The author begins with a descript narrative of the warfare that goes on within the Middle East. A picture is painted of the area in which much of the military activity is conducted. The way that the author portrays Waziristan is as a desolate wasteland, “Outside the towns, there are few signs of modern life -- no power lines or telephone poles. Occasional herds of goats drift past, shepherded by nomadic tribes searching for water…” (Gannon). From this description one would be led to believe that Waziristan is a place that is a military dominated desert, void of modern necessities. This area is described as the ideal hub for al-Qaida, Afghan, and Pakistani allied militaries to gather, train, and prepare for war battles. Due to the fact that
militants that were said to specifically target Americans and their allies, the United States sought to infiltrate North Waziristan. Gannon describes, “The United States is pressuring Pakistan to launch military operations in North Waziristan, and CIA-operated unmanned aircraft are unleashing missiles with increasing frequency at suspected militant leaders holed up there…” (Gannon). It seems that the United States was seeking for aid from Pakistan to conduct attacks upon this region, as it had been suspected that many militant leaders were hiding/conducting military business within the area. However, they would eventually launch their own attacks as a prior peace pact had been drafted between Pakistan and the militants of Miram Shah, “Under the agreement, Pakistan promised to keep an estimated 10,000 army men in their barracks, while the militants promised to stop crossing into Afghanistan, expel foreigners and stop fighting Pakistan” (Gannon). Although Pakistan would uphold their part of the pact, the United States military would take matters into their own hands by unleashing unmanned drones. Gannon reports, “In the absence of a Pakistan ground offensive in North Waziristan, the United States has stepped up its unmanned drone assaults on the area, say local residents….” (Gannon). It is believed that the Pakistani government and military allows the United States to conduct these acts of warfare, causing a lack of trust between the citizens and their government. This mistrust between the government/military and the people of Pakistan has caused greater conflict for the area, as more people will follow the Taliban for fear of the safety.
The article “Officials: Al Qaeda tries to recruit Americans in Syria” is about how Al Qaeda is encouraging fighters in Syria to prepare them in the case that they will return home to carry out attacks. They are prepared to send the fighters home by train. There...
The Battle of Kamdesh was fought in Afghanistan during the Afghan War. It is an occurrence in the ongoing NATO campaign of the Operation Enduring Freedom since the year 2001. It was one of the bloodiest battles the USA forces engaged in during this campaign against the Taliban insurgents. The Taliban insurgents, assisted by local Nuristan militias, attacked Kamdesh, which is an American combat outpost, located deep in the Nuristan tribal Areas. They carried out a well-coordinated attack on the outpost, leading to a breach and an overrun of the post. This paper, seeks to analyze why, when, how, and what were the resulting impact of the battle.
Likewise, Goodwin illustrates how the use of categorical terrorism can be seem being used by Al-Qaida during the attacks of 9/11. Nonetheless, it is evident that Al-Qaida is unusual in terms of using terrorism to influence the rise of unity rather than trying to overthrow a standing state. For the purpose of instigating a pan-Islamic revolutionary movement, Al-Qaida tries to unite all Islamic people under one state to develop umma, or Muslim community. The logic of Al-Qaida remained that if their “revolutionaries” could illicit a reaction from the powerful US state, resulting in oppression of the middle-eastern region, that Al-Qaida could, as a result, unite all Muslims to counter this suggested oppression. Although the end goal of Al-Qaida clear failed, it does suggest the organization’s attempt at implementing categorical terrorism.
McCutcheon, Priscilla. “Returning Home to Our Rightful Place: The Nation of Islam and Muhammad Farms,” Elsevier (2013): 61-70 doi: 10.1016/j.geoforum.2013.05.001
Jalali, Ali Ahmad, and Lester W. Grau. Afghan Guerrilla Warfare - In the Words of the Mujahideen Fighters. St. Paul: MBI Publishing Company, 2001.
For approximately the past three decades, a terrorist group has come to plague the world with its activities (Gunaratna, 2002). This group is known as Al Qaeda. Al Qaeda, when translated means “The Base”. It is a terrorist organization that seeks to remove western influence from the Middle East and spread its radical Islamic views. Al Qaeda’s most prominent leader was Osama bin Laden, until his death during a raid upon his compound in Pakistan. The Al Qaeda’s motivation stems primarily from extreme and deeply rooted religious beliefs. Their most used method of attack is through suicide bombers and improvised explosive devices. This organization has also used chemical warfare and at this time is believed to still actively seek to utilize chemical and biological agents as means to battle.
Currie, Stephen. "Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda." Terrorists and Terrorist Groups. San Diego: Lucent Books, 2002. 69-83. Print.
Von Knop, Katharina. (2007). The Female Jihad: Al Qaeda’s Women. Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, 397-414.
Sageman, Marc. "The Journal of International Security Affairs The Normality of Global Jihadi Terrorism 2005th ser. Spring.9 (2005). .
Leenders, Reinoud. "Regional Conflict Formations': Is the Middle East Next? ." Third World Quarterly 28.5 (2007): 959-982. JSTOR. Web. 5 June 2011.
a comprehensive research service. Retrieved May 2, 2004, from Terrorist Attack by Al Qaeda: http://www.fas.org/irp/crs/033104.pdf. Gunaratna, R. (2005, September). Retrieved September 2005, from http://strategicstudiesinstitute.army.mil/pubs/parameters/articles/05spring/henzel.pdf. Gunaratna, R. (n.d.).
Quarterly, inc. "Syria." The Middle East. 11th ed. Washington, D.C.: CQ Press, 2007. 437 - 456. Print.
Al Qaeda is an international terrorist organization that was founded by Osama bin Laden in the late 1980s in Peshawar, Pakistan. The name is Arabic for “The Base of Operation” or “method” (Burke 2004). However, many experts agree that al-Qaeda is more dangerous as an ideology than as an organization. As an organization, it has been weakened by fragmentation, arrests, and deaths of the top leaders. This has caused the structure of the organization to be destroyed, resulting in the lack of a central hub for the militant group. One thing that remains is the ideology, which is fueled mainly by a hatred of Western, Zionist, and Semitic cultures and beliefs (Burke 2004). As a result, many people may not be directly part of the al Qaeda network or even directly linked to bin Laden. Due to their common views and beliefs of Western culture, militant groups loosely associated to al Qaeda have been formed, carrying on the original objectives that bin Laden had in mind when he created this organization.
On the board on Monday morning, there were numbers one through five and they each had a religion written next to them. 1 was Hinduism, 2 was Christianity, 3 was Judaism, 4 was Buddhism, and I was lucky enough to get 5: Islam. Oh, I know so much about Islam culture and their religion, are you kidding? I don’t even know where Islam is. I’m just kidding, it’s not a country. There are many differences between Islam and the United states like our religion, clothes, and food, and becoming a Christian or a Muslim, but Islam is the second largest religion in the world, so it’s important to a lot of people. The followers of Islam are called Muslims. Becoming a Muslim is not an easy process. You must do a long list of tasks. After you become a Muslim you must do everything in your power to try to have a good Muslim lifestyle.
As the title of this paper states, “How our World is Changing” our world is constantly changing. Our world changes everyday without most of us ever seeing or noticing any changes, but as we look back in history we can see some tremendous changes. As history is studied these changes become apparent and truly jump out and become real.