On September 11th, 2001, 2,753 people were killed in a terrorist attack on United States soil well known as “9-11”. (cnn.com) Two planes, flown by 19 men, were purposely crashed straight into the world trade centers. (cnn.com) Later, another plane was flown into the pentagon, a United States government building located in Washington, DC. Almost 3,000 people were killed by 19 members of one single terrorist group. The group’s name is Al Qaeda. Al Qaeda, meaning “The Base” in Arabic, is a terrorist group that was formed in 1989 to get rid of non-islamic government influences from the west.
Al Qaeda was formed through the influence of Services Office group who opposed Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. At first there were only headquarters
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in Afghanistan and some small parts of Pakistan. Osama Bin Laden founded Al Qaeda so that their “jihad”, or holy war, could develop beyond Afghanistan and Pakistan. In 1991, the group moved into certain parts of Sudan, but moved back to Afghanistan abruptly in 1996. This terrorist group has been known to use dangerous, fatal types of violence to express disagreements with governments. If anyone around them is thought to be against the holy war or the ways of the Al Qaeda, they are murdered by members of this group. Initiation into the Al Qaeda consists of pledging an allegiance called a “bayat” to Osama Bin Laden and the Al Qaeda as a whole. During 9-11, while there were 19 members, the main perpetrators of this attack were Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and the terrorist groups treasurer, Mustafa Ahmed al-Hawsawi, who were captured in Pakistan and charged with murder, terrorism, and violating rules of war. The senior leader of Al Qaeda, Abu Obaidah al-Masri, is thought to be responsible for the London bus bombing. While I have only named a few, all the members of Al Qaeda should be feared. A “jihad” or holy war, is a war between two or more places declared by a religiously centered group on the grounds of opposing beliefs.
Al Qaeda declared a holy war against the United States in 2001, before executing the terrorist act called “9-11”. In addition to this, Al Qaeda has also killed the Prime Minister of Pakistan in 2007 with a suicide bombing at an election rally, attempted a Northwest airlines bombing in December 2009, completed the March 2004 bomb attacks on commuter trains in Madrid, and their senior leader executed the London bus bombings. (cfr.org) The commuter train bombings in Madrid alone killed nearly 200 people and left about 1,800 people critically injured. (cfr.org) Al Qaeda is thought to be affiliated with the 1993 World Trade center bombings, and that was before they even declared a holy war on the United states! (cfr.org) In February 2006, Al Qaeda led an attack on the largest petroleum processing plant in Saudi Arabia. The group also did car bombings in Saudi Arabia and Kenya in May 2003 and November 2002. Also in 2002, they were responsible for the explosion of a fuel tanker in Tunisia in April, and an attack on a French tanker off the coast of Yemen. In October 2000, they bombed the U.S.S. Cole as …show more content…
well. Al Qaeda has definitely gone above and beyond trying to get their opinions across through violent actions. But why? In the beginnings of the group, Osama Bin Laden was one of the many members who greatly opposed the United States secularly run government, and its support of other governments run the same way. In fact, the members of Al Qaeda are completely against all Non-Islamic forms of government. That being said, you can imagine the type of danger almost every government in the world would be in if Al Qaeda regained its power. In 1990, Bin Laden decided to expand the group’s range out of Afghanistan and Pakistan because he was completely against the US military’s participation in the Gulf War. He wanted more room to grow, and more areas under his ruling. During the Gulf War, major expansions happened for Al Qaeda, and Bin Laden wanted to run US troops out of Saudi Arabia and Somalia. The group did not want any western government influences in any part of Muslim countries, and did anything and everything they could to keep it out. In 2001, US forces found and killed their leader, Osama Bin Laden, but the group continued to lead within its branches. You may have not heard about Al Qaeda recently in the news, but that’s not necessarily a good sign.
In reality, Al Qaeda dropped off the radar very abruptly and without a reason. Since the news sources have been focused more on ISIS, it is thought that Al Qaeda could be rebuilding their power in the background. In fact, it has been reported in Syria that there is an estimated 30,000 troops set up, containing the most skilled terrorists who have already planned past attacks. (cnn.com) While we have been watching ISIS attacks, Al Qaeda has begun hiding its face and recruiting members in places where war is happening. There is no way they are simply satisfied with their work, because there are still a ton of secular governments around the world. Because there is no single headquarters from the group and there are only little areas that they work from, it would be impossible to stop them from a specific area or source without causing uproar from unknown locations. Because they are decentralized, it is also almost impossible to scale how big or small the group is becoming. However, they definitely have less support than they used to. According to a poll taken in 2008, only 24% of Pakistanis support Bin Laden, compared to the 46% in 2007. (cfr.org) This is a step in the right direction. Al Qaeda still owns underground cells, though. Some have been found in the United States, the United Kingdom, Italy, France, Spain, Germany, Albania, and Uganda. As they are recruiting members out
of the eye of the media, they are giving people weapons training and teaching them the ways of the group. With this information at hand, we can realize how dangerous Al Qaeda could be if they decided to come back and fight again. According to the Atlantic, “despite the most costly counter-terrorism campaign ever waged by the West, al-Qaeda has flourished—its comeback [is] assisted by a remarkable pact with Iran”. (theatlantic.com) In addition to recruiting, terrorist groups can also team up, developing into an umbrella group. You can have one large group absorb another, you can have a group add pieces of other groups into their own, you can unify and share ideas, or you can just help each other, be allied, and create a huge group with the same enemy. (Mendelsohn, cnn.com). While Al Qaeda may not be in the news, that does not mean they are not a threat. Remember, the media only reports after something bad happens. We must stay on our toes and not disregard the possibility of Al Qaeda coming back into our lives. There is obvious evidence stating the possibility of them returning and creating more damage to the world in their fight against secular government. Bibliography: Beauchamp, Zack. “16 Years after 9/11, Al-Qaeda Is Back.” Vox.com, Zack Beauchamp, www.vox.com/world/2017/9/11/16288824/al-qaeda-isis-911. PBS. “Inside the Terror Network.” FRONTLINE, UNC TV, www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/network/alqaeda/indictment.html. Bajoria, Jayshree, and Greg Bruno. “Al-Qaeda.” Council of Foreign Relations, Foreign Affairs, www.cfr.org/backgrounder/al-qaeda-aka-al-qaida-al-qaida. Levy, Adrian, and Cathy Scott-Clark. “Al-Qaeda Has Rebuilt Itself—With Iran's Help.” The Atlantic, The Atlantic, www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2017/11/al-qaeda-iran-cia/545576/. Library, CNN. “September 11th Terror Attacks Fast Facts.” CNN Library, CNN.com, www.cnn.com/2013/07/27/us/september-11-anniversary-fast-facts/index.html.
On September 11, 2001, the Islamic extremist group, al-Qaeda hijacked four american airlines. “Two of the airlines crashed into the world trade center in New York The third plane crashed into the Pentagon outside the world trade center, and the fourth plane crashed into a field in Pennsylvania” (9/11 Attacks). They called it a suicide attack against United States, but there are conspiracy theories the the terrorist are still alive. That they stole
In the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, the United States was incredibly eager to strike back at the nations thought to be responsible for this horrific tragedy. These attacks were quickly attributed to the terrorist group al-Qa’ida, led by Osama bin Laden, and to the Taliban-run government of Afghanistan, which had provided sanctuary to al-Qa’ida. In response, Washington approved a covert plan led by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to directly attack those responsible in their Middle East safe haven. Initiated on 26 September 2001 with the approval of the warlords of the Afghan Northern Alliance, with whom the CIA had formed an intelligence liaison relationship, Operation Jawbreaker resulted in the fall of the Taliban regime, the killing and capture of a significant amount of al-Qa’ida leadership, and elimination of a terrorist safe haven by early December 2001. Moreover, the Taliban’s collapse denied al-Qa’ida a pseudo-nation-state partner, serving to reduce the organization’s sanctuary to areas residing along the Pakistani border.
19 militants from al-Qaeda carried suicide attacks towards the United States. Two of the planes hit the towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, making the towers to fall down. A third plane hit the Pentagon just outside Washington, D.C., and the fourth plane crashed in a field in Pennsylvania which didn’t reach its goal which was the Capitol. As a result from this tremendous attack over 3,000 people died in New York City and Washington D.C.
On the morning of September 11/2001, 19 terrorist working for the Al Qaeda terrorist organization hijacked four commercial planes. They attempted to fly them into multiple U.S targets. One of the planes, American Airlines, flight 11, crashed into the north tower of the World Trade Center at 8:50 a.m. Another plane, United Airlines, flight 175, crashed into the south tower at 9:04 a.m. These tragedies took the lives of nearly 3000 people and affected the lives of millions.
On December 24th 1979, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan. On that day began a war which wreaked incredible havoc and destruction on Afghanistan for 10 long years. The Soviets stormed in with thousands of troops at the request of the troubled Afghan Communist regime. The Russians believed this be a neat surgical military operation. They were wrong.(Boggs) The only resistance to the Soviet invasion were men known as the "mujahideen" known to many as freedom fighters. They are multinational; some even from America, doing everything in their power to repeal the Soviet horde. The Soviet invasion frightened neighboring countries such as Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, so they unofficially allied with the United States. The U.S. provided the weaponry, training, etc., Saudi Arabia recruited the fighters (mujahideen) which were sometimes based in Pakistan. They all agreed on the need for armed resistance against the Soviets. The U.S. decided to tap the religious vein of the rebels, creating a zealous religiously driven guerrilla organization; well armed and trained by CIA officers with the goal of returning Afghanistan to Islamic purity.
On September 11, 2001, the Islamist terrorist group known as al-Qaeda launched a series of terrorist attacks on the United States of America, specifically in the New York City and Washington D.C areas. Nineteen al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked four planes with the intention of using them as suicide attacks that would crash those planes into designated buildings, or targets. Two of the four passenger jets were flown into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, both of which collapsed entirely within two hours of being hit. The third plane was crashed into the Pentagon, and the west side of the building, which is the Headquarters of the US Department of Defense, partially collapsed. The fourth hijacked plane was intended for the US Capitol Building in Washington D.C, but instead crashed into a field in Pennsylvania after the passengers of the plane interfered with the hijackers. The attack on September 11th was devastatingly fatal—almost 3,000 people died in the attacks, including all of the al-Qaeda hijackers and every passenger aboard the four planes.
The two victims said that they were not involved in terrorist groups, but during the investigation they had visited some Al- Qaeda websites to plan out the bombing. Al- Qaeda is an Islamist group that was found by Osama bin Laden in the 1980s. Al- Qaeda is the same group that did the terroist attacks on September 11, 2001. Al- Qaeda means "the base". In 2010, the Al- Qaeda's magazine had a step by step to make a pressure cooker bomb. The brothers were planning to do some of the same acts in New York City.
...spread cells, and gaining support, and constantly evolving employment of technology, it continues to thrive. Friendly forces continue to gain knowledge about the Al Qaeda in efforts to bring the organization down and prevent further implementation of chemical or biological warfare.
On September 11, 2001, many people’s lives were changed. Not only Americans, but Muslims and Islamist alike, were affected. (A Nation Challenged 80). Family members and friends were lost, lives were taken away, and New York City was torn to pieces. Two planes hit the Twin Towers, otherwise known as the World Trade Center. One plane was flown into the Pentagon located in Virginia. One last plane was flown into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania after being taken over by the passengers. The nineteen men who hijacked these planes were from the Islamist militant group known as al-Qaeda. (The 9/11 Commission Report). An editorial in the New York Times said, “It was one of those moments in which history splits, and we define the world as ‘before’ and ‘after’.”
Historical Significance: The September 11th, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, orchestrated by Al-Qaeda and Bin Laden, were the events that launched the U.S. War on Terrorism. Al-Qaeda’s attack on the United States was carried out by members of radicalized Islamic groups, whose objective was to spread jihad against the secular influence of the West. This tragic event provided the historical b...
One of the most infamous dates in American history, September 11, 2001 is also one of the darkest and controversial dates. September 11, 2001 or 9/11 is remembered as a tragic terrorist attack by al-Qaeda, a Muslim extremist group, primarily on the World Trade Towers. Directed by al-Qaeda, 19 hijackers took over four passenger planes, American Airlines- Flight 11 and Flight 77, and United Airlines- Flight 175 and Flight 93. These hijacked planes crashed into the World Trade Center Towers, the Pentagon and Somerset County, Pennsylvania. With devastating impacts, the U.S was scarred. From the 9/11 building attacks alone, 2,753 people died and in total, close to 6,000 deaths (CNN Library). As demoralizing these reports are, what is more shocking is that 911 was part of a vast conspiracy and mass criminal cover-up by the U.S. government.
America has had 21 terrorist attacks, from 2000 to 2009 consisting mostly of al-Qaeda and suicide bombers (infoplease.com). Osama Ben Laden, leading al-Qaeda’s attacks is fed up with the way America treats the world. Blaming America for global warming and determined to stop them by sending suicide bombers and hijacking planes. After the 9/11 attack America changed the way they looked at security, putting into effect; Airport Security Federalization Act of 2001: To deter and punish terrorist acts in the United States and around the world, to enhance law enforcement investigatory tools (The Library of Congress).
Al-Qaeda Introduction Al Qaeda is a terrorist organization established in Peshawar, Pakistan, between 1988 and 1989 by Osama bin Laden and his teacher Abullah Yusuf Azzam. Al-Qaeda is an international terrorist network that is considered the top terrorist threat to the United States. Al Qaeda is seeking to get rid of all westerns from Muslim territory and replace their own Islamic regime. They are a group of people who work together to plan acts of terrorism against Muslims and non-Muslims especially in the United States. Al Qaeda believes that they are fighting a holy war against the enemy of their religion.
On July 7th, 2005, London suffered an attack by Al Qaeda. The attack was the worst attack since World War II that they have experienced. Four bombs exploded in three different subway stations, and another exploded in a double-decker bus. The bombing killed fifty two people and injured more than seven hundred people. Al Qaeda then said that the attacks were rebellion and revenge for Britain’s involvement with the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
They were Being one of the most powerful and richest terrorist groups in history combining military and religion fanaticism to build what they call the Islamic State. However, it all started with the Soviets invading Afghanistan causing thousands of Muslims to fight back. Finally, after the Soviets fight withdraw, a man named, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi who travels to Afghanistan. Later on, Zarqawi later on meets another man named, Sheikh Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi who eventually persuades Zaraqawi to believe in Islam. Subsequently, this was significant because it led to the organization known as JTWJ (Jamaat-al-Tawhid wal-Jihad). Finally, in 2003, JTWJ was renamed as AQI (al-Qaeda in Iraq) and grew to become the leading organization of Sunni’s. Furthermore, this made AQI very cocky which ends up most of their members in prison. After some time, they finally escape and reorganize to become an even more powerful organization. In 2013 AQI was renamed as Isis as they left Al Qaeda. ISIS then ends up capturing a major city in Syria known as Raqqa which later was made to be the capital for ISIS. This was significant because it allowed them to use this as an opportunity to recruit people which made them grow and increase in members hastily. This caused the western societies to be concerned because of a powerful organization could bring a threat to