By: Gabriel Frolick

Al-Qaeda

By: Gabriel Frolick

A Description of the Problem

• Al- Qaeda is a multi-national radical Islamist terrorist organization.

• Al- Qaeda’s goals include;– The spread of Islam.– Elimination of western influence in the Middle East– Destroy Israel.– Establish a Muslim nation, adhering to the rules of the

original caliphs.• Al- Qaeda’s leader Osama Bin Laden also says that the jihad

(religious duty) of the Muslim people is to wage a holy war on America and her citizens.

Causes

Civil War in Afghanistan

• Civil War in Afghanistan has been going on for over 2,500 years, it is rooted in religious conflict between the Sunni and Shiite tribes.

• The conflict began over who would be the caliph (successor) of the prophet Mohamed when he died.

The Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan

• The Soviets invaded Afghanistan on December 27th, 1979.

• They were attempting to maintain communism in Afghanistan and keep the Mujahideen out of power.

Jihad• The Jihad is the religious

duty of a Muslim.• Its direct English

translation is “struggle”. • Many radical Islamists

including Al- Qaeda define it as a holy war and have waged war on America as their religious duty.

Effects

Terrorist Attacks• 1993 World Trade Center• 1994 Bojinka, Philippine Airlines Flight 434• 1998 U.S.-embassy bombings• September 11, 2001, attacks• November 15 and November 20, 2003 Istanbul attacks• March 11, 2004 Madrid train bombings• 2004 Khobar massacre• July 7, 2005 London transport bombings• November 9, 2005 Amman hotel bombing• April 11, 2007 Algiers bombings• June 2, 2008 Danish-embassy bombing• 2009 Little Rock recruiting office shooting• 2009 Northwest Airlines Flight 253• 2010 cargo plane bomb plot

Heightened State of Alert in Homeland Security

• Air travel has stricter security checkpoints.

• DHS taking greater measures in counter- terrorism.

US Invasion of Afghanistan

• NATO forces invaded Afghanistan on October 7th, 2001 and launched Operation Enduring Freedom.

• This was a responseto the terrorist attacks on September 11th that year.• The objective was toFind Bin Laden.

Solution• The only apparent solution is to take out the heads

of the organization but we have failed to find them. • The US is also occupying Afghanistan and Iraq as an

attempt to keep Al- Qaeda and the Taliban out of power while attempting to prevent the recruiting and protecting civilians which for the most part is unsuccessful.

• My Idea for a solution is to pull all forces out of the Middle East, and place all our efforts into homeland security.

Video

• http://www.youtube.com/user/AlJazeeraEnglish?blend=23&ob=5#p/search/20/WCmHnb1U1cs