Al Qaeda

Erik Appelkvist
Grade 8 English J8 Summit

Zurich International School

People mainly know Al Qaeda as that terrorist group from 9/11 and tend not to think much more about them, but the truth is that Al Qaeda is no laughing matter. Al Qaeda was first formed in 1988 in Peshawar, Pakistan. There are seven different branches of Al Qaeda; the different branches are the Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the Al Qaeda in East Africa, The Al Qaeda in Europe, The Al Qaeda in Iraq, the Al Qaeda in Asia and Indonesia, and The Al Qaeda in North Africa known as the Al Qaeda in the Islam Maghreb. People should become a lot more aware about the threat that Al Qaeda is. Al Qaeda is still an effective threat after 9/11 as they are still being financed by numerous sources, people continue to be recruited, and violence is still carried forward and spread by Al Qaeda. The majority of the funding for the Al Qaeda comes from the Saudi government itself. Nine years after the United States vowed to shut down the money pipeline that finances terrorism, senior Obama administration officials say they believe that many millions of dollars are flowing largely unimpeded to extremist groups worldwide, and they have grown frustrated by frequent resistance from allies in the Middle East, according to secret diplomatic dispatches. [Lichtblau, Schmitt]. The other majority of Al Qaedas funding comes from Illegal activities such as hostages taking as explained by this CNN article The al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb terrorist group, for example, has sustained itself since 2003 primarily on revenues derived from the business of hostage taking, mostly Westerners. It also engages in drug trafficking and receives some donations [Ehrenfel]. Clearly Al Qaeda is still being funded by various sources and as long as they continue to earn money they continue to be a threat. Al Qaeda also continues to be a threat by consistently recruiting new members on a regular basis. A quite new and popular method of recruitment for women is called Honor recruitment. This method involves a male member from Al Qaeda marrying an innocent woman. The man will then tell another man inside Al Qaeda to rape his wife. This means that the women has dishonored her family and religion and has no choice but to kill herself and in turn she is recruited by Al Qaeda [Marisol]. This method, although twisted, is extremely effective and fuels Al Qaedas suicide bombing recruitments making it possible for Al Qaeda to carry out more attacks. Another popular way Al Qaeda recruits new members is by joining forces with different Jihad influenced militant groups around the Middle-East. The Al

Qaeda will somewhat manipulate the militia members into believing that joining forces will protect them more and make their life a whole lot easier when in reality they are raised like pigs to be slaughtered [Van Natta, Ondon]. This technique is not as fast as other techniques but it brings in some 40 members in one go making a much stronger Al Qaeda.

With Al Qaeda constantly growing and becoming larger every day it gives them the opportunity to carry out more attacks and in-turn get closer to fulfilling their goal of carrying out genocide of non-jihadists. Al Qaeda carried out their first attack in 1992 in Aden, Yemen. The attack consisted of a bomb that went off at the Gold Mohur Hotel, where U.S. troops had been staying while en-route to Somalia. While the attack only killed 4 people it was still a strong message to The United States showing that they are indeed not invincible [Wright 174]. Al Qaeda have carried out numerous attacks since; in fact Al Qaeda has killed over 4,000 people and carried out over 3o different attacks most of which toke place in Iraq [Tawfeeq]. These statistics quite clearly show the effectiveness of Al Qaeda and shows that they are indeed still a threat.

Most people believe that the Al Qaeda was some type of fad which is long over with, but the truth remains that as long as Al Qaeda continues to be funded, successfully recruits new members, and disperses violence throughout the world Al Qaeda are still an effective threat. Al Qaeda is main goal is to spread violence and eradicate all people that are non-Jihad; as long as Al Qaeda continues to successfully do so they are still a threat and a big one at that.

Profile: Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. 14 June 2011 Last updated at 14:22 GMT BBC. May 2 2012 <http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/worldmiddle-east-11483095>. Al-Qaeda around the world. 5 May 2011 Last updated at 15:18 GMT BBC. May 6 2012 <http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-13296443>. Marisol. Marriage, blackmail, rape: Al-Qaeda's methods for recruiting female suicide bombers in Iraq. July 30, 2008 6:23 AM. 22/5/2012 <http://www.jihadwatch.org/2008/07/marriageblackmail-rape-al-qaedas-methods-for-recruiting-female-suicidebombers-in-iraq.html>. Lichtblau, Schmitt, Eric, Eric. "Cash Flow to Terrorists Evades U.S. Efforts." The New York Times 6 12 2010. Middle East. 5 12 2010. 21/5/2012 <http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/06/worl d/middleeast/06wikileaks-financing.html?_r=1>. Ehrenfeld, Rachel. "Drug trafficking, kidnapping fund al Qaeda." CNN 03 5 2011. CNN Opinion. 03 5 2011. CNN. 29/05/2012 <http://articles.cnn.com/201105-03/opinion/ehrenfeld.al.qaeda.funding_1_islamic-maghreb-drugtrafficking-al-qaeda-central?_s=PM:OPINION>.