Al-Qaeda

From Metapedia

Al-Qaeda (also al-Qaida or al-Qa'ida or al-Qa'idah) (Arabic: القاعدة‎ al-qāʕida, translation: The Base) is an international alliance of Islamic terrorist organizations founded in 1988 by Osama bin Laden and other veteran "Afghan Arabs" after the Soviet War in Afghanistan. Al-Qaeda has attacked targets in various countries, the most notable being the September 11, 2001 attacks that occurred in New York City and Northern Virginia. These actions were followed by the U.S. government launching a military and intelligence campaign against al-Qaeda known as the War on Terror.

The group has been defined as "a radical Sunni Muslim umbrella organization established to recruit young Muslims into the Afghani mujahideen and is aimed to establish Islamist states throughout the world, overthrow ‘un-Islamic regimes’, expel U.S. soldiers and Western influence from the Gulf, and capture Jerusalem as a Muslim city," by the United States Department of Defense. Al-Qaeda's objectives include the end of foreign influence in Muslim countries and the creation of a new Islamic caliphate. Reported beliefs include that a Christian-Jewish alliance is conspiring to destroy Islam, and that in jihad the killing of bystanders and civilians is Islamically justified. Its management philosophy has been described as "centralization of decision and decentralization of execution."

Characteristic terror techniques include use of suicide attacks and simultaneous bombings of different targets. Activities ascribed to it may involve members of the organization, who have taken a pledge of loyalty to bin Laden, or the much more numerous "Al-Qaeda-linked" individuals who have undergone training in one of its camps in Afghanistan or Sudan but not taken any pledge. Following 9/11 and the launching of the war on terror, it is thought al-Qaeda's leadership has "become geographically isolated", leading to the "emergence of decentralized leadership" of regional groups using the al-Qaeda "brand name."

Due to its secrecy and structure of semi-autonomous cells, al-Qaeda's size and degree of responsibility for particular attacks are difficult to establish.