HUMAN INTELLIGENCE PLATOON,
B COMPANY, 311TH MI BN
HOT SPOTS
Terrorism and Threat
Background Brief
DATE
SGT Carnes, Primary Instructor
SPC Newman, Secondary Instructor
HUMAN INTELLIGENCE PLATOON,
B COMPANY, 311TH MI BN
TASK:
Familiarize soldiers who are
assuming DRB on the world threats and
areas to which they can deploy.
CONDITIONS:
Given a Power Point
Presentation in a classroom environment.
STANDARDS:
Soldiers will be able to
recognize the areas that are a threat to
American security and the places to which
they can deploy.
HUMAN INTELLIGENCE PLATOON,
B COMPANY, 311TH MI BN
OUTLINE:
• Basic facts about Islam and Arabs
• Al Qaeda and Osama Bin Ladin
• Hot Spot Countries
• Summary
HUMAN INTELLIGENCE PLATOON,
B COMPANY, 311TH MI BN
BASIC FACTS ABOUT ISLAM
AND ARABS
• Not all Arabs are terrorists or are Muslim extremists.
• Not all Arabs are Muslims.
• Most Muslims live outside the Middle East.
• Islam is a peaceful religion. It advocates war (what the west thinks of
as “jihad”) only in cases of self-defense and against a country that does
not allow Islam.
• Islam is a “continuation of Christianity.” It considers Jesus to be a
prophet and Muhammad to be the messenger of al Quran.
• Islam is split into two major sects: Shiite (Iran, south Iraq, Lebanon)
and Sunni (the rest of Muslims). Their differences are relatively minor.
• Terrorist groups use Islam as an excuse to wage war. They are not
true Muslims.
HUMAN INTELLIGENCE PLATOON,
B COMPANY, 311TH MI BN
WAR ON TERRORISM
All current threats to the US are linked to terrorism. The
umbrella group for terrorist groups against the United States
is Al Qaeda.
Al Qaeda began in 1988 as a safe house in Pakistan for Arabs
mujahdin (holy) fighters, who were also supported by the
Americans, in the war in the Soviet-Afgan War (1979-1988).
After the war, the safe house and training camps in
Afghanistan continued and expanded.
During the Gulf War Al Qaeda offered their service to Saudi
Arabia to protect it against an Iraqi attack. The Saudi
kingdom instead turned to the Americans.
It was this point that Al Qaeda and its leader turned against
the US.
HUMAN INTELLIGENCE PLATOON,
B COMPANY, 311TH MI BN
OSAMA BIN LADEN
The head of Al Qaeda is Osama bin Laden. He started Al
Qaeda in 1988 only as support to the Afghans. His primary
role in the war was financial and construction support. After
the US “invaded” Saudi Arabia during the Gulf War did he
organize Al Qaeda into a terrorist organization
against the US.
He was stripped of his Saudi citizenship in 1994
and expelled from the Sudan in 1996. He now
lives in Afghanistan.
In 1996 he declared war on the US and in 1998 organized the
World Islamic Front for Jihad Against Jews and Crusaders.
He is the spiritual leader and role model of Muslim extremists.
HUMAN INTELLIGENCE PLATOON,
B COMPANY, 311TH MI BN
AL QAEDA
Bin Laden’s terrorist organization is Al Qaeda. It is a group of
terrorist organizations around the world, including the Middle
East, Asia, and Europe.
Its goal is a unified Muslim state without
the presence of Americans or Westerners
and instituting Islamic law. It supports
violent acts and terrorism.
It supports Muslims in Kosovo, Bosnia,
Chechnya, the Middle East, and
Southeast Asia. Al Qaeda has cells around the world,
including most of Europe and the US.
HUMAN INTELLIGENCE PLATOON,
B COMPANY, 311TH MI BN
ACTS OF AL QAEDA
Al Qaeda has committed or suspected of committing various
acts against the US and West to include:
•
Arming and participating in the Somali operations against the US (1993)
• Bombing of the World Trade Center (1993)
• Assassination attempt of Egyptian President Mubarak in the Sudan (1995)
• Bombing of US personnel in Khobar Towers, Saudi Arabia (1996)
• Assassination attempt of the Pope and President Clinton, both in the
Phillipines, and plotting to blow up US airliners in the Pacific
• Bombing of the US embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam,
Tanzania (1998)
• Bombing of the USS Cole at Aden, Yemen (2000)
• Bombing of the WTC and Pentagon (2001)
HUMAN INTELLIGENCE PLATOON,
B COMPANY, 311TH MI BN
COUNTRIES IN WHICH AL
QAEDA OPERATE
HUMAN INTELLIGENCE PLATOON,
B COMPANY, 311TH MI BN
AFGHANISTAN
HUMAN INTELLIGENCE PLATOON,
B COMPANY, 311TH MI BN
AFGHANISTAN
bloody coups.
Afghanistan is a country of resilient, multi-ethnic
mountain people. They have stopped two British
and one Soviet invasions. They have had a
monarchy, republic, and an Islamic government.
These changes in government have resulted from
Afghanistan has been suffering from 23 years of
continuous war. In 1979 the Soviet Union invaded in
order to save the Marxist government. The
US,
though the CIA, supported the Muslim
mujahideen
(many, including bin Laden, were
Arabs). The
mujahideen won, and the Soviets withdrew in February 1989.
HUMAN INTELLIGENCE PLATOON,
B COMPANY, 311TH MI BN
AFGHANISTAN
The US after the war stopped supporting the mujahideen, and civil war
began in 1989. The mujahideen felt abandoned, and the Arab
“Afghans” began turning their efforts against the US through terrorist
groups. As a result, al Qaeda was created.
In the early 1990s an Islamic fundamentalist group
called the Taliban. This group was formed from the
Pashtuns around Kandahar. Their goal was
making an Islamic state based around Shir’a. In 1996
Taliban gained control of Kabul and had, before
October 2001, control of 90% of Afghanistan. Their leader is
mullah Muhammad Omar.
the
The Northern Alliance, an opposition group in the north, controlled 10%.
They are an alliance of Uzbek and Tadjik fighters. Their main goal is
destroying the Taliban.
HUMAN INTELLIGENCE PLATOON,
B COMPANY, 311TH MI BN
AFGHANISTAN
The Taliban allowed Afghanistan to be used as a base for al
Qaeda and invited bin Laden to stay as a guest there. The US
and the West has demanded the Taliban to give him and his
group up, but they remained defiant.
On 9 September the Taliban assassinated the Northern
Alliance leader Ahmad Shah Massoud. Two days later,
9/11 occurred.
Beginning in October 2001, the US began air strikes
against the Taliban and destroyed the Taliban
infrastructure. Now an interim government, led by
Pashtun fighter Hamed Karzai, leads Afghanistan until
elections occur. There is still a danger of civil war in
Afghanistan.
HUMAN INTELLIGENCE PLATOON,
B COMPANY, 311TH MI BN
PAKISTAN
Pakistan has been the gateway for terrorists into Pakistan.
While the US did not officially recognize Pakistan as a
terrorist-sponsoring country, it did support the mujahideen
during the Soviet-Afghan war and after the war when the
mujahideen turned their focus toward terrorism.
The ISI, Inter Service Intelligence, is the agency
that supports terrorism. They give weapons to
and train the rebels in Kashmir, a disputed region
between
northern Pakistan and India. The
group is called
the Harakat al-Mujahideen.
HUMAN INTELLIGENCE PLATOON,
B COMPANY, 311TH MI BN
PAKISTAN
During the 1990s the Pakistani government supported the
Taliban and was only one of three countries to recognize them.
This is partially due to the large Pashtun minority there.
Pakistan has allowed the Taliban to run training camps in
Pakistan and use them as an ISB.
After 9/11 the government has taken a new stance against
the Taliban. The president General Pervez
Musharraf has been giving full support to the US
with use of its air bases and air space for the war
on Afghanistan. Musharraf also is calling for a
scaling back of the ISI, though that may be
difficult due to the fact that even he may not know the extent
of this agency.
HUMAN INTELLIGENCE PLATOON,
B COMPANY, 311TH MI BN
IRAN
Iran is a primary supporter of terrorism. It is a Shiite Muslim
country and supports Shiite groups, including in southern Iraq
and Hizbollah in Lebanon. It traditionally has been at war
with the Sunni Islamic majority, but since the Gulf War Iran
has been cooperating with Sunni movements, including the
Taliban before 1998 and al Qaeda.
The executive branch of the Iranian government,
led by President Mohammad Khatami, is moderate and has been trying to implement some reforms. The Islamic courts, however, are conservative and block any reforms. Since the Islamic Revolution of
1979, led by Khomeni, Iran has been very anti-US and antiIsrael and has been using terrorism to spread its views.
HUMAN INTELLIGENCE PLATOON,
B COMPANY, 311TH MI BN
IRAN
The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps is the government
agency that handles terrorist activity. Its goal is to protect
and spread the Islamic Revolution to the rest of the world,
partially through terrorism.
Iran has been giving support of both
weapons and money to terrorist
organizations. Recently Israel intercepted
a boat with a shipment of weapons to the
Palestineans.
Iran is an active force behind al Qaeda.
While it states that it has nothing to do
with al Qaeda, Iran is supporting them with money, weapons,
and possibly as refugees.
HUMAN INTELLIGENCE PLATOON,
B COMPANY, 311TH MI BN
IRAQ
HUMAN INTELLIGENCE PLATOON,
B COMPANY, 311TH MI BN
IRAQ
Since Saddam Hussein came into power in 1979,
Iraq has almost constantly at war. The Iran-Iraq
War (1980-8), which ended in a draw, devastated
its economy. The Gulf War (1991) after Iraq
invaded Kuwait in August 1990, the UN-imposed
sanctions have destroyed the rest of the economy.
The Iraqi government—which is a socialist Arab government,
not an Islamic one—has been persecuting both the Kurds in
the north and the Shiite Muslim minority in the south.
HUMAN INTELLIGENCE PLATOON,
B COMPANY, 311TH MI BN
IRAQ
The military, though severely weakened after the Gulf War, is
still one of the strongest in the Middle East. The military is
split into two parts, the Republican Guard and the Regular
Army. Most of the Republican Guard remained intact after the
Gulf War. The government rules the country through the
military and the police.
Iraq has been producing weapons of mass destruction (WMD).
They have chemical and biological weapons and have been
trying to build nuclear. During the Iran-Iraq War, WMD may
have been used.
HUMAN INTELLIGENCE PLATOON,
B COMPANY, 311TH MI BN
IRAQ
Iraq refuses the UN to send weapons inspection teams into
Iraq. On the occasions when they did allow UN teams, the
government simply moved WMD around from site to site and
did not allow surprise inspections.
Iraq supports terrorists through training camps and
intelligence. While they do not support Iran’s efforts or
terrorist groups because they are Muslims, the government
uses terrorist groups to destroy the US and the West.
Unlike Afghanistan, there is no large organized opposition.
The Iraqi National Congress, a coalition of Kurds and Shiites,
is extremely weak inside Iraq. The only reason they still exist
is the no-fly zones in Iraq.
HUMAN INTELLIGENCE PLATOON,
B COMPANY, 311TH MI BN
GULF STATES
Six countries in the Persian Gulf area—Saudi Arabia, Kuwait,
Bahrain, Qatar, UAE, and Oman—are oil-rich, conservative
Arab Muslim states. A seventh, Yemen, has little oil and
suffers from poverty.
The governments of these nations are very
conservative kingdoms or sheikdoms
(nations that are ruled by a sheik).
While all of these governments do not
support terrorism, two (Saudi Arabia and
UAE), recognized the Taliban in Afghanistan.
HUMAN INTELLIGENCE PLATOON,
B COMPANY, 311TH MI BN
GULF STATES
Many of the Al Qaeda members come from the
Gulf States. Half of all the prisoners in Camp X
Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, are Saudi citizens.
Ray,
Many countries did harbor terrorists, especially
Yemen. Since November 2001 Yemen started
cracking down Al Qaeda members.
All of these countries support the war on terrorism, but Saudi
Arabia and others have stated that they will not allow US
forces on their land for an attack on another Arab country.
HUMAN INTELLIGENCE PLATOON,
B COMPANY, 311TH MI BN
PALESTINE and ISRAEL
Palestinean extremist groups fighting in the West Bank and
Gaza Strip of Israel are funded by either Iran directly or Al
Qaeda. These groups goal is the overthrow of Israel and
institution of a Palestinean state consisting of all Isreali lands
for 4.5 million Palestineans living in Israel or a refugee camp.
HAMAS is a Palestinean group working mainly in the West
Bank and Gaza. It has a military wing and a recruitment and
charity wing. The charity wing is funded by Al Qaeda. It is a
serious challenge to Yassir Arafat and the PLO.
Hezbollah is a Palestinean Shiite Muslim group working out of
Lebanon. It is funded by Iran. It is a powerful cultural force
in Lebanon, and it commits terrorist acts against Israel.
HUMAN INTELLIGENCE PLATOON,
B COMPANY, 311TH MI BN
EGYPT
The government of Egypt has been very anti-terrorist, but
many terrorist groups against the government groups work
there, especially in southern Egypt.
Al-Gama’ al-Islamiyya is Egypt’s largest militant organization.
Its goal is violent means of overthrowing the government and
instituting an Islamic government. They massacred foreign
tourists in Luxor in 1997. There spiritual leader is Sheik Omar
Adudal Rahman, the head of the WTC bombings in 1993.
Al Jihad is another Muslim extremist group in Egypt.
The head is Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri, who is now chief
of operations for Al Qaeda. Al Jihad now is a wing of
Al Qaeda and supports international terrorism.
HUMAN INTELLIGENCE PLATOON,
B COMPANY, 311TH MI BN
SUDAN
The Sudan is a terrorist-supporting country in Africa between
Egypt and Somalia. There is a civil war between the Muslim
Arab north and the black, pagan south. The Sudan is
extremely poor, and most of its economy is based on foreign
and private aid, especially from rich extremist Arabs.
Since the Soviet-Afghan war, the Sudan has been harboring
Arab mujahadeen and in the 1990s al Qaeda. Sudan allowed
bin Laden to live there from 1994 to 1996, and bin Laden with
his family’s construction company improved the Sudan’s
infrastructure. Most of this construction was aimed at
improving the government’s war fighting capabilities.
HUMAN INTELLIGENCE PLATOON,
B COMPANY, 311TH MI BN
SOMALIA
Somalia is another haven for terrorists. It, like the Sudan, is
extremely poor, but it also has no functioning government. It
is ruled by warlords, and they restrict humanitarian aid to the
seven million staving Somalis.
The warlords have been housing al Qaeda since
the early 1990s, and al Qaeda fighters fought
against the UN humanitarian forces, including
American Task Force Ranger, in 1993.
Al Qaeda has been using Somalia as a staging base for wars in
the Sudan and Ethopia as well as terrorist acts such as the
embassy bombings in 1998. There are also numerous
terrorist training camps there.
HUMAN INTELLIGENCE PLATOON,
B COMPANY, 311TH MI BN
SOUTHEAST ASIA
Many countries in southeast Asia, including Indonesia,
Malaysia, Sri Lanka, and the Philippines, are Muslim countries.
These governments support a crackdown on
Al Qaeda-supported groups, which are
working in southeast Asia.
In Sri Lanka the Liberation Tigers of Tamale
Elam is an Al Qaeda guerilla group is
targeting the country’s infrastructure. The
group is causing severe poverty in Sri Lanka.
In the Philippines, Abu Sayyaf is a Al Qaeda group in the
southern Philippines. Their goal is to set up a Muslim
government. They are very violent and have killed Western
missionaries.
HUMAN INTELLIGENCE PLATOON,
B COMPANY, 311TH MI BN
OTHER AREAS
Al Qaeda supported Muslims during the wars in BosniaHercegovina and Kosovo. Now many former mujahideen are
married to Bosnians or Albanians and live in Europe. Some
still may be active members in Al Qaeda.
All over the world there are active and inactive cells of Al
Qaeda, including most of the major cities in Europe, the
United States, and Canada.
Most of these cells work in logistics and planning, conducting
reconnaissance missions of future targets.
HUMAN INTELLIGENCE PLATOON,
B COMPANY, 311TH MI BN
SUMMARY
Any of these groups or governments that support terrorism
can attack the US or US interests at any time.
President Bush called for an end to terrorism by destroying al
Qaeda and the groups it supports. This includes freezing bank
accounts in the West, using CIA and special operations, and
possibly the use of regular military troops.
Until al Qaeda is destroyed in each of these countries, the US
and the West is not safe. Many countries are doing there part.
The governments that do continue to support al Qaeda will be
subject to US intervention in their country.
HUMAN INTELLIGENCE PLATOON,
B COMPANY, 311TH MI BN
QUESTIONS?