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Al Qaeda Essay

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Al Qaeda is a global militant Islamist organization that was created by Osama Bin Laden and a few other militant men in the late 1980s. From its beginning, Al Qaeda was dedicated to opposing non-Islamic governments with force and violence. The name translates to “the Base of Operation” (Burke 18) and has been headquartered in numerous nations including Afghanistan, Sudan, and Pakistan since the early 1990s. There is some debate about a current headquarters but most intelligence personnel think the organization operates from numerous satellite locations across the Middle East and Africa. Al-Qaeda functions like a venture capital firm. It provides funding, contacts, and advice to smaller, Islamic militant groups under its umbrella (Burke 18). …show more content…

US government suspects ties with militant terrorist organizations in the Philippines, Egypt, Indonesia, and Iraq. These relationships may be only temporary and are likely to change depending on planned attacks. Although, the exact hierarchy is unknown, Al-Qaeda has a membership roster and a structure of committees to guide and oversee the organization’s tasks. These tasks include training terrorists, proposing targets, financing operations, and issuing edicts to justify Al-Qaeda actions (National Commission on Terrorist Attacks 2). The “Shura” is an advisory council made up of key associates and founding members of the organization. They typically make the big decisions. Underneath the Shura are multiple committees including: the Sharia—responsible for issuing edicts purported to be grounded in Islamic Law that authorizes Al-Qaeda’s acts of terror (National Commission on Terrorist Attacks 2), a military committee responsible for proposing targets for attacks and managing training camps, and a finance committee that is responsible for fundraising for training camps, housing costs, living expenses, and the movement of money allocated to operations (National Commission on Terrorism Attacks 2). As mentioned before, Al-Qaeda’s disjointed and widespread structure is unique because exposure or destruction of small, autonomous cells has little effect on the organization as a whole (Zimmerman

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