Al-Qaeda’s phenomenon: Terrorist organization of new generation

Analysts from different countries are trying to explain the Al-Qaeda phenomenon, while American special services are trying to catch Bin Laden. Washington ProFile news agency reported that the main conclusion made by independent researchers was that Osama bin Laden's organization differed a lot from other terrorist groups all over the world. Apparently, this is the reason why it is so famous and enduring. Al-Qaeda has actually become the first non-state organization at war with the whole international community. It has proved that it could oppose the military, political, financial, and ideological power of the leading countries of the world. Bin Laden has changed the philosophy of terrorism, having turned it into a tool in the anti-Western struggle.

Al-Qaeda has never claimed responsibility for any acts of terrorism; it has a very wide network of its agents, and it managed to unite several different factions. Al-Qaeda paid a lot of its attention to the ideological and psychological training of its guerrillas, and all operations were conducted only after the development of detailed preparations, which sometimes took up to 18 months. Bin Laden’s organization managed to improve the system of its new members enrollment. Pursuant to CIA’s information, some 25-100 thousand new members were trained in Al-Qaeda’s camps in Afghanistan over the period of 1989-2001. Such camps were also set up in Sudan, in the Caucasus, in the Balkans, and in many countries of the Middle and Far East. It seems that CIA knows what it is talking about, because it was America that launched Bin Laden’s “new career,” when he was its ally in Afghanistan during the struggle with the Soviet Union.

Al-Qaeda unites all kinds of Muslims; it had its units in 34 countries. The common period of its activity is 13-14 years. Then the organization either breaks up or gets into the new “spirit” –politics. Washington ProFile cited Roan Gunaratny, who used to work as the chief analyst of the UN department for prevention of terrorism. He stated that terrorist groups used to run their activities against one country or a small group of countries, and Al-Qaeda became an exception.

The analyst said that Al-Qaeda’s ideology was created not by Osama bin Laden, but by his teacher and spiritual mentor Abdullah Azzam back in 1987. Al-Qaeda’s first act of terrorism was against a Philippine jetliner, which was flying over Japan. The establishment of Al-Qaeda became terrorists’ ironic respond to the Western globalization. Guerrillas use up-to-date achievements of civilization in their struggle: satellite phones, laptops, and the Internet. The distribution of informational technologies and the free exchange of information all over the world did not raise tolerance, as “the fathers of globalization” had hoped.

One cannot talk about Al-Qaeda in the past tense, despite all efforts of the Americans in this respect. No one knows, where Bin Laden is, but this is not important, actually. Other terrorist organizations use Al-Qaeda’s experience and style. Washington ProFile cited Ahmed Rashid – a specialist for Islam, the author of the book “Jihad.” He believes that Al-Qaeda will try to operate everywhere where Muslim people live and it is absolutely impossible to prevent such attempts. Rashid believes that dissatisfied Muslims are nurturing Al-Qaeda and its associate structures: “For the time being, there is no country in the world that can boast of being free from corruption, incredible enrichment of the ruling clique, and poverty of the lower classes. You can add transparency of borders and the weakness of law-enforcement bodies. These conditions do not give any other choice to the dissatisfied who promise to solve all problems with the help of Islam.”

Sergey Borisov PRAVDA.Ru

Translated by Dmitry Sudakov