Chapter Seven:
The Evolution of Jihadist
Networks
Religion and Militant
Religion
Religion and Militant Religion

The birth of al Qaeda
 Born in the last stages of the SovietAfghan War
 It grew until the U.S. took offensive in
Afghanistan in October 2001
 Al Qaeda 2.0: a group that is defined
by Peter Bergen as a decentralized
alliance of al Qaeda terrorists spread
throughout the world
Religion and Militant Religion

Jihadist ideology
 Islam has become corrupt and needs to
be purified
 Much of the corruption is due to the
values and economic powers of the
West
 They are not necessarily affiliated and
certainly not controlled by al Qaeda
Religion and Militant Religion

Jihadists and the values of Islam
 Many Muslims and Christians become
upset when their faith is portrayed in
terms of violent terrorism
 Others point to violent sects in Islam
 Confusions about mainstream Islam
complicate attempts to understand
Jihadists. Misunderstandings increase
when Jihadists use religious rhetoric
and language
The Origins of Jihadist
Networks
The Origins of Jihadist Networks


The origins
 Stretch back to religious interpretation
and reform movements within Islam
Taqi al Din ibn Taymiyyah
 An Islamic scholar
 Called for the destruction of heretics
and invaders, calling jihad the sixth
pillar of Islam
The Origins of Jihadist Networks

Five Pillars
 A confession of faith in God and
acceptance of Mohammed as God’s last
and greatest prophet
 Ritual prayers with the community
 Giving alms
 Fasting, especially during holy periods
 Making a pilgrimage to Mohammed’s
birthplace, Mecca
The Origins of Jihadist Networks

Translation of Jihad
 Translated as Holy War in European
terms
 In Arabic, jihad derives from the word
jahada, which is defined as a struggle
or effort against some type of power
 Traditionally, many ulema believed that
the original meaning of jihad focused
on internal struggles, but it assumed a
more military meaning when the early
Muslim community faced threats from
non-Muslims
The Origins of Jihadist Networks

Reform movements throughout the history of Islam

In the late eighteenth century a purification movement
started by Mohammed ibn Abdul Wahhab, who was
influenced by ibn Taymiyyah, took root in Arabia.
Wahhab preached a puritanical strain of Islam that
sought to rid the religion of practices added after the
first few decades following Mohammed’s death

One hundred years after Wahhab a reform movement
named after the elders if Islam, Salafiyya, grew from
North Africa. It gave rise to the Muslim Brotherhood

The Brotherhood preached a message of
purification similar to that of Wahhab. The Brothers
were not militant

By 1950, a violent wing of the Brotherhood fell under
the influence of Sayyid Qutb, a radical Muslim who
called for the imposition of Islamic law
The Origins of Jihadist Networks

John Colley
 Believes the foundation of modern
Jihadist power grew from the Cold War,
and he blames the West for incubating
the network
The Origins of Jihadist Networks

The relationship between the United States and the
mujahadeen during the Soviet-Afghan War

The United States helped Saudi Arabia develop a
funding mechanism and underground arms network to
supply the mujahadeen

The United States agreed to give most of the weapons
and supplies to the Interservice Intelligence Agency
(ISI), while the ISI built mujahadeen groups with little
American participation

Islamic charities flourished in the United States, and
their donations supported the mujahadeen

When the Soviets left Afghanistan in 1989, the United
States rejoiced and abandoned war-torn Afghanistan
Jihad Continues in
Afghanistan
Jihad Continues in Afghanistan

After the Soviet-Afghan War
 The mujahadeen groups continued to
fight for control of the country
 Americans paid more attention to
potential profits than the political
problems brewing in Afghanistan
 On another level, the United States
simply ignored issues
The Rise of Osama bin
Laden
The Rise of Osama bin Laden

Bin Laden’s influences
 Bin laden was influenced by Sayyid Qutb’s
thought
 While in Afghanistan, bin Laden fell under the
influences of Abdullah Azzam, a doctor of
Islamic Law
 Azzam came to believe that a purified form
of Islam was the answer to questions of
poverty and the loss of political power
 The realm of Islam had been dominated by
foreign powers for too long, and it was
time for all Muslims to rise up and strike
Satan
The Rise of Osama bin Laden

Al Qaeda
 Bin Laden and Azzam established what
they called a base or foundation (al
Qaeda) as a potential headquarters for
future jihad
 Bin Laden was its leader, and the
organization included an intelligence
component, a military committee, a
political committee, and a committee in
charge of media affairs and propaganda
The Rise of Osama bin Laden

Funding of al Qaeda
 The United States would hardly have
considered funding al Qaeda, but the
Pakistani ISI intervened
 The ISI developed the structure that
would support al Qaeda with U.S. and
Saudi funds during the Soviet-Afghan
War
The Rise of Osama bin Laden

Al Zawahiri
 Leader of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad
 Persuaded bin Laden that an umbrella
organization was the type of
organization to take control of
Afghanistan and spread the new
Islamic empire
 After Azzam was killed by a remotecontrolled car bomb, bin Laden and al
Zawahiri became the undisputed
leaders of al Qaeda
The Rise of Osama bin Laden

The enemies
 The United States
 The West
 Israel
 Muslims who refused to accept Jihadist
theology
The Rise of Osama bin Laden

Iraq invades Kuwait (1990)

Bin Laden was infuriated when the U.S. joined Saudi
Arabia in a large international coalition

As thousands on non-Muslim troops arrived in Saudi
Arabia, radical Muslims were appalled to find Muslims
fighting Muslims under U.S. leadership

The U.S.-led coalition called this military buildup Desert
Shield, and it became Desert Storm in February 1991
when American, Brittish, and other allied forces poured
into Iraq and Kuwait

After Desert Storm, the Saudi government allowed U.S.
troops to be stationed in Saudi Arabia
Declaring War on the
United States
Declaring War on the United States

Hasan al Turabi
 After fleeing Saudi Arabia, bin Laden
found friends in Sudan’s radical
government formed under the influence
of Hasan al Turabi
 Bin Laden and Turabi formed a helpful
alliance: Turabi served as the
philosopher while bin Laden provided
the organizational skills
Declaring War on the United States

December 1992
 A bomb exploded in a hotel in Yemen
that had been housing American troops
 It was the opening shot in bin Laden’s
war against the United States and an
international campaign of terror
Declaring War on the United States

Financing al Qaeda
 In the 1980s, terrorism was frequently
associated with a particular state
 Bin Laden transcended from the state and
operated on his own
 Shahar argues that bin Laden’s
entrepreneurial efforts gave him the freedom
to finance and command the al Qaeda terror
network
 The 9-11 Commission Report believes bin
Laden was and remains funded by wealthy
sympathizers
Declaring War on the United States

1993
 Using his contacts in Sudan, bin Laden
began searching for weapons of mass
destruction
 In October 1993, a U.S. Army Black
Hawk helicopter was downed
Declaring War on the United States

Bin Laden and assassination attempts
 In 1993, bin Laden’s Afghans tried to
murder Prince Abdullah (now King
Abdullah) of Jordan
 In 1995, U.S. sources believe bin Laden
was behind the attempted assassination
of Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak
Declaring War on the United States


The evolving nature of the al Qaeda campaign
 The actions of al Qaeda were not the result
of a mastermind terrorist pulling the strings,
but rather a loose confederation of likeminded people who had limited interactions
 Individual Jihadist operators took actions
within the aura of al Qaeda
Declaration of War
 Bin Laden declared war on the United States
in 1996
Declaring War on the United States

The nature of al Qaeda and bin Laden
 Bin Laden represents a new phase in
Middle Eastern terrorism. He is intent
on spreading the realm of Islam with a
transnational group
 Bin Laden uses Islam to call for
religious violence
 Bin Laden wants to cause death
Declaring War on the United States

Further terrorist actions
 In August 1998, bin Laden’s terrorists
bombed the U.S. embassies in Nairobi,
Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
 For the first time, al Qaeda could
operate a cell planted in a country
hundreds of miles away from training
camps
 Then came the attack on the USS Cole
in 2000, a failed millennium plot, and
the attacks of September 11, 2001
Declaring War on the United States

Al Qaeda affiliates and other attacks
 Affiliates attacked other areas
including:
 Bali (2000)
 The U.S. Compounds in Riyadh (May
2003)
 Morocco (August 2003)
 Madrid (March 2004)
Declaring War on the United States

Michael Doran
 Jihadists were fueled by local issues
and diverse goals
 The different Jihadist organizations say
they all believe in the same thing, but
when local situations are examines,
Jihadist causes are varied
Declaring War on the United States

The results of counterterrorist efforts



Irm Haleem

U.S. operations in Afghanistan caused al Qaeda to
completely decentralize

Al Qaeda reformed from an umbrella or hub into a
series of autonomous organizations driven by local
concerns
John Arquilla

Chain organization: al Qaeda serves as more of an
inspiration than a hub
Jessica Stern

By decentralizing to a chain organization,
supporting terrorist allies, and maintaining the
ability to threaten the world, al Qaeda was more
dangerous than ever
Declaring War on the United States

Operation Iraqi Freedom
 The invasion that intended to preempt
Hussein from launching a terrorist
attack on the United States
 Two suppositions by Bush
administration supported the invasion:
 That Iraq was holding weapons of
mass destruction
 Hussein had established ties with al
Qaeda
Declaring War on the United States

Responses to the decision to go to war




Robert Kagan argues that the long-range issue should
focus on building international political hegemony in
Iraq.
According to Kagen, Jihadist network takes strength
from two main factors:

The dynamic nature of the network

Its ability to create so much hatred for the United
States that difference between Jihadists disappear
Another opinion suggests that the United States has
alienated the Arab world and many millions of Muslims
for launching the wrong war against the wrong target
This argument maintains that the United States needs
to fight terrorism by allying with the international
community and alienating terrorists from potential
support