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The 3rd global war: Al-Qaeda, its organization and its objectives |
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Thursday, 31 May 2007 |
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With my last two articles on this incredible conflict, the 3rd Global War, I thought that these will be my last word on the subject. The more I thought about the articles, the more convinced I became that they were not adequate enough for a basic study of the recent mass madness of our so called civilized world. The last article concentrated on America's response to the declaration of war against it and Al-Qaeda's conduct which has been raging for almost a decade. Today I am going to talk about the other major belligerent in this conflict, Al-Qaeda. Al-Qaeda is a multi-national organization with members from numerous countries and with a worldwide presence. It was organized by Osama bin-Laden after the hurried exit of the Soviet Union from Afghanistan, the organization gathered hard core individuals who were later on referred to as the afghan Arabs, which swelled to include others from different nationalities who share the idea and the vision of the leader. The organizations objectives are, world domination and the establishment of a new Islamic Caliphate based on their own understanding of Islam and their own interpretation of its laws. We still need to know a lot more about the orginization, who is behind it, its financial support and its methods. It is unquestionably a very strong organization and a very dangerous adversary and it has actually grown much stronger after 9/11, because of the America's actions or rather inactions against it, but I am going to start this update with few words on the birth place and the home of Al-Qaeda, Afghanistan.
The Islamic Republic Afghanistan is a landlocked country that is located in the heart of Asia. Afghanistan is a culturally mixed nation, a historically, culturally, ethnically and religiously diverse society, a crossroads between the East and the West. It has has been like that for a very long time in the past, the focal point of ancient trade, through it passes the famous Khyber Pass of the legendary Silk road. It has an important Geo-strategical location, connecting South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East together. During its long history it has seen various invaders and conquerors. Afghanistan became a buffer state in the great game played by the United Kingdom and Tsarist Russia. In 1919, the country regained full independence from the United Kingdom. The longest period of stability in Afghanistan was between 1933 and 1973 when the country was under the rule of king Zahir Shah a ruled which ended in 1973 when Zahir Shah's brother-in-law Sardar Daoud Khan launched a bloodless coup during which he deposed his brother in-law. The coup was very short lived adventure, Daoud himself was removed from power and murdered when the Communists launched another coup and took over the government. The Communist's rule was a very turbulent affair that was characterized by frequent bloody internecine quarrels which threatened its very existence and prompted the old Soviet Union to interfere on behalf of their clients, so on the eve of Christmas 1979, the Soviets invaded and occupied their southern neighbor, but it was a colossal mistake. A great blunder which was very strongly resisted and militarily opposed by various groups including the United States, which as part of its cold war strategy against its rival the Soviet Union started to covertly encourage anti-Soviet Mujahideen forces through the Pakistani secret service who provided the tactical training and the logistics with the help of Saudi money.
The Soviet adventure in Afghanistan was a terrible blunder it cost the old Soviet Empire huge amounts of blood and treasure and was a very significant factor in its ultimate collapse. Ten years in the quagmire and with mounting international pressure and great number of casualties, the Soviets withdrew in 1989. The man who brought the money and also Arabs from various Midwestern countries to join the Afghani Mujahideen in this struggle was Osama bin Laden.
Osama bin Laden the scion of a very powerful and an extremely rich Saudi family was born in Riyadh on March, 10, 1957. His father, Mohamed bin Laden, was a wealthy businessman with close ties to the Saudi royal family, the father a poor and uneducated emigrated from Hadramut in Yemen, to Jeddah. The father started his own business in1930 as a building contractor for the Saudi royal family. During the 1950's, Osama bin Laden was raised as a devout Sunni Muslim. From 1968 to 1976 Osama attended the relatively secular Al Thager School were he was exposed to the Egyptian Muslim brotherhood's political teachings. Bin Laden's wealth and connections assisted his interest in supporting the Mujahideens who were fighting the Soviet Union in Afghanistan following their invasion of that country in 1979. Osama's old teacher from Jeddah, Abdullah Azzam, had relocated to Peshawar a major border city in western Pakistan. From there, Azzam was able to organize resistance against the Soviets. The American covert role against the Soviet occupation was entrusted to the Pakistani security apparatus which provided the training and the logistical support to the resistance and was financed by Saudi money which was brought by the young bin-Laden with whom arrived a number of Arabs with similar minds from several mid eastern countries. These fighters were known later on as the Afghan Arabs. The defeat of the Soviet Empire must have inspired the young emotional Osama to dream about a new Islamic Caliphate with him on top which would be built around his own followers, at the same time he was becoming increasingly disillusioned with his own government and was beginning to look at them as too subservient to the decaying Christian west. A disillusionment that grew into an open hostility with the Saudi royal family which allowed during Kuwait's occupation by Saddam infidels to pollute the holy land a hostility which forced the Saudis to drive him out the country. Osama left to Sudan and after a short while back to Afghanistan.
The word Al-Qaeda means “the base” in Arabic. It was meant by Osama bin Laden to be “the base” for his dream the “jihad” against the crusaders and the Jews. It is a multi-national organization with members from numerous countries and with a worldwide presence. The organization was established by Osama bin Laden after the humiliating departure of the of the Soviet Union from Afghanistan to bring together the Arabs who fought against the Soviet Union. It has cells worldwide and is reinforced by its ties to Sunni extremist networks. It was based in Afghanistan until Coalition forces removed the Taliban from power in late 2001, it has several thousand members and associates who are dispersed in small groups across South Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East, it also serves as a focal point or umbrella organization for a worldwide network that includes many Sunni Islamic extremist groups. Al-Qaeda maintains moneymaking front businesses, solicits donations from like minded supporters, and illicitly siphons funds from donations to Muslim charitable organizations. The group's goal is to unite all Muslims and the radicalization of existing Islamic groups and the creation of radical Islamic groups were none exist and to establish an Islamic Caliphate throughout the world by working with allied extremist Islamic groups to overthrow regimes it deems as corrupt non-Islamic and subservient to the hated westerners non-Islamic and expelling westerners and non-Muslims from Muslim countries. The group proposes a Jihad (holy war) for the achievement of its declared objective. It was based in Afghanistan until the Americans removed the Taliban's from power in late 2001. The organization is now dispersed in small groups across South Asia, Southeast Asia and the Middle East. On the 11th of September 2001 it delivered a most atrocious attack on the United States thus plunging the world into the 3rd global war.
September 11 awakened the Americans to the reality of the base and the seriousness of its threats, but they still seem to be dealing with those threats with less than the required force and energy. The American people are confused and worried and polarized look at the amateurishness and clumsiness with which the Bush Administration are conducting their occupation of Iraq and the way they are responding to al-Qaeda's atrocities there, they seem to be overwhelmed by the terrible they have created, they don’t have a strategy for victory, their policies are no more than reflexive reactions and tactical adjustments to the highly explosive and extremely dangerous situation. Congress with its Democratic majority is continuing to play partisan politics and presidential ambitions when historical precedents and America's long term interests demand compromises and selfless combined efforts in spite of the previous blunders of the Bush Administration to seek a reasonable strategy for victory or at least a plan for an honorable and face saving exit from the quagmire. America's defeat in Iraq and if they are going to flee the country in a hurry like the Soviets did in Afghanistan in 1989 would have truly calamitous consequences on the security of the United States and the safety and prosperity of its people, this is war. And it already looks like it is going to be a very long war of attrition; its conclusion will depend on who is going to blink first.
Najeeb Hanoudi
May 29, 2007
Amman/Jordan
Email:
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