditional oppression, the enduring tradition of slavery, human trafficking, misogyny, and a particularly strict interpretation of Islam such as Wahhabism and backwardness are also seen as root causes. tribal cultures like the pashtunwali.
Al-Qaeda's thought leaders also rely on Islamic norms according to which every state and social form beyond Sharia is reprehensible and therefore legitimate to destroy the world of infidels with terrorism. The perpetrators are mostly young men of low social status. Other assassins, especially in major operations such as September 11, 2001, are highly trained graduates. Some leaders and leaders, like the founder Ossama bin Laden, come from an upper-class family.
In Iraq in particular, Western soldiers are also called "crusaders. The background of this qualifier is the effects of the Maarat an-Numan massacre (1098).
Strategic objectives
Al-Qaeda's ultimate goals are not short-term, but rather ones the network expects to be achieved in just years or decades. The main objective is not necessarily to achieve these objectives in themselves, but rather to set in motion a chain of events that should ultimately lead to the desired results. Since the core of al-Qaeda operates in secret and carries out, among other things, false flag operations, its real objectives are difficult to determine. Then there are the links with other Islamist movements that pursue independent interests.
Osama bin Laden, Khalid Cheikh Mohammed, Ayman al-Zawahiri and other al-Qaeda leaders have created targets that try to network with all means at their disposal.
A large part of al-Qaeda's efforts has been invested in war or jihad against the West, since this is the main obstacle to all subsequent steps in its economic dominance and political power. It also considers that the cooperation and support of some Western countries (especially the United States and France) to Arab countries (such as Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Lebanon) is interference in internal Arab affairs, the purpose of which would be to prevent the unification of the Islamic world and strengthen the position of Israel. This al-Qaeda type war especially with terrorist attacks against civilian targets in target countries, to terrorize the population to destabilize the country politically and damage the economy. Tourists are often targeted in Muslim countries. It is closely related to the attack on the spread of the Western way of life and the export of the values of Islamic culture. The intended goal is the preservation of Muslim society against Western influences (not based on sharia jurisprudence so that born Muslims are able to freely choose their religion), gender equality, public opinion openly displaying the women, alcohol consumption, legal homosexuality, illegitimate sexual relations, etc.).
While achieving the desired results, in addition to the successful execution of terrorist attacks, your activities include placing sleepers on the possible opposite structures in key locations or recruiting like-minded people already in the corresponding positions (how Nidal Malik Hasan) and the global fusion and networking between Islamists and jihadist movements and groups. (The close contact with local rulers, such as the Taliban, the planning of the joint operation and coordinated actions with the terrorist organizations of the network, such as Laichkar-al-Toiba or Abu Sayyaf).
Al-Qaeda also combats all international organizations that pose a threat to al-Qaeda and its objectives. This is especially true for Interpol and the United Nations. The reason for this is mainly the consideration of the UN as a guarantor of the existing conditions, which with its peace efforts endangers the objectives of al-Qaeda. Thus, UN programs in Somalia such as the peacekeeping missions in the 1990s Unosom, Unosom II, and the UN Somali transitional government organization with the prevention of Islamists taking complete control of the country, through the al-Qaeda movement in Somalia. On the other hand, the United Nations has passed a series of resolutions to curb al-Qaeda's transnational terrorism. (Commitment by UN member states to impose sanctions on individuals who are linked to al-Qaeda, lists of al-Qaeda members, ISAF deployment, provisions against the spread of WMD).
One of the main goals is the overthrow of the Saudi royal family and all other governments of Muslim-majority countries that do not abide by Islamic principles or work for or are friends with non-Islamic powers (Jordan, Pakistan, Egypt...): This is followed by the basic application of Qur'anic Islamic law (Sharia) in all Muslim countries.
Since the early 1990s, al-Qaeda has been closely linked to Muslim separatist groups, the goals of which overlap with those of bin Laden's network. Therefore, the separation of all Muslim territories and regions from most other countries of different faiths (Mindanao from the Philippines, Dagestan, Chechnya, Ufa, and Tatarstan from Russia, Ogaden from Ethiopia, Kosovo from Serbia...) it is seen as an important step towards the unification of Islam. During the Bosnian War, there were numerous atrocities committed by the Mujahideen, among others, under the leadership of Bosnian Army Chief Rasim Delić, against Serbs and Croats in central Bosnia and the Ozren region. On Osama bin Laden's orders, al-Qaeda mujahideen fought during the war with the Bosnian army in the vanguard. Al-Qaeda supporters in Kosovo also fought alongside the KUK.
At this point, Al-Qaeda's hopes are that the West has been defeated militarily and economically, so it hopes to have a free hand for all further action:
- Above all, the destruction of the State of Israel and the expulsion or elimination of its Jewish inhabitants.
- The previous elimination or weakening of the protective power, the United States, and its allies (Canada, France, United Kingdom, Germany, Italy...) as possible protective powers.
- The reconquest of all territories that were once Muslims (Spain, Crimea...)
- The reconquest of all territories that have once been governed by the Islamic rulers (India, Portugal, Spain, Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica and parts of East Africa...).
- And finally, the union of all these countries and territories in one (califate, governed by Islamic law for all true believers).
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