Inside Al Qaed International Counter Terrorism Expert Rohan Gunaratna

On September 11, 2001, a series of terrorist attacks were directed for the United States by means of four hijacked planes. Two of which hit the twin towers of the World Trade Center, one hit the Pentagon, the headquarters of the Department of Defense, and the fourth crashed in a field near Pittsburg after it was meant to hit the White House. The terror spread in the United States and brought concern and fear to the citizens. The impact of these terrorist attacks caused serious and detrimental damages within the country, and their result on the people were enormous; insecurity, helplessness, and susceptibility spread. Especially after the release of a videotape in which Osama Bin Laden, head of Al-Qaeda, admitted that he was responsible for the terrorist attacks. Hence, President George W, Bush declared the “war on terror” against all terrorists in the Arab world, specifically Afghanistan and Iraq. In the following paper, we will be discussing how the war on terror was waged, its effects on the target countries, and how it was perceived by political thinkers, where some saw it as a conspiracy theory against the Arab countries, and others believed the USA was the victim.

Wright is unmatched in his intimate insights into the lives of the key players, from bin Laden's relationships with his wives, to O'Neal's turbulent personal life. It is with this immense detail, that the author persuasively argues his two main contentions.

President Obama introduces idea of Osama bin Laden as a ‘murderous terrorist’ and connects bin Laden’s ties to September 11, 2001. The imagery and emotion Obama evokes is immense and hits hard. He recounts back to the “cloudless September sky,” he then steers

These included the near-simultaneous bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania on Aug. 7, 1998, which claimed over 200 lives; the suicide bombing of the U.S.S. Cole at Aden, Yemen, on Oct. 12, 2000, killing 17 Americans; and the catastrophic aerial assault on the WORLD TRADE CENTER and the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2011 (Funk and Wagnalls page 1).” Osama Bin Laden

Transnational terrorism points toward an ideological globalism ignoring a world divided by national frontiers. by acknowledging the nature of transnational terrorism, policymakers may come to realize that the structure of terrorism has changed. At least two major international terrorist groups embrace a transcendent ideology-al Qaeda and Hezbollah-and both groups are motivated by religion. In addition, several smaller groups want to follow in their path. Second, at first glance, because many of these groups are Islamic, it would seem to suggest the beginning of religious conflicts beyond nationalistic

The events of 9/11 shocked the nation. One of the most highly acclaimed countries in the world was now lost and extremely vulnerable. The last terrorist attack on American soil had been ages ago dating back to Pearl Harbour in 1945, so far back that most Americans were not even alive to remember the incident. Now our nation was in a state of mourning, a feeling that does not come often. Everyone wondered if this was just the beginning or if it would lead to something more drastic. What was the motive or cause of this event? The answer lies in the past of their leader, Osama Bin Laden. Many critics have claimed that the terrorists in the Middle East just wanted to see us suffer and show that they are superior. Thus, they targeted the most symbolic places in our nation:the World Trade Center, the White House, and the Pentagon. The Terrorist attacks on 9/11, resulting in great devastation, can be traced back to Osama Bin Laden’s home environment, and these circumstances explain Osama Bin Laden and his

Wright has a special way of explaining things. When reading this book, a reader need not have a background knowledge on terrorism, Wright crafts the book in such a way that it consists of a ten page list of the main characters, fifty pages of notes, a list of interviews held, a bibliography and a clear bibliography for those who would love research the topic more. He also

The man behind the 9/11 Attacks who did not receive the same degree of attention of Osama bin Laden or his organization Al Qaeda is Khalid Sheik Mohamed. This man is known as the mastermind to some people. The paper’s objective is to compile and construct a detailed outline of Khalid’s life and draw a conclusion on motives for his attacking of the United States. This will help create a profile of behaviors and choices that will allow Counter-Terror to have information to look for in suspects. Thus, allowing the apprehension of new terrorists. The information that caused this paper to come into existence was reading the 9/11 Report A Graphic Adaptation, specifically in Chapter 5, Al Qaeda Aims at the American Homeland. The Original reaction stood out to me for the research paper when I learned about the planning that Khalid Sheik Mohamed did and his work with his nephew in the 1993 with the World Trade Center Bombing. Since Khalid Mohamed was a key player in the first mass attack on the United States from a foreign group since Pearl Harbor, I Believe we must understand all of Khalid’s interests so we can protect ourselves from others with the same ideals. This paper is organized from early life and schooling to planning of the 1993 World Trade Center attack, then to the 9/11 attacks planning and execution, and lastly closing with the location and on Khalid Sheik Mohamed’s current location.

Osama bin Laden kept his promise when he said that al-Qaeda would be the “master of the world.” Bin Laden, was best viewed as a terrorist CEO, where he essentially applied the techniques of business administration and modern management, which he had learned both from his family’s construction business and at the university, to the running of a transnational terrorist

This novel is about the history behind the terrorist group Al Qaeda and how it led up to the attacks against the U.S. the took place on September 11, 2001. They focus on the former leader Osama Bin Laden and how he grew Al Qaeda into a major terrorist group. The book analyzes the group of terrorists before the attacks took place. This book analyzes the members of the group as well as their upbringing and their affiliation with the terrorist group.This novel goes into detail of the terrorists lives from way back even when they were growing up.

In 1988, Osama Bin Laden founded what is the most widely know terrorist network today, Al Qaeda. It started off small with only three members, but it grew vastly over the years. This is the organization that held the blame for the September 11th attacks on the United States, along with numerous other outbreaks against the world. In 1992 after establishing Al Qaeda, Osama Bin Laden was banished from Saudi Arabia, he then founded a new base in Afghanistan, where he declared a war against the United States, beginning a series of bombings and attacks. They were the ones responsible for the attack on the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon in Washington D.C. killing thousands of loved people, also for the bombings on things such as nightclubs, the Yemen Hotel, and a navy warship. Osama Bin Laden was one of the then most wanted fugitives and terrorists for his involvement in the U.S. embassy bombings. Even though the leader, Osama Bin Laden, was killed in 2011, the terrorist network still exists. Two days after his death, a new leader was elected. Osama Bin Laden was not the only one to be killed though, an FBI agent shot the leader of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and the leader of the Al Qaeda in East Africa was shot by a Policeman. Despite these killings, the Al Qaeda network is powerful and is still growing in the amount of their supporters. Al Qaeda is still a global threat because of their global supporters, financial means and their

“Muslims, Bin Laden argues, must reverse a series of humiliations that they’ve endured since the Ottoman Empire, the last Muslim great power, was dismantled after World War I. Al-Qaeda’s 1998 declaration of a jihad, or holy war, against ‘Jews and Crusaders’ urges Muslims to attack ‘the Americans and their allies, civilian and military,’ supposedly as a response to U.S. policies that al-Qaeda feels oppress Muslims: the stationing of troops in Saudi Arabia; the backing of U.N. sanctions against Iraq; support for repressive Arab regimes; support for Israel; alleged complicity in Russian attacks on Muslims in Chechnya; and interventions in Bosnia, Somalia, and other Muslim regions that bin Laden sees as attempts to spread America’s empire. These Western policies, according to al-Qaeda, add up to a ‘clear

Although, it did not take long before America realized that the Al Qaeda group was responsible for the Sept. 11 attacks. In addition, the organization was led by Osama bin Laden. Besides, the Al Qaeda group had declared war openly on the States of America (Capone, 2011). As a result, the group was ready to terminate lives of innocents’ lives in America and the entire world. Therefore, America started war against Al Qaeda with the aim of protecting the citizens, friends as well as allies. However, after 10 years of the heroic and tireless effort of American military with the tireless support of the counter-terrorism professionals American had yielded some fruits. In addition, America had strengthened its homeland defense and disrupted attacks by the

​Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) is a branch of the Islamic organization known as al Qaeda. The AQAP is based in Yemen and was formed in 2009 after an announcement that Yemeni and Saudi terrorists were unifying under a common banner (National Counterterrorism Center [NCTC], 2014). The AQAP is now considered the most active and dangerous branch of al Qaeda (Masters, 2014).

Foreign fighters have been a staple of the modern wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. An interesting aspect of these foreign fighters in these conflicts is the amount of Westerners taking part in the insurgencies. The latest chapter in the war in Iraq is the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, which has become notorious in recent months for its brutality and its military successes. A recent Wall Street Journal article reports that over 28,000 individuals from eighty six countries have come to Iraq and Syria to fight for the Islamic State . Who are these Westerners who forsake a life of relative comfort and freedom for the rigors and danger of jihad? There are certain indicators in behavior of those who join the ranks of foreign fighters. While by no means a profile in any sense, the indicators observed by foreign fighters studied in this paper will provide policy makers and law enforcement with an idea of who could be likely to join foreign fighters abroad. Western foreign fighters are a major security concern for Western governments as they return home . The training and indoctrination they receive abroad makes reintegration into Western society difficult if not impossible. While every individual is different, all foreign fighters have observable behaviors prior to joining Islamic extremist movements. Learning how Westerners become radicalized is crucial to depriving groups like Al Qaeda and ISIS with valuable manpower.