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al-Qa'ida (The Base)
Islamic Army for the Liberation of the Holy Places
World Islamic Front for Jihad Against Jews and Crusaders
Islamic Salvation Foundation
Usama bin Laden Network
Al-Qa'ida is multi-national, with
members from numerous countries and with a worldwide presence. Senior
leaders in the organization are also senior leaders in other terrorist
organizations, including those designated by the Department of State as
foreign terrorist organizations, such as the Egyptian al-Gama'at
al-Islamiyya and the Egyptian al-Jihad. Al-Qa'ida seeks a global
radicalization of existing Islamic groups and the creation of radical
Islamic groups where none exist.
Al-Qa'ida supports Muslim fighters in Afghanistan, Bosnia,
Chechnya, Tajikistan, Somalia, Yemen, and Kosovo. It also trains members
of terrorist organizations from such diverse countries as the Philippines,
Algeria, and Eritrea.
Al-Qa'ida's goal is to "unite all Muslims and to
establish a government which follows the rule of the Caliphs." Bin
Laden has stated that the only way to establish the Caliphate is by force.
Al-Qa'ida's goal, therefore, is to overthrow nearly all Muslim governments,
which are viewed as corrupt, to drive Western influence from those
countries, and eventually to abolish state boundaries.
Usama bin Laden, a multi-millionaire ex-Saudi financier
who is a principal source of funding and direction for Al-Qa'ida, has been
described by the US Government as "one of the most significant
financial sponsors of Islamic extremist activities in the world today."
Usama Bin Laden was born around 1955 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. He is the
youngest son of Muhammad Bin Laden, a wealthy Saudi of Yemeni origin and
founder of the Bin Laden Group, a construction firm heavily involved with
Saudi Government contracts.
Usama Bin Laden left Saudi Arabia to fight against the
Soviets in Afghanistan in 1979. He sponsored and led a number of Arabs
fighting in Afghanistan against the Soviets in the 1980s. In the mid-1980s
he co-founded the Maktab al-Khidamat (MAK) or Services Office, to help
funnel fighters and money to the Afghan resistance in Peshawar with the
Palestinian Muslim Brotherhood leader Abdallah Azzam. The MAK ultimately
established recruitment centers around the world -- including in the U.S.,
Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan -- that enlisted, sheltered, and
transported thousands of individuals from over 50 countries to Afghanistan
to fight the Soviets. It also organized and funded paramilitary training
camps in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Bin Laden imported heavy equipment to
cut roads and tunnels and to build hospitals and storage depots in
Afghanistan. As many as 10,000 Arabs received training and combat
experience in Afghanistan. Of these, nearly half were Saudis, with others
including more than 3000 Algerians, 2000 Egyptians, and hundreds of others
from Yemen, Sudan, Pakistan, Syria and other Muslim states.
Bin Laden split from Azzam in the late 1980s to extend his
campaign to all corners of the globe while Azzam remained focused only on
support to Muslims waging military campaigns. Bin Laden formed a new
organization in 1988 called al-Qa'ida -- the military "base."
After Azzam was killed by a car bomb in late 1989, the MAK split, with the
extremist faction joining Bin Laden's organization. Bin Laden returned to
work in his family's Jeddah-based construction business after the Soviets
withdrew from Afghanistan in 1989, but he continued his organization to
support opposition movements in Saudi Arabia and Yemen.
After Afghanistan, Bin-Laden ran the Jihad Committee which
includes the Egyptian Islamic Group and the Jihad Organization in Yemen,
the Pakistani al-Hadith group, the Lebanese Partisans League, the Libyan
Islamic Group, Bayt al-Imam Group in Jordan, and the Islamic Group in
Algeria. This committee runs the Islamic Information Observatory center in
London, which organizes media activity for these organizations, and the
Advisory and Reformation Body which also has a bureau in London.
In 1991 he relocated to the Sudan, and in 1994 he was
stripped of his Saudi citizenship after Algeria, Saudi Arabia and Yemen
accused him of supporting subversive groups. Although the Afghan war had
ended, al-Qa'ida has remained a formidable organization consisting of
mujahedin of many nationalities who had previously fought with Bin Laden.
Many of these have remained loyal to and continue working with him.
Sudan harbors a number of terrorist groups, although in
May 1996 it expelled Bin Laden and members of some terrorist groups under
Saudi pressure, and in response to U.S. insistence and to the threat of UN
sanctions following Sudan's alleged complicity in the attempted
assassination of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Ethiopia in 1995.
Bin Laden quickly returned to Afghanistan after leaving
Sudan, where his support for and participation in Islamic extremist
activities continued. Since departing Sudan he is said to have changed
considerably, suspecting that there are plots to murder him, so he
reportedly now only trusts only a narrow circle of people. He is reported
to act on the premise that attack is the best line of defense, rather than
efforts to unify extremist groups.
Prior to the emergence of the Taleban he was functioning
and moving around freely while Rabbani and Massood ruled in Kabul. Bin
Laden was subsequently reported to be living in Taleban-held Jalalabad in
Afghanistan with about 50 of his family members and bodyguards. A few
months after his arrival in Afghanistan the Taleban gained control over
Jalalabad and Kabul, and launched a campaign against the "Arab
Afghans." In February 1997 the Taleban rejected an American agreement
to turn Bin Laden over to them in return for international recognition and
obtaining Afghanistan's seat in international organizations. But in early
1997 at least two large bombs were detonated in Jalalabad as part of
attempts to assassinate Bin Laden, including a 19 March 1997 explosion
that destroyed the police station, killing more than 50 and wounding 150.
Bin Laden subsequently moved to Kandahar from his Jalalabad stronghold as
a result of concerns for his personal safety. Kandahar is the stronghold
of the Students of the Shari'ah, and the central residence of the
Commander of the Faithful al-Mulla Muhammad 'Umar. The Taleban Islamic
State of Afghanistan claimed that they moved him to Kandahar to keep him
under strict limitations [according to some reports he was under house
arrest], and that he was no longer allowed to use Afghan soil to cause
harm to any country, including Saudi Arabia.
Most recently he was reportedly moving between four or
five camps in Afghanistan which are the bases for about 200 followers
staying with him. He has financed and supported some 600 or 700 other
people outside Afghanistan. Bin Laden is said to have established cells of
supporters in Yemen, and as of late 1996 it was reported that an
additional 2,000 "Afghans" were resident in Somalia and the
Ogaden region, with relatively few actually in Afghanistan.
Bin-Laden provides money to humanitarian organizations and
to Islamic publications and groups. He advocates the destruction of the
United States, which he sees as the chief obstacle to reform in Muslim
societies. Since 1996, his anti-U.S. rhetoric has escalated to the point
of calling for worldwide attacks on Americans and allies, including
civilians.
- Bin-Laden was involved in operations against the American forces in
Somalia in 1993.
- In 1995 it was reported that Bin Laden had agreed to finance a
"Gulf Battalion" organized by the Iranian Guardians of the
Revolution. It was suggested that he had convinced Yemeni
fundamentalist leader Shaykh 'Abd-al-Majid al-Zandani, to position
elements of the Gulf Battalion in al-Zandani's camps in Yemen for
deployment in Gulf countries when circumstances permited.
- Osama Bin Laden is suspected by the US of being responsible for 1996
bomb attacks on American service personnel in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia.
- In mid-1996 a meeting of various leaders convened by Bin Laden
reached a consensus "to use force to confront all foreign forces
stationed on Islamic land," and to form a planning committee; a
financing, supply, and mobilization committee; and a higher military
committee to oversee implementation of the plan.
- Bin Laden publicly issued his "Declaration of War" against
the United States in August 1996. When anti-U.S. attacks did not
materialize immediately, he explained the delay: "If we wanted to
carry out small operations, it would have been easy to do so
immediately after the statements. Even the nature of the battle
requires good preparation."
- In November 1996 he pronounced as "praiseworthy terrorism"
the bombings in Riyadh and at Khobar in Saudi Arabia, promising that
other attacks would follow. He admitted carrying out attacks on U.S.
military personnel in Somalia and Yemen, declaring that "we used
to hunt them down in Mogadishu."
- He stated in an interview broadcast in February 1997 that "if
someone can kill an American soldier, it is better than wasting time
on other matters."
- In February 1998, Bin Laden announced the creation of a new alliance
of terrorist organizations, the "World Islamic Front for Jihad
Against Jews and Crusaders." The Front included the Egyptian
al-Gama'at al-Islamiyya, the Egyptian Islamic Jihad, the Harakat
ul-Ansar, and two other groups. The Front declared its intention to
attack Americans and our allies, including civilians, anywhere in the
world. By at least February 1998, the Egyptian Islamic Jihad had
effectively merged with al Qaeda and joined with al Qa'ida in
targeting American civilians.
- In May 1998, he stated at a press conference in Afghanistan that we
would see the results of his threats "in a few weeks."
On 07 August 1998 a car bomb exploded behind the US
Embassy, killing 291 persons and wounding about 5,000. The majority of the
casualties were Kenyan citizens. Twelve US citizens died, and six were
injured in the attack. A group calling itself the "Islamic Army for
the Liberation of the Holy Places" immediately claimed responsibility
for the attacks in Nairobi and a near-simultaneous explosion in Dar es
Salaam, Tanzania. US officials believe the group is a cover name used by
Usama Bin Ladin' al-Qaida organization. Indictments were returned in the
US District Court for the Southern District of New York charging Usama Bin
Laden and 11 other individuals for these and other terrorist acts against
US citizens. At yearend, four of the indicted- Wadih El Hage, Mohamed
Rashed Daoud al-Owhali, Mamdouh Mahmud Salim, and Mohammed Sadeeck
Odeh-were being held in New York, while Khalid al-Fawwaz remained in the
United Kingdom pending extradition to the United States. The other
suspects remain at large. The Government of Kenya cooperated closely with
the United States in the criminal investigation of the bombing. On 20
August 1998, President Clinton amended Executive Order 12947 to add Usama
Bin Laden and his key associates to the list of terrorists, thus blocking
their US assets-including property and bank accounts-and prohibiting all
US financial transactions with them. Bin Laden remains in Afghanistan
under the protection of the Taliban, an ultra-conservative Islamic militia
that controls most of that country. The United States conducted a bombing
run -- Operation Infinite Reach -- against bin Laden's facilities there on
20 August 1998.
Bin-Laden's investments include companies involved in
property management, maritime transport, aircraft rental, public works,
contracting and other commercial activities in a number of countries. His
investments in Sudan include construction and agricultural projects, with
other commercial activities in Somalia, Switzerland, and Luxembourg. His
European interests are managed by lawyers in Switzerland, which makes his
financial dealings and support to terrorism difficult, but not impossible,
to follow.
Acting under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter,
the Security Council on 15 October 1999 demanded that the Afghan faction,
known as the Taliban, turn over Usama bin Laden to appropriate authorities
in a country where he would be brought to justice. In that context, it
decided that on 14 November 1999 all States shall freeze funds and
prohibit the take-off and landing of Taliban-owned aircraft unless or
until the Taliban complies with that demand. Since the Taliban did not
comply with this obligation, the measures of the resolution have entered
into effect.
Taliban representatives had stated that they were totally
opposed to terrorism, but that bin Laden was a guest, that he had become a
resident of Afghanistan prior to the Taliban taking control, and that he
no longer had communication with his followers. At the same time, the
official spokesman of Al-Qaida has stated that they have been supplying
fighters to Chechnya. It seems that they are active not only in Chechnya,
but have worried the other Central Asian republics, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan,
and even Iran. They are certainly turning up in Kashmir, which is one of
the important flash points in the world.
In mid-December 1999 the Jordanian police arrested members
of a cell planning attacks against western tourists. This cell was linked
to Usama bin Laden. On 14 December 1999 Customs agents arrested an
Algerian national smuggling almost 50 pounds of explosive materials and
detonating devices into the United States. The other Algerians
subsequently arrested in connection with this plot apparently were "Afghan
alumni," trained with the mujahedin in Afghanistan and also linked to
Usama bin Laden.
In testimony 02 February 2000 before the Senate Select
Committee on Intelligence, Director of the Central Intelligence Agency
George Tenet said Usama Bin Laden "is still foremost" among
terrorists planning attacks against the United States and that more than
half of 24 terrorists brought to justice since July 1998 "were
associates" of Bin Laden's Al-Qa'ida organization. He said that
despite some disruptions, U.S. intelligence officials believe Bin Laden
could strike without warning, and that the terrorist -- along with others
-- is "placing increased emphasis on developing surrogates to carry
out attacks in an effort to avoid detection."
The United States on 08 May 2000 indicted two Egyptians
being held in London for the deadly bombing of United States embassies in
Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, in August 1998, which
resulted in more than 200 deaths and more than 4,000 injuries. The US
indictment was filed in New York City and superceded a previous indictment
related to the bombing. The indictment brought to 17 the total number of
persons charged, six of whom are in custody in the United States and three
in the United Kingdom.
The September 11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center and the
Pentagon has been attributed to bin Laden and the al-Qa'ida network.
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[9.10.2001
01.35]
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