Al qaedas tactical creed

Terrorism and Political Violence, 2021

A series of essays discussing the competition between al Qaeda and ISIS for leadership of the global jihadist movement.

This paper aims to assess the consistency and coherency of al-Qaeda's theological and political ideologies following its shift to terrorism in the early 1990s and through the transition from terrorist group to global movement. The paper will identify a political/theological ideology that is based in and justified through Islam, specifically supported by the concepts of jihad (struggle) and shahid (martyr). This analysis finds that through the shift of al-Qaeda from a terrorist group to a movement (which is ideologically directed by al-Qaeda), the group's doctrine and ideology lack consistency. This lack of consistency specifically concerns the ideological position on democracy and reform within an Islamic state, and secondly the views on Shiite Muslims, particularly within Iraq.

2013 marked the twenty-fifth anniversary of the founding of al-Qaeda and twelve years since the September 11, 2001 terror attacks in the United States. Despite the global counter-terror campaign conducted against al-Qaeda, the organization and its partners are still responsible for the vast majority of terror attacks in the world, which kill and wound thousands of people every year. And beyond their involvement in terrorist attacks, al-Qaeda and its partners exert much influence in the international system, far more than their numbers and military power suggest. Al-Qaeda’s Odyssey to the Global Jihad explains how one terrorist organization, which at the height of its activity numbered a few hundred operatives, established a worldwide, highly influential phenomenon called the “global jihad movement” and succeeded, more than any other terrorist organization in modern history, in harming, harassing, and exhausting a hegemonic superpower and its allies and entangling them in bloody military campaigns around the world. As shown in the memorandum, the organization’s current activities extend beyond the region and could well lead to renewed momentum for global terror. The authors propose recommendations for coping with al-Qaeda and its partners, particularly in an era of turmoil and instability in the Middle East. Yoram Schweitzer is a senior research fellow and director of the Program on Terrorism and Low Intensity Conflict at INSS. He served in Military Intelligence as head of the International Terror Department and in the Prime Minister’s Office as a member of the task force on locating missing soldiers and prisoners of war. After his discharge from the IDF, he served as an advisor to the Prime Minister’s Office and the Ministry of Defense. He is the author of The Globalization of Terror: The Challenge of al-Qaida and the Response of the International Community (with Shaul Shay, 2003); Al-Qaeda and the Internationalization of Suicide Terrorism (with Sari Goldstein Ferber, 2005); and editor of Female Suicide Bombers: Dying for Equality? (2006). Aviv Oreg, a veteran of the Israeli intelligence community, headed the al-Qaeda and global jihad desk in the Research Division of the IDF Intelligence Branch. Following his discharge from the military, he founded CeifiT (Civil Effort in Fighting International Terrorism), which advises international, government, and private entities on issues relating to confronting global jihad and al-Qaeda. He is a member of the advisory council of the terrorism and uprising project of Imperial College Press in London and serves as a guest lecturer in academic and security institutions in Israel and abroad.

2011

In recent years, Al-Qaeda has suffered a number of setbacks, but has also successfully spawned an expansionist global jihadist movement that will survive the death of Osama bin Laden. This article describes how the multifaceted threat posed by global jihadism has evolved over the last decade. It first recounts some of the more salient examples of Al-Qaeda's post-9/11 strategic, ideological, and structural adaptations, and then offers a balance sheet of Al-Qaeda's contemporary strengths and weaknesses. Al-Qaeda continues to enable the violence of others, orient that violence towards the United States and its allies in a distributed game of attrition warfare, and foster a dichotomous "us versus them" narrative between the Muslim world and the rest of the international community. Despite this overarching consistency, Al-Qaeda shepherds a different phenomenon than it did ten years ago. The aggregation of the movement's strategic, ideological, and structural adaptations has fundamentally changed the nature of the jihadist threat to the West. This evolved threat is not inherently more dangerous, as counterterrorism efforts today focus on and disrupt capability earlier and more consistently than prior to September 2001. This multifaceted global jihad will, however, continue to produce greater numbers of attacks in more locations, from a more diverse cadre of individuals spanning a wider ideological spectrum.

Perspectives on Terrorism, 2011

In recent years, Al-Qaeda has suffered a number of setbacks, but has also successfully spawned an expansionist global jihadist movement that will survive the death of Osama bin Laden. This article describes how the multifaceted threat posed by global jihadism has evolved over the last decade. It first recounts some of the more salient examples of Al-Qaeda's post-9/11 strategic, ideological, and structural adaptations, and then offers a balance sheet of Al-Qaeda's contemporary strengths and weaknesses. Al-Qaeda continues to enable the violence of others, orient that violence towards the United States and its allies in a distributed game of attrition warfare, and foster a dichotomous "us versus them" narrative between the Muslim world and the rest of the international community. Despite this overarching consistency, Al-Qaeda shepherds a different phenomenon than it did ten years ago. The aggregation of the movement's strategic, ideological, and structural adaptations has fundamentally changed the nature of the jihadist threat to the West. This evolved threat is not inherently more dangerous, as counterterrorism efforts today focus on and disrupt capability earlier and more consistently than prior to September 2001. This multifaceted global jihad will, however, continue to produce greater numbers of attacks in more locations, from a more diverse cadre of individuals spanning a wider ideological spectrum.

COURSE DESCRIPTION This class examines radical Jihadi discourse in both conceptual and comparative terms. As such, the class does not focus on the formation or trajectory of a specific Jihadi group or movement, but takes the general themes of Jihadi groups and movements and compares them to the general themes of radical groups and movements of other religious, ideological, or political leanings. The point of such a comparative analysis is to underscore the fact that radical Islamic justifications for violence and monstrosity are not unique only to the Islamic context. Rather, these justifications reflect broader, more universal and ubiquitous themes. In fact, the readings in this class shed light on different religious and secular (political) groups and movements that share the general themes and rationale for violence that are found in radical Islamic (Jihadi or Jihadist) groups and movements. As such, students in this class will come to appreciate the common overarching themes in radical Jewish and Christian groups, radical secular groups such as Nazi and Neo-Nazi groups, and even common themes in international conventions such as the Just War Doctrine. In making sense of the commonalities of themes in ideologically and contextually different groups and movements, the readings in this class engage in a conceptual analysis of the themes and rationale for violence that are universal and ubiquitous. As such, the students come to appreciate the significance of notions such as ‘construction of evil’, ‘demonization’, ‘Divine justifications’ and ‘divinity’ at large; as well as notions such as ‘necessity’, ‘morality’, and ‘duty’. In understanding of the significance and centrality of these notions in the justifying rhetoric of all radical groups and movements (beyond just Jihadi group and movements), students will come understand how these notions are used to pacify moral objections to violence on the part of both the recruited as well as the audiences (bystanders) of radical groups and movements. Through such a conceptual analysis, the class thus offers a broad look at the rationale and dynamics that lead to the perpetuation and normalization of violence worldwide, as well as to the rationale of Jihadist Strategic Thought and Practice.

AbSTRACT The Islamic State was founded following its separation from al-Qaeda, and has since become a current issue after the Paris attacks. Studies can be found in the literature discussing the similarities and differences between the Islamic State and al-Qaeda. However, in this paper, these similarities and differences are examined according to different aspects, such as their perspectives of global jihad, ideology , practices of instrumentalising jihad, definitions of primary and secondary enemies , human factors, methods of using media, and economic resources. Through this analysis, the topic is studied in a deeper way. The ideology adopted by these two organisations is investigated by mentioning the intellectual origins of global jihad and the sources of Salafism. Then the similarities and differences between Islamic State and al-Qaeda are explored. It is determined that there are not important differences in global ideology and global jihad, but they differ regarding their economic resources and how they use media.

This paper suggests that due to the intricacies it exhibits, al-Qaeda can be best understood as a global insurgency. It argues that in one sense al-Qaeda is a transnational insurgent organization in itself but at the same time that it is also representative of a wider global insurgency. The analysis will consist of three main parts. The first part proposes an analytical framework and differentiates al-Qaeda from a terrorist organization. Drawing on the proposed framework, the second part analyses al-Qaeda’s societal roots, paving the way for the third part, which demonstrates its global scope.

The Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), widely known as the Islamic State/Daesh, has supplanted al-Qaeda as the jihadist threat of greatest concern. ISIS ideology, rhetoric, and long-term goals are similar to al Qaeda’s, and the two groups were once formally allied. The two are now competing both for the leadership and the gist of the jihadist movement. The dispute is more than just a fight for power within the jihadist movement. However, the two organisations differ fundamentally on whom they see as their main enemy, on several Islamic doctrinal issues, which strategies and tactics to use in attacking the enemy, and which social issues and other concerns to emphasise. The aim of this paper is to compare and contrast the core ISIS and al-Qaeda´s discourse, aims, strategy and tactics.

This paper is on the philosophical origin, history, and the future of Al Qaeda, a network that has admitted to financing and training a vast number of terrorists and terrorist operations, and is allegedly responsible for a number of major attacks against US assets throughout Africa and the Middle East, as well as the World Trade Center terrorist attack in 2001. Al Qaeda, which translates to "The Base" (, is a revolutionary Islamic organization, which is a continuation of a revolutionary Islamic movement stemming from early 20 th century Islamic thinkers (el Sayed el Aswad 2010) . Al Qaeda and its affiliate groups have as their goal a social movement to remove non-Islamic rulers from traditional Muslim lands, push American forces out of the Islamic world, ignite a global Islamic revolution, and establish rule by Islamic law known as Sharia (Committee on International Relations 2004) The process by which Al Qaeda and other Islamic revolutionary groups hope to achieve these goals is through "Islamism" and "Islamization", terms coined by anthropologist Azza M Karram to described the process by which religious order is established in a community after the destruction or withdrawal of other hegemonic forces (Arce, Long 2011) and this concept will be briefly touched upon.

2013 marked the twenty-fifth anniversary of the founding of al-Qaeda and twelve years since the September 11, 2001 terror attacks in the United States. Despite the global counter-terror campaign conducted against al-Qaeda, the organization and its partners are still responsible for the vast majority of terror attacks in the world, which kill and wound thousands of people every year. Beyond their involvement in terrorist attacks, al-Qaeda and its partners exert much influence in the international system, far more than their numbers and military power suggest. Al-Qaeda’s Odyssey to the Global Jihad explains how one terrorist organization, which at the height of its activity numbered a few hundred operatives, established a worldwide, highly influential phenomenon called the “global jihad movement” and succeeded, more than any other terrorist organization in modern history, in harming, harassing, and exhausting a hegemonic superpower and its allies and entangling them in bloody and costly military campaigns around the world. . The memorandum introduce the reader with current developments the activities of Al Qaeda and its partners and the authors propose recommendations for coping with the emerging threat derived from these activities particularly in an era of turmoil and instability in the Middle East. Yoram Schweitzer is a senior research fellow and director of the Program on Terrorism and Low Intensity Conflict at INSS. He served in Military Intelligence as head of the International Terror Department and in the Prime Minister’s Office as a member of the task force on locating missing soldiers and prisoners of war. After his discharge from the IDF, he served as an advisor to the Prime Minister’s Office and the Ministry of Defense. He is the author of The Globalization of Terror: The Challenge of al-Qaida and the Response of the International Community (with Shaul Shay, 2003); Al-Qaeda and the Internationalization of Suicide Terrorism (with Sari Goldstein Ferber, 2005); and editor of Female Suicide Bombers: Dying for Equality? (2006). Aviv Oreg, a veteran of the Israeli intelligence community, headed the al-Qaeda and global jihad desk in the analyst and production Division of the IDF Intelligence Branch. Following his discharge from the military, he founded CeifiT (Civil Effort in Fighting International Terrorism), which advises international, government, and private entities on issues relating to confronting global jihad and al-Qaeda. He is a member of the advisory council of the terrorism and insurgency project of Imperial College Press in London and serves as a guest lecturer in academic and security institutions in Israel and abroad.

This article considers the current state of the Al Qaeda terrorist movement and its likely future trajectory. It considers the principle assumptions both today and in the past about Al Qaeda and how they affect our understanding of the movement and the threat that it poses; Al Qaeda's current capacity for violence; and its ability to plan strategically and implement terrorist operations. The article further identifies nine key change drivers that will likely determine Al Qaeda's fate in the years to come before concluding that, even while the core Al Qaeda group may be in decline, Al Qaeda-ism, the movement's ideology, continues to resonate and attract new adherents. In sum, it argues that Al Qaeda remains an appealing brand most recently and most especially to extremist groups in North and West Africa and the Levant.

MIT Electronic Journal of Middle East Studies, 2006