Al Qaeda: Origins, Development and Objectives

Al Qaeda was founded in 1988 by the most wanted terrorist in America, Osama Bin Laden, to bring together Arabs who fought in Afghanistan against the Soviet Invasion. Al Qaeda works with allied Islamic extremist groups to take over regimes it deems "non-Islamic" and remove Westerners from Muslin countries. The organization first began with three members and now there are approximately 200 to 1,000 current members. Al-Qaeda began to construct and offer training camps and guesthouses to its recruits; while they also attempted to pull in U.S. citizens for financial, communication, and operation reasons for the benefit of Al-Qaeda and its other affiliations. By 1990 Al-Qaeda was providing military and intelligence training in various areas including Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the Sudan.

In response to growing Western influence in the Middle East, Osama bin Laden formed al-Qaeda, a global militant Sunni Islamist Organization, in 1988. The terrorist activities of this group resulted in the creation of America's Operation Neptune Spear which successfully led to his capture and death in 2011. Osama bin Laden was born on March 10, 1957 to Mohammed bin Laden and Hamida Ghanem. His father was a Saudi millionaire, however, his mother was only a slave to the bin Laden family when Osama was born. In 1962, Saudi Arabia banned all forms of slavery, enabling Osama to become more part of the bin Laden family. In addition, as more U.S. troops began to occupy countries in the Middle East, extremists like bin Laden were infuriated and declared a jihad, or holy war, on the United States. After al-Qaeda was formed and initiated a number of terror attacks against Americans, including the 9/11 acts, the United States launched an operation to eliminate their number one enemy (PBS, 1).

He was the 17th of 52 children born to Mohammed bin Laden, a Yemeni immigrant who owned the largest construction company in the Saudi kingdom ( History.com Staff ). Osama lived a privileged, and carefree youth. His siblings were educated in the West and would later go and become employees at his father's company. Osama bin Laden chose rather to stay close to home. He went to school in Jeddah, decided to married young and, alike all if not most Saudi men, Osama decided to join the pact of the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood. In 1988, bin Laden created a new group of anti-american semites called al Qaida, that would focus on acts of terrorism instead of trying to start military campaigns. After the Soviets withdrew from Afghanistan in 1989, bin Laden saw this as a golden option so he returned to Saudi Arabia to step up fundraising for this new and more complicated project. After al Qaeda started to really blossom, Osama decided it was time to better protect himself and his family from arrest, or death, and win even more recruits to al Qaeda's mission, bin Laden moved from Sudan to Afghanistan in 1996. During the movement of bin Laden, the scale of al Qaeda's attacks continued to increase. Osama and his forces began to ramp up their attacks. Now bin Laden was conducting large scale raids, attacks, and incersions, such as the attacks on two United States Embassies in Nairobi, Kenya and Dar-es-Salaam,

Osama Bin Laden and al Qaeda violently opposed the United States for several reasons. First, the United States was regarded as an "infidel" because it was not governed in a manner consistent with the group's interpretation of Islam. Second, the United States was viewed as providing too much help to other "infidel" governments and institutions, particularly the governments of Saudi Arabia and Egypt, the nation of Israel, and the United Nations organization, which were regarded as enemies of the group. Third, al Qaeda opposed the involvement of the United States armed forces in the Gulf War in 1991 and in Operation Restore Hope in Somalia in 1992 and 1993. In particular, al Qaeda opposed the continued presence of American military forces in Saudi Arabia (and elsewhere on the Saudi Arabian peninsula) following the Gulf War. Fourth, al Qaeda opposed the United States Government because of the arrest, conviction and imprisonment of persons belonging to al Qaeda or its affiliated terrorist groups or those with whom it worked. For these and other reasons, Osama Bin Laden declared a jihad, or holy war,

During the mid-1996s, Bin Laden’s organization was very weak, he declared war on the United States in an effort to attract other terrorism cells to join in the fight against the global hegemon; again, this failed to attract fighters. When he realized that it would be difficult to persuade other extremists to join his organization, Bin Laden chose a new approach: bullying weaker groups into aligning with Al

In 1988 bin Laden founded one of the world’s most infamous terrorist groups, al-Qaeda (the Base). Al-Qaeda's purpose was to encourage muslims to join jihad and perform acts of terrorism and violence, especially towards western countries. The following year bin Laden returned to his home in Saudi Arabia to collect donations for his new group and to help with his father's construction company. The Saudi Arabian government had been notified of bin Laden’s plan to collect donations, so the confiscated his passport, forcing him to stay in Saudi

Osama bin laden was seeking chemicals and nuclear weapons. After that, the Al-Quida tried to communicate and to tell the Americans that Osama Bin Laden had better of communication of technology. He was known as the most threating terrorist ever. He claimed that the whole world as a fair territory. Baker, Peter, Helene Cooper, and Mark Mazzetti. "Bin Laden Is Dead, Obama Says." The New York Times. The New York Times, 01 May 2011. Web. 28 Feb.

11 AUGUST 1988 Al-Qaeda is formed at a meeting attended by Bin Laden, Zawahiri and Dr Fadl in Peshawar, Pakistan. The creation of the group brings together extraordinary Saudi wealth, the expertise of a lifetime Egyptian militant, and a philosophical foundation for jihad from a Cairo intellectual. 26 FEBRUARY 1993 The scale of the organisation's ambition becomes clear when they launch an audacious attack on the World Trade Centre in New York - six are killed and 1,000 injured when a 500kg bomb is detonated. JUNE 2001 Bin Laden's al-Qaeda group and Zawahiri's al-Jihad group formally merge. 11 SEPTEMBER 2001 2,974 people are killed as hijacked planes are flown into buildings in America. OCTOBER 2001 US troops invade Afghanistan, committed to ousting the Taliban from power.A history of terror: Al-Qaeda

During and After the Afghans conflict, bin Laden met Ayman Al-Zawahiri, an Egyptian doctor who would become the No. 2 leader of al Qaeda. When bin Laden returned to his family business after the war, he had falling out with the royal family over its decision to billet American troops during the Persian Gulf War. Bin laden saw the continued presence of U.S. troops there as a defilement of the land that is home to Medina and Mecca, two of Islam’s holiest cities. By the early 1990s, bin Laden was falling out of favor in Saudi Arabia. In 1991, he left for the Sudan. In 1996, under pressure from the United States and Saudi Arabia, Sudan expelled bin Laden, and he return to Afghanistan. He formed a group of militant organization called the International Islamic Front for Jihad against Jews and Crusaders. It included Al-Qaeda and groups from Egypt, Pakistan and Bangladesh. The group issued an edict, known as a fatwa: To kill Americans and their allies, both civil and military, is an individual duty to every Muslim who is able, in any country where this is possible: Bin Laden followers complied and began their involvements in the following attacks:=

Even though al Qaeda had great control, there was not much synchronization between “al Qaeda Central” and their affiliates on the operational level. This meant that bin Laden had very little control over the affiliate groups to include “fellow travelers” like the TTP and those that were affiliated with al Qaeda in name (Lahoud, et al., 1). Some members of the group recommended to senior leaders that they should declare distance and even disassociate themselves from these groups that are acting alone, but stating that they are members of al Qaeda

By the mid 1980s, bin Laden gained a more militaristic mindset. Thus, al-Qaeda was created, with bin Laden as the founder of the group. According to Lawrence Wright, who wrote “The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11” while winning the Pulitzer Prize, al Qaeda was “basically an organized Islamic faction, its goal is to lift the word of God, to make His religion victorious.” The membership into al-Qaeda had only a few requirements: “listening ability, good manners, obedience, and making a pledge to follow one’s superiors.” After the Soviets withdrew from Afghanistan, bin Laden returned to Saudi Arabia in 1990 and was seen as a hero and a jihadi power figure. The Hussein regime then invaded Kuwait in 1992, and Saudi Arabia was put at risk. Bin Laden offered to defend the Saudis, but the offer was declined. The Saudis instead accepted assistance from the United

“In 1988, Bin Laden created a new group called al-Qaida that would focus on acts of terrorism instead of military campaigns.” However, the western Saudi Royal

He envision turning MAK into a force that would come to the aid of all Muslims wherever they needed help. When Osama came back from the front lines he realized that with the increasing forces of MAK he was not able to keep track of their movements and personal information. To solve this Osama developed a new department named Al-Qaeda (The Base). Al-Qaeda was in charge of monitoring MAK’s movements and the soldiers’ personal information. Several soldiers began coming to Bin Laden asking how they could still help the Muslim population. Osama told them to set up anti government groups against the U.S. and Middle Eastern countries that were being influenced the the American way of life. Osama also encouraged these anti government groups to use terrorism to achieve their goals. Abdullah greatly disapproved of this and tried to get Osama to not encourage terrorism. All of this ceased when on November 24, 1989 Abdullah was assassinated by a bomb in his own car. Osama began to hate and speak out against the Royal family of the al-Sauds because he felt they had betrayed god by squandering their great wealth in the luxurious homes and fancy western cars. Osama was greatly distracted when the country of Iraq invaded the small and weak nation of Kuwait. Osama saw this as an opportunity and he forgot his differences with the al-Sauds and immediately went to the palace where he told the Kings that he could

There are several terrorist groups throughout the world today. All the terrorist groups have one common goal and that is to rid the world of Americans and western influence from the Muslim world. There is one organization that has ties to most of all the terrorist groups in the world and is the most infamous group in the world today and that is the group called Al-Qaeda The word Al-Qaeda means “the base” in Muslim. As an international terrorist organization led by Osama bin Laden. The group seeks to rid Muslim countries of western influence and replace them with fundamentalist Islamic regimes. Al-Qaeda grew out of the of the ashes of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1988, after it helped expel the Soviet

Al Qaeda’s Center of Gravity has shifted from its more ideological jihadist focus to its finances. Al Qaeda justifies their material losses by comparing them to the much larger financial damage dealt to their enemies. This shows Al Qaeda’s evolution into a terror enterprise, quantifying their gains and losses then calling it a jihad, ex post facto. While it could be said that Al Qaeda is empowered by many Centers of Gravity, to include their charismatic leaders and many, many jihads, it’s their material and financial gains/losses that backs every move, illustrates success and failure, and ultimately supports the decisions of Al Qaeda leadership.