Religious Terrorism

RELIGIOUS ZEALOTRY AND TERRORISM
"One religion is as true as another." (Robert Burton)

Tragically, all major religions can justify violence, and religion has long been associated with terrorism. Ever since there was good and evil, religious people have pondered whether using evil to fight evil is good in the name of justice or self-defense. There may be some kind of connection between attachment to the idea of God and a proclivity toward violence. The most common resort to violence occurs when a religious group feels threatened and thinks of itself as a chosen people. Less common is the compulsion to slaughter others in the name of a deity, and even less common (although not insignificant) is the role of sexuality in the mindset of religious fundamentalists who kill. Religions also spawn sects, cults, and alternative religions, and religious terrorism (terrorism in the name of religion) likewise tends to spawn offshoots and factions. A sect is an offshoot of an established religion (Mormons, for example), and most either die off or expand into a major denomination like the Mormons did. A sect-based religious group is more likely to play the role of the victim, not the aggressor. A cult, on the other hand, is a more dangerous, spiritually innovative group (the Branch Davidians, for example) headed by a charismatic leader who usually has other aims than to become a major denomination. Many cults are harmless, but others are into mind control and some are into mass suicide. Still other cults have a doomsday orientation, and these tend to be ones which engage in religious terrorism (such as Aum Shinri Kyo). Any sect or cult can become involved in religious terrorism or it can just worship terrorism (a terrorism cult). The motives can be wide-ranging, from engaging in psychic warfare to expressive behaviors that are homicidal, suicidal, or both. Cults are usually more dangerous than sects (see the Watchman Fellowship's List of Cults for a near-complete list or Perlmutter's summary of occult religions).

There are four warning signs of a dangerous religious group: (1) apocalyptic thinking, or eschatology, that the world is coming to an end, and true believers will enjoy unique rewards at endtime; (2) charismatic leadership where the leader dominates the followers spiritually, emotionally, and sexually; (3) paranoia and demonization of outsiders, accompanied by intentional isolation within a cloistered community; and (4) preparations of a defensive nature, usually indicated by a buildup of guns, poisons, and/or weapons of mass destruction. Many terrorist experts (Lewy 1974; White 2002) regard apocalyptic thinking as the first and most important danger sign. Let's briefly examine some of the major world religions:

CHRISTIANITY: The most popular religion in the world (33%) and the one with the most historical record of violence, much of it in-fighting. A person becomes Christian by being born again (Conservatives), baptized (Protestants and Catholics), reciting the Apostles' creed (Catholics), or having a personal relationship with Jesus (Liberals). Eastern Orthodoxy rejects the Apostles' creed. The strongest bond involves interpretation of the New Testament, although Fundamentalists (Extreme Conservatives) believe the Bible is inerrant and not subject to modern interpretation. Evangelism (aka missionaryism) is also biblically oriented, but emphasizes a personal conversion experience and sharing one's faith or applying it to some cultural issue.

ISLAM: The world's second largest (20%) and fastest growing religion (by birthrate). The word Islam is derived from the word "salam", meaning peace or submission. Allah is a word meaning one true God. Muslim is a word meaning a person who submits to the will of God. A person becomes Muslim by becoming a follower of Islam, attending a mosque (all are non-denominational), reading the Qur'an, holding six beliefs (involving God, angels, messengers, Satan, Day of Judgment, and Jesus was no son of God), and practicing five pillars (reciting a creed, praying 5 times a day, charity, fasting, and pilgrimage). Sikhism is a cross between Islam and Hinduism that rejects elitism and cherishes ceremonial weapons. So-called Islamism is the ideologization of Islam, drawing upon various strands which see God as irrationally all-powerful and Allah's religion as primarily concerned with force and power.

HINDUISM: The world's third largest (13%) religion and the oldest organized one. The word Hindu comes from the Persian, from the Indian name for the river Indus - Sindhu. The Persians commonly replaced the S sounds with H sounds, and Hindus to them were people who inhabited the areas bounded by the Sindhu river. It is a religion without a founder, and a person becomes Hindu by reading the sacred texts, recognizing the holy trinity (Brahma the Creator, Vishnu the Preserver, and Shiva the Destroyer), and practicing various hymns, incantations, and Yoga to commune your soul with the unity of all reality. Most Hindus (80%) regard Vishnu as the ultimate deity, although there are many sects. Hindus believe in transmigration of the soul, or reincarnation, in judgment for good and bad acts.

BUDDHISM: The world's fourth largest (6%) religion, founded by Buddha in 535 BC. Buddha is a term meaning one who is enlightened or has awakened. In Buddhism, there is no God, savior, heaven or hell, only a state of Nirvana achieved by meditation and avoiding extremes of mortification and hedonism. Southeast Asia practices Southern Buddhism which emphasizes karma. China, Japan and Korea practice Eastern Buddhism, which celebrates festivals and is mostly a ruling class religion. Tibet, Mongolia, and Russia practice Northern Buddhism (the Dalai Lama being the ruler) which emphasizes pilgrimages to sites in Sri Lanka and India. There are a variety of traditions mixed with local culture. Most Japanese (85%), for example, also follow Shinto, an ancient nature worship religion, and Shintoists almost always follow Confucianism (love of family) or Taoism (the force that flows thru life).

JUDAISM: Not one of the world's largest (0.2%) religions, but one of the most influential. The history of the Jews is chronicled in the Old Testament, which corresponds to their sacred texts, the Torah being only five chapters of it. Jews believe in an incorporeal God who is all-powerful (i.e., monitoring everything on earth, but also merciful and just. There is no savior in Judaism, and the Jews are the chosen people not because they think of themselves are superior but because they believe, theologically, they have received more difficult responsibilities and will receive more punishments if they fail. Synagogues are governed by the congregation, the Rabbi being someone well educated. The main forms are Orthodox, Reform, and Conservative (an intermediate position between Orthodox and Reform).

Professor Huntington (1996) in his book Clash of Civilizations makes the argument that religion determines culture and that at least eight separate culture clashes are occurring in the world today. The Middle East, of course, goes without saying, and he points to the Balkan (Yugoslavian) region as a place where clashes between Christianity, Orthodox Christianity and Islam often erupt into violence. Japan is another area ripe for conflict, as is the Indian subcontinent and Hindu region. Latin America and Africa will have emerging clashes, mostly Christian in-fighting, or in the case of Africa (which is 40% Christian and 40% Muslim), an ultimate battle clash.

Religion often provides a mantle or cloak of respectability for terrorism. The JUST WAR DOCTRINE is a religious precept, and as old as war itself. Parts of the Bible hint at it, and St. Thomas Aquinas synthesized it in Summa Theologicae. While some argue that nuclear weapons have made the doctrine outmoded, it might be illustrative to review the basic principles here:

Equally as important as just war theory is in understanding religious terrorism, there is a need to understand the morality of religious warfare, which in many ways is like the morality of asymmetric warfare. Take, for example, the following quotation from Martin Luther, founder of the Protestant Reformation in Christianity -- "It is both Christian and an act of love to kill the enemy without hesitation, to plunder and burn and injure him by any method until he is conquered, except that one must beware of sin and not to violate wives and virgins." The point of the discussion here is that there are always moral constraints to religious warfare. They may not be the same kind of constraints reflected in just war principles, but they are constraints nonetheless, and represent a particular kind of restraint (e.g., not violate wives and virgins) which reflects a moral superiority against overpowering odds (asymmetric power situation). Religious terrorists may cross the boundaries of fair play, but they are almost always convinced in their own minds of the moral superiority of their actions. However, this is not morality in the usual sense of having a broad social base. What makes religious terrorism so dangerous, so interested in apocalypse and catastrophe, is that the morality is usually personality-driven. In this sense, one either has the vision or they don't. Religious terrorists are often their own constituency, having no external audience for their acts of destruction (Morgan 2007).

Half of the world's thirty most dangerous terrorist groups claim religion as their motivation. This motivation involves believing that their religion mandates acts of terror as sacred duty in an endless, cosmic struggle for the best way to please God. Religious terrorism has no military objective. A holy war, or jihad, is endless because it has a spiritual objective. No one ever knows when God is pleased enough, and when the situation in heaven matches the situation on earth. Nobody cares who or how many get killed in spiritual warfare. It for this reason that experts say religious terrorism might not be the world's most dangerous type, but it certainly is the most dedicated and unpredictable (Juergensmeyer 2001). While some are, most religious terrorists are NOT part of a sect or cult. Instead, most religious terrorists are are devout, fundamentalist, "true" believers in their mainstream religion. The divine mandate for destruction is regarded as the "neglected duty" within the mainstream religion, and implied, directly or indirectly, in the sacred texts, or at least their interpretation of those sacred texts. Religious terrorists also do NOT consider themselves terrorists, since they say they do not enjoy violence for the sake of violence. They regard themselves as religious activists or militants. Religious terrorists always seem to be spiritually "prepared" for violence, and they have long past the point of having second thoughts or doubts about it.

Religious terrorism is not countered by the same factors that counter other forms of terrorism. Neither military nor diplomatic solutions seem to work. Cease fires and negotiations also don't work, for example, with organizations containing no "secular" wing. Only a few religious organizations (like the IRA) maintain a secular, or political front. Hoffman (1999) argues that even groups with secular wings will act unconstrained because they are playing to God and no one else. It's also plausible to argue that religious terrorists don't want to win, since religion is at base an underdog philosophy which needs an overpowering demonized enemy, or Great Satan. In many ways, religious terrorism wants to fail because it adheres to some martyrdom notion of being the world's "loser." This kind of losing ideology is called fatalistic suicide, and is more common that egoistic and altruistic suicide. The greatest fear that most analysts have is if weapons of mass destruction get in the hands of religious terrorists -- they have no fear of destroying themselves and everybody else in the process.

The model known as Irish terrorism is also a model for nationalistic terrorism, but here, we will only consider the religious elements of it, and patterns that have emerged between the Catholics (GREENS) and Protestants (ORANGE). Historically, most Catholics were republicans living in the South, and Protestants were unionists (also landlords and industrialists) living in the North. Each side had been arguing and arming themselves since the 19th century. The first major conflict erupted on Easter in 1916 when the unionists called in British help, and the town of Dublin was demolished by British artillery. The Irish Republican Army (IRA) was formed that day, and led by Michael Collins, a student of Russian anarchism and terrorism. Murder and mayhem followed until a brief peace came after creation of independent Southern Ireland (the Republic of Ireland) in 1921. The struggle then shifted to Northern Ireland, where the British tightened their hold by creating the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC), a sort of semi-military police force, which became the favorite target of the Provisional IRA (a Northern Ireland spin-off group affiliated with the Sinn Fein party -- another spin-off group being the Irish Continuity Army, dedicated to international terrorism, not just within Ireland). The Provisional IRA committed sporadic acts of terrorism until 1994 when peace talks began, and a cease-fire was agreed to. During the cease-fire (which some see as surrender), another spin-off group emerged - the Real IRA, which is the group officially recognized as the present foreign terrorist organization although there are still active elements of the Continuity IRA.

There are many theories of the Irish conflict, but any understanding must admit that religion, politics, and economics are inseparably mixed. The three main denominations in Ireland are Catholic, Church of England, and Presbyterian - all religions of providence that emphasize the need for God's approval of secular affairs. Competition for political influence runs high, and people vote along religious lines. Economic discrimination (for jobs) also tends to revolve around religion. Everyone wants to control the state for reasons of deeply felt religious and economic deprivations, and this desire permeates all aspects of everyday life. Religion may not be the root cause of Irish conflict, but it is definitely the fuel that flames the passions. Most Irish terrorism is in the name of retaliation or retribution, and this kind of retaliation is driven by spiritual conceptions of vengeance. The GREENS believe they are protecting their homeland from human rights abuses at the hands of an illegitimate British government which is unaccountable under any rule of law (Bloody Sunday being a reminder of this). The ORANGE believe they are being betrayed by a peace-seeking British government and must retaliate for more lethal, indiscriminate, and evil terrorism (the Omagh bombing being a reminder of this).

MICHAEL COLLINS (1890-1922): Irish revolutionary, soldier, politician, and founder of the IRA. He was disgusted at the defamation and oppression Irish suffered at the hands of the British, and studied the hit-and-run tactics of the Boers in South Africa while in prison during 1916. Elected to the Sinn Fein executive committee in 1917, he formed intelligence networks, loan programs, and assassination squads (the Twelve Apostles). He excelled at fund raising, arms smuggling, and helping comrades escape from jail. The Twelve Apostles effectively wiped out the British secret service presence in Ireland. He helped create the first Anglo-Irish treaty in 1921, but was shot by a ricocheting bullet during an ambush by anti-treaty forces.

THE REAL IRA (OMAGH BOMBING): In August of 1998, just weeks after peace talks looked like they were going to finally settle the Irish conflict once and for all, a car bomb went off in a crowded shopping center of Omagh, a town that is roughly 60-40 Catholic-Protestant. The high-tech device killed 29 innocent civilians, including Protestants, Catholics, a Mormon and two Spanish visitors. The victims ranged in age from unborn children to grannies. Both republicans and unionists were killed, including a prominent member of the Ulster Unionist Party, a team from the Gaelic Athletic Association, and students from the Irish Republic who were up north on a day trip. The bombing sparked a trip to Northern Ireland by President Clinton to jump-start the peace talks once again, but in 2001, the U.S. declared them a terrorist group and froze their assets.

Very often, religious terrorism is mixed with ethnic conflict. That is the situation on the Indian subcontinent and throughout much of South Asia where one identifies as ______-speaking, ______-believing. Sri Lanka, a poor island south of India formerly known as Ceylon, is a good example (see IISS Armed Conflict Database on Sri Lanka). There, about 75% of the people are Sinhalese-speaking, Buddhist-believing, 12% of the people are Tamil-speaking, Hindu-believing, and 8% of the people are Arab-speaking, Muslim-believing. The Tamils have long hated the Sinhalese practice of infusing Buddhist philosophy into politics, but there are moderate factions within the Tamils who believe that the Sinhalese can be bargained with.

South Asia (which includes India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Nepal) has the highest population densities in the world (Bombay = 127,000 people per sq mi. - NYC only 24,000/sq mi), there are dozens of languages, low life expectancies, and not enough food to go around (people believing more children means better chance of growing food). After Mohandas Gandhi led a non-violent war of independence in 1947, North India (which was primarily Islamic) became partitioned off from South India (which was primarily Hindu), and Pakistan was born out of a mass migration. In 1971, a ethnic conflict centered in Pakistan led to another mass migration, this time forming Bangladesh. Since 1975, the Sikhs have controlled the "emergency zone" Punjab region. India has experienced domestic terrorism at the hands of groups like Assam (United Liberation Front of Assam) in the Bengali region. The result is a region with scattered ethno-religious groups, all trying to exercise political clout or self-determination in one way or another. The Kashmir conflict is a good example of this kind of struggle or conflict.

Adherents of different religions often claim they cannot live with one other in the same area. Buddhism tends to be practiced by people living in highland areas, Hindu by lowland people, and Islam by city folk. In Buddhism, everything and everyone is equal. In Hinduism (as well as Confucianism), everything is born unequal - some people are born noble, others are not. Islam and Christianity tend to fuel the mix by adding elements of fundamentalism, most notably in the notion of martydom, which is highly attractive to the Asian region because it has the highest suicides rates of anywhere in the world. Ethno-religious terrorism in the region baffles most experts. It is difficult to distinguish religious and nonreligious motivation, and South Asian terrorism tends to be heavily mixed with a criminal element, both organized and unorganized. Ahmad (2002) is most likely right: the world probably has more to fear from a "Hindu bomb" than the "Muslim" bomb one so frequently hears about.

The Yugoslavia region and the neighboring Balkans (Albania, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Macedonia, and Romania) [see larger map of region] have long been a region of ethnic and religious conflict. There are over 10 million Balkan Muslims (Kosovo, Bosnia, and Bulgaria have over 2 million each), and anti-Muslim hatred runs high as does anti-Christian hatred (the Serbs are Christian). Balkan Muslims are not your average Muslims. They drink, smoke, celebrate Easter and Christmas, and are the descendants of Christians who converted to Islam in the 15-16th century to avoid persecution by the Ottoman Empire. Their sworn enemies are those of Serbian and Slavic descent who happen to be decended from Orthodox Christianity who see their job as protecting Europe from Muslim invasion. In the words of the Serb leader, Slobodan Milosevic, they're "dirty rotten Turks who breed like rabbits, run drugs, flood Slav lands with their alien offspring, and deserve to be sent back to Mecca where they belong."

The Balkans War was fought from 1991 to 1999, with America and NATO involved in the middle of it, first with Croatia (1991-1995) where we backed the Muslims, then with Bosnia (1992-1995) which is still under U.N. occupation, and then with Kosovo (1999) where we bombed Belgrade and other Yugoslav cities, accidentally hitting a Chinese embassy in the process. The Balkan war is regarded by most U.S. experts as a tragic mistake. There are an abundance of books on the subject, along the lines of "NATO's Blunder" (Carpenter 2000). It was the first time American bombers struck European cities since World War II, and it was the first first netwar of propaganda, as charges of "real" terrorism and genocide bounced across the Internet. In retrospect, all sides to the conflict committed atrocities. Croatia had a large Serbian population in the middle of the country, and they fought hand-to-hand until NATO helped march the Serbs out at gunpoint. In Bosnia, the town of Sarajevo was devastated, and U.N. peacekeepers observed such things as "ethnic cleansing" where Serbian soldiers tried to impregnate non-Serbian women. In the late 1990s, over 5000 Kosovar people (a term coined by NATO - Kosovars consider themselves Albanians or Kosovo Albanians), were killed by Serbian police and military, and another 1.5 million became refugees in nearby Albania, Macedonia, and Montenegro. The Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) were regarded as terrorists by Serbians, and the world is judging Milosevic and the Serb leadership as terrorists. The Arab world tends to see U.S. and NATO involvement in the conflict as an example of Christianity trying to wipe out Islam in one last, great crusade. Today (2004), Kosovo is still officially a province of Serbia and Montenegro, although it is governed by a UN regime (UNMIK) and patrolled by NATO forces (K-FOR troups, consisting mostly of German soldiers). Violence is an almost everyday event, most of the time involving Muslim Albanians killing Christian Serbs or burning down Christian churches.

The former Russia (Russian Federation) and its Caucasus region have long experienced terrorism which escalated in 1999 with the start of Russia's war on terrorism in Chechnya. The Chechens are a Muslim people (again not your average Muslims) who hate the Russians, declared their independence in 1991, and beat the Russians in a ground war from 1994-1996. Their cause has become the cause of Muslims everywhere. In fact, the idea of an international mujahidin can be traced to the Chechnya conflict. There is evidence of a Chechen connection to an al-Qaeda terrorist network, and Chechen militants fought alongside al-Qaeda forces in Afghanistan and Iraq. Chechen terrorism has spread throughout the region into Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Moscow itself. One of the groups involved in spillover violence is the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), but Chechnya produces plenty of its own militant groups. The region is used as a base for financial and logistic assistance to terrorist groups worldwide. The Islamic charity organization known as the Global Relief Foundation had a headquarters in Chechnya, and is a known front for financing terrorist groups. Russian organized crime is also heavily active in the region and involved in arms smuggling. The Arab news network al-Jazeera frequently broadcasts pictures of Chechen civilians killed in the Russian war on terrorism. Numerous pro-Chechnya websites can be found on the Internet.

The Chechen terrorists are financed by the Chechen mafia as well as with Saudi money (for building mosques) and Arab relief fronts. There are some 150 Chechen mafia groups operating in or near Moscow, and they seem to prefer London, rather than Switzerland, as their money laundering center. They are constantly engaged in gang warfare with other Russian gangs, most notably the Solntsevskaya, and of course, in making whatever profit they can from criminal activity. Chechen terrorism is largely successful because the Chechen mafia obtain and pass on intelligence obtained from bribing Russian military personnel. Both Chechen and Russian mafia groups have been involved in the nuclear black market, smuggling depleted plutonium, cesium, and other radioactive material that makes "dirty" bombs. An in-depth analysis of Chechen terrorism is called for.

In-depth Analysis of Chechen Terrorism

The main terrorist group is called Riyadus-Salikhin Reconnaissance and Sabotage Battalion of Chechen Martyrs (RSRSBCM). The Chechens are a traditionalist Muslim ethnic group that has lived for centuries in the mountainous Caucasus region near the city of Grozny and has consistently resisted Russian subjugation. In terms of religion, they have been most influenced by significant divisions among the Sufi sects and brotherhoods of Islam, particularly the more militant strands of Sufism, and in recent years, by extremist varieties of Wahhabism. Chechen Muslims are determined to build a "pure" Muslim society which would be organized and regulated according to the Shariat law, and consist of a larger Islamic state in the Northern Caucasus which would include Daghestan, Ingushetia and possibly other Russian regions. [For religious background, see JMU's Islam in the North Caucasus at http://www.jmu.edu/orgs/wrni/islam1.htm.] The Chechens have a long hatred of the Russians. During World War II, the Soviet dictator Stalin accused the Chechens of cooperating with the Nazis and forcibly deported, starved, or killed tens of thousands of them. After the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, Chechnya, along with 14 other breakaway republics (Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgystan, Tadjikistan, Turmenistan, and Uzbekistan) declared independence. The Soviets let these other 14 go peacefully, but not Chechnya. Russia fought two (2) wars against Chechnya:
(1) The first Chechen war (1994-96) followed the Soviet collapse and a simultaneous Islamic revival in Chechnya where Islamic Chechens started to kill ethnically mixed Russian-Chechens, one family at a time, and the Russians felt they had no choice but to intervene. 100,000 civilians were killed in this war [Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Chechen_War]

(2) the second Chechen war (1999-present) was precipitated by the Chechen incursion into Dagestan (a Russian Federation country to the East strategically located next to oil in the Caspian Sea), but Dagestan was also a country Chechnya wanted to Islamicize, and did, somewhat successfully, since about half the population in Dagestan has joined Chechnya in its "holy war" against Russia and the other half of the population are refugees attempting to flee somewhere. International aid organizations attempting to help the refugees are handicapped by the prevalence of kidnapping in the region, and Chechen-Dagestani rebels have not hesitated to kidnap or execute any relief workers, journalists, or foreign nationals who enter the area. Dagestani government forces fight alongside Russian soldiers, but mainly do border patrol work. So far, 60,000 civilians have been killed in this war, and it shows no signs of ending, although the Russians have declared it officially over and want several hundred refugees in Ingushetia to return to Chechnya. [Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Chechen_War]

Strategy, Tactics, and Support Structure
Hit-and-run attacks are primarily used against the Russian military and Russian civilians. Chechen terrorism demonstrates an amazing ability to defeat the toughest of Russian security measures, presumably through deception, bribes, advanced technology, or inside intelligence. Roadside bombs, for example, are often placed along where a target is sure to travel, and Chechen terrorist training camps [video available at http://www.intellnet.org/resources/chechen_terrorists/6.html] are not only well-equipped, but technologically sophisticated, as e-mail and cell phone communication is quite common. Suicide attacks seem only to be used as a last resort, or at times when public sympathy is needed. Extortion, gun-running, counterfeiting, and kidnapping-for-ransom are internal sources of revenue, and external funding is received by al-Qaeda, Islamic charities, and reportedly Saudi Arabia. Popular support for the Chechen cause among the Muslim world is widespread. The Arabic satellite news network al-Jazeera frequently broadcasts reports of Russian abuses, often accompanied by graphic footage of dead or wounded Chechen civilians. The United States stands by Russia's right to subdue the Chechen rebellion, and the U.S. frequently downplays Russian human rights abuses in Chechnya. At any given time, Chechen terrorists hold about 700 international hostages, and at least 4 American citizens have been taken hostage and killed. Some Chechen terrorist ideology is strongly anti-American.

The photo to the left is of a 1999 Russian Apartment Building blast that killed 64 residents. Two other similar bombing attacks occured that year. From 2000-2002, numerous bombing attacks on Russian parades and shopping markets were made, culminating in a October 2002 57-hour seizure of a Moscow theater where some 700 people were attending a performance. Russian special forces launched a commando raid, and the opium-derived gas (fentanyl) they used to disable the hostage-takers killed more than 120 hostages, as well as many of the terrorists. The Chechens turned to suicide bomber tactics shortly after this. [Navy report: http://www.ccc.nps.navy.mil/si/may03/russia.asp]

The al-Qaeda Connection and Leadership
The late Chechen warlord Khattab (killed in 2002) fought alongshide Osami bin Laden during the 1979-89 Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. Other Chechen militants joined Taliban forces against the U.S.-backed Northern Alliance during the Afghan War, and the Taliban was the only government to recognize Chechen independence. The 9/11 ringleader, Muhammad Atta, initially planned to join the fight in Chechnya. Zacarias Moussaoui, the “20th hijacker” in the 9/11 attacks was a recruiter for al-Qaeda-backed rebels in Chechnya. Most experts put the number of al-Qaeda fighters or foreign mercenaries in Chechnya at approximately 200. The current leader, or field commander, of RSRSBCM is Shamil Basayev, known as "The Che Guevera of Russia," the "Most Wanted Man in Russia," or the "Top of Interpol's Most Wanted List." [See dossier at http://www.diacritica.com/sobaka/dossier/basayev.html and Army Intel Report at http://fmso.leavenworth.army.mil/fmsopubs/issues/shamil/shamil.htm]. Basayev has also been declared an "international terrorist" by the U.S. State Dept. He has a reputation for being resistant to being killed (despite numerous attempts), and ideologically, he regards Palestinian terrorist groups as being too "peaceful" and easy on their enemy, and has vowed to come down to the middle east after he "liberates" Chechnya and free Palestine. Some Basayev quotes appear below:

"Today, war proceeds in a haphazard manner. Mujahideen (holy warriors) know what to do, and nether I nor other leaders are required to tell them much. Everyone has grown as a soldier, knows how to make a mine from practically any substance, learnt to war, and the tactics we have employed -are the tactics of bees, when incessant little stings overwhelm the enemy by number."
"The world is slipping - exactly slipping - into World War III. It seems to have already started, waiting for the moment to burst out, for the current injustice and current chaos created by the top tyrants - the USA and Russia - will inevitably ignite a major conflict, and by the mercy of Allah, we prepare for it."
"With regard to peaceful enemies, you'd better refrain from illusions; the war will come to every house of yours, for the entire of Russia and the world is engaged in war. Do not assume that we consider you as peaceful population. We consider you as unarmed military men, because those who by majority approve the genocide of the Chechen people cannot be peaceful population. According to the law of Shariate, mere verbal approval of war ranks peaceful citizens among the enemy."
"Believe me, multiple new military groups arise in Chechnya today, of which neither I nor Maskhadov nor anyone else is in control. The groups act autonomously today, doing whatever they think appropriate."

Sudan is the largest country in Africa (roughly the size of Europe), and located south of Egypt. It has been a war zone since it's independence from Britain in 1954. Years of dictatorships and military coups have been the norm, with the situation escalating in the 1990s to genocide. Northern Sudan (the safer region) consists of 8 million Arabic-speaking Muslims, and an indigenous black Nuba population which the current government has been trying to exterminate. Southern Sudan consists of 6 million black Africans who are Christians or animists (animism is a primitive religion that every object, even a rock, has a soul). The current government's goal is to become Africa's first all-Islamic nation, so Islamic Law and Jihad are used to persecute and execute any non-believers. Christians, in particular are regularly murdered, raped, maimed, or forced into slavery. The National Islamic Front regime which holds the capital city of Khartoum regards Christian missionary activity as Western invasion. Osama bin Laden hid for many years in Sudan. Next to Iran, Sudan is one of the world's largest sponsors of terrorism, but it is trying to change that, and began cooperating with America's war on terror in 2002, but American intelligence and diplomatic officials are quite suspicious of Sudan's sincerity in this regard.

The United States has spent about $30 million in covert aid to the rebel forces in Sudan while at the same time sending $100 million in humanitarian aid. U.S. officials deny that the covert aid was military, describing it as 'non-lethal' - radios, uniforms, boots, tents, etc. The rebel groups are split and factionalized, the strongest one being the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA). Other include the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), and its armed wing, the SPLM/A (A for Army), the Sudanese Allied Forces (SAF), and the United Democratic Salvation Front (UDSF). In the opinion of most military experts, none of these rebel groups ever has a chance of winning against the stronger, government NIF/GoS forces.

Many religious cults tend to form in Africa, and much of it involves distorted forms of Christian fundamentalism which mix witchcraft with what might be called Pentecostalism. This is prevalent in Ghana, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Nigeria, but we'll focus on Uganda, a country located directly below Sudan. Like many Africans, Ugandans believe in witch-doctors, who not only attempt to heal the sick (usually by cutting off a body part), but provide financial and marital advice. Christian missionaries in the region usually report having a hard time explaining things like witches and devils. Africans, however, are intensely interested in anything to do with salvation and putting troubles behind you to start a new life. At least one terrorist cult group, the LRA, has exploited these desires. The LRA, in existance since 1989, has an agreement with the National Islamic Front/Government of Sudan (NIF/GoS) that they would support the NIF/GoS in their jihad against the Southern Sudanese, if the NIF/GoS would support the LRA.

THE LORD'S RESISTANCE ARMY, or LRA, represents a mix of Christian cult, Islam, and native African religions. It is also an armed terrorist group fighting the Ugandan government, with backing from Sudan and Christian charity foundations. They seek to establish a state based on a somewhat twisted version of the Ten Commandments. Their leaders have called themselves Charismatic Pentecostals, but they pray like Muslims, and the group is under tremendous pressure from their main sponsor, the Sudan, to Islamicize. Their possibly-insane leader, Joseph Kony, has promised followers immunity from bullets if Holy water, certain ointments, and religious insignia are applied to their bodies. They kidnap about 12,000 boys and girls every year, raising the boys to become warriors and the girls to become domestic sex slaves. Millions of other people have been displaced from their homes by LRA action. Mass suicides sometimes occur during church services. One of their fatalistic beliefs involves hastening doomsday by spreading AIDS through the rape of girls and women. Another involves training boys to attack their home villages, kill their childhood family and friends, and cannibalize boiled body parts. The Uganda government has been trying to wipe out the LRA (and occasionally declares success), but it is hard to fight a war against forces where 80-90% of the troops consist of abducted, indoctrinated children

Joseph Kony - profile - Nephew of a Voodoo Priestess, former Catholic altar boy, and educated as a social worker, Kony rose to the ranks of "Major-General" in the LRA and is a self-proclaimed spirit medium who says he talks directly to the Holy Ghost and has issued standing orders to "Kill all clergy" and turn nuns into sex slaves. Child captives are taught his vision of an apocalyptic "The Silent World" where all guns will fall silent and only those knowing how to use crude weapons, like stones, spears, and machetes, will survive. The LRA is obsessed with the idea of supernatural intervention and battlefield fighting with primitive weapons (2 Corinthians 10:3,4). LRA indoctrination and punishments consist of beatings, rapes, the severing of limbs, lips, and ears, and unspeakable other atrocities. [see Joseph Kony's Spirit War]

At last count, there were 57 separate nations with Islam as the official religion or a substantial part of the population consisting of Muslims. These nations belong to a group called the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) which has gone on record saying there's no such thing as separation of church and state. There is even no such thing as a secular religion, like the official Church of England religion in Great Britain. There appears to be three schools of Muslim thought on the subject. The majority group believes that it is the sacred mission of Islam to rule the world by use of the sword if necessary. Another group accepts cohabitation with other religions as long as Islam is the world's pre-eminent religion. A third group, the moderates, advocates co-existence primarily because of the economic benefits it brings. Bearing the scars of life and an inability to develop constitutional democracies, Middle Eastern countries take particular umbrage at the existence of Israel, the history of which follows.

The area known as Palestine is an ancient land which has always been populated by Arab Muslims, Arab Christians, and Arab Jews. In 1917, the British promised to help create a Jewish "national home" in Palestine. Arab protests began in 1920. In 1919 there were 568,000 Muslims, 74,000 Christians, and 58,000 Jews in Palestine. Fifteen thousand Jews a year immigrated during Hitler's rise to power, and some 100,000 death camp survivors came later. Today, there are 1,091,000 Muslims, 614,000 Jews, and 146,000 Christians in Palestine. Wars have been fought in 1948–49, 1956, 1967 (The Six Day War), 1973–74 (The Yom Kippur War), and 1982 between Israel and the Arab states. Most of these wars have been about land, but the Six Day War was about water, with Israel winning control over 60-80% of the replenishable water resources (the West Bank Mountain aquifer and the Sea of Galilee), and doling out the remainder to Palestinians at allegedly inflated prices.

The current conflict centers on two Israeli-controlled territories. The West Bank [see map] has the largest percentage of Arab Muslims, and the conflict there revolves around the status of Jerusalem (the center of three great religions). The Gaza Strip [see map] is another Muslim area where the intifadah (grassroots uprising) began, and refugee camp conditions are worse than in the West Bank. The religious backdrop to the situation is heavily mixed with anti-U.S. sentiment, where the U.S. is seen as supporting Israel only because of American oil interests. Further, the U.S. is seen as being responsible for militarizing the region (the Middle East is the most militarized region in the world) and propping up corrupt Arab governments. In addition, American culture is seen as hopelessly racist, or at least stereotypical, in the way it portrays Arabs - as the bad guys in movies, cartoons, war films, and popular conception, up to and including the latest way Americans easily roll the words "Islamic terrorism" off their tongues.

It's hard to walk the line between cultural sensitivity and stereotype. Suffice it to say that opinions vary, but some believe Islam doesn't mean peace, but submission - to the will of Allah to "fight and slay the unbelievers wherever you find them, and seize them, beleaguer them, and lie in wait for them in every stratagem of war" (The Koran, Surah IX:5). If these viewpoints are true, then there really is such a thing as an unique type of Islamic terrorism. There are, indeed, organizations dedicated to Islamic domination of the world, just as the great "breakout" of Islam during the 7th Century that resulted in the Arab "golden age." At the forefront of this idea are Muslim clerics most likely kept quiet by their governments, and in some ways is an adequate description of Osami bin Laden's goals for al-Qaeda. In the Philippines and Malaysia, there's the Abu Sayyaf group. In Algeria there's the Armed Islamic group. In Egypt there's Al-Gam'a al-Islamiyya and Al-Jihad. Other Islamic groups simply hate Israel and want to destroy it. Hamas, Hezbollah, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and the Palestinian Liberation Front are such groups. We'll deal first with the terrorist origins of the PLO.

The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) was the coordinating council for all Palestinian organizations, founded in 1964 at the first Arab summit meeting. The dominant group was Fatah [see their website], headed by late Yasir Arafat [see psychological profile] who formed a group of warriors known as fedayeen, and became chairman of the PLO in 1968. Fatah-related groups included Black September, Tanzim, Syrian-backed As Saiqa, the Marxist-oriented Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), the Islamic Jihad, and the al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade. Since its founding, the PLO was committed to the destruction of Israel, and over the years engaged in many acts of terrorism. It toned down its rhetoric and action in 1974 when it received UN recognition as a government in exile, but continued to train and export terrorists. Israel invaded Lebanon in 1982 to disperse many PLO terrorists, and again in 2002 in the West Bank. At one time, Abu Nidal was part of the PLO, but a rift with Arafat developed, and the two became mortal enemies. Arafat was long unable to control HAMAS, founded in the Gaza Strip during 1987 as the main Palestinian rival to the PLO. Hizbollah [see their website] was also unfriendly to the PLO, primarily on command of their Iranian sponsors. Some date the beginning of the terrorist war against America to the Iranian embassy seizure in 1979 or the barracks bombing in Beirut by Hezbollah in 1983, but Arafat is the true father of this war and an early populizer of jihad. The PLO had been killing Americans since 1973, but strangely enough Arafat was the most frequently-invited foreign leader to the White House over many years and even got the Nobel Peace Prize in 1994. When Arafat died (of AIDS) in 2004, the U.N. hung its flag at half-mast. Arafat's homosexuality and predilection for young boys and hunky blond Scandinavian bodyguards were open secrets to most insiders. Late in his life Arafat took a wife for the purpose of keeping up appearances, but neither she nor authorities can find all his embezzled billions of dollars. Nonetheless, the widow Arafat gets $22 million a year from the Palestinian Authority.

Other Middle Eastern groups are more closely linked to Muslim fundamentalism than the Palestine issue, and fundamentalism in this context bridges both Sunnis and Shiites, and can be seen as anti-Americanism - an outright hatred of American values and culture couched in the language of religion. A few leaders of these groups have openly called for the deaths of Americans on a global scale. The foremost character in this regard is Osama bin Laden and his group, al-Qaeda, which are perhaps marginal players compared to the global Islamist threat or perhaps the strongest, most dangerous of such a threat. Expert opinion varies over this; see the 2005 CRS Report entitled Al Qaeda: Profile and Threat Assessment (pdf).

OSAMA BIN LADEN: A multi-millionaire who runs a private terror network from a hideaway in Pakistan, Afghanistan or parts unknown. Born into a wealthy Saudi family in 1957 as the 7th of 50 children, he joined the Afghan Mujahedin in 1979 and together with Palestinian Muslim Brotherhood leader, Abdullah Azzam, set up several Afghan terrorist training camps and later extended his global reach to Somalia, the Balkans and Chechnya. Middle East involvement came after the first Gulf War when he became incensed that Saudi Arabia allowed American troops on its soil, and came to hate America for the problems of Palestine and other reasons. The Saudi regime deported him in 1992 and revoked his citizenship in 1994. From 1991 to 1996, he operated out of Sudan. In 1996, he issued a fatweh, or religious decree, to kill American soldiers, and in 1998, that all dutiful Muslims should consider killing American civilians and their allies, including women and children, as their legitimate, sacred duty [read fatweh]. Osama bin Laden is the self-admitted mastermind behind the 2001 plane attacks of 9/11 against the World Trade Center and Pentagon. Several Islamic jihad groups around the world have affiliated with Osama Bin Laden's network (known as al-Qaeda) and its call to "kill Americans everywhere." According to the Council on Foreign Relations, the following eleven (11) groups have been the primary al-Qaeda affiliates: Egyptian Islamic Jihad; The Libyan Islamic Fighting Group; Islamic Army of Aden (Yemen); Jama'at al-Tawhid wal Jihad (Iraq); Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Muhammad (Kashmir); Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan; Salafist Group for Call and Combat and the Armed Islamic Group (Algeria); Abu Sayyaf Group (Malaysia, Philippines); and Jemaah Islamiya (Southeast Asia).

Al Qaeda ideology, to which Osama Bin Laden and others like him represent, is an admixture of various Koranic misinterpretations and a hatred of the U.S. and/or all westernized things. The following is an excerpt of the entire Introduction to the Al-Qaeda Training Manual (UK/BM Translation, captured by the Manchester England Metropolitan Police during a search of a home, found in a computer file described as the "military series" related to the "Declaration of Jihad; the manual was translated into English and was introduced at the embassy bombing trial in New York).

Martyrs were killed, women were widowed, children were orphaned, men were handcuffed, chast women’s heads were shaved, harlots’ heads were crowned, atrocities were inflicted on the innocent, gifts were given to the wicked, virgins were raped on the prostitution alter.
            After the fall of our orthodox caliphates on Marcy 3, 1924 and after expelling the colonialists, our Islamic nation was afflicted with apostate rulers who took over in the Moslem nation. These rulers turned out to be more infidel and criminal than the colonialists themselves. Moslems have endured all kinds of harm, oppression, and torture at their hands.
            Those apostate rulers threw thousands of the haraka Al-Islamyia (Islamic Movement) youth in gloomy jails and detention centers that were equipped with the most modern torture devices and (manned with) experts in the oppression and torture. Those youth had refused to move in the rulers’ orbit, obscure matters to the youth, and oppose the idea of rebelling against the rulers. But they (the rulers) did not stop there; they started to fragment the essence of the Islamic nation by trying to eradicate its Moslem identity. Thus, they started spreading godless and atheistic views among the youth. We found some that claimed that socialism was from Islam, democracy was the (religious) council, and the prophet – God bless and keep him – propagandized communism.
              Colonialism and its followers, the apostate rulers, then started to openly erect crusader centers, societies, and organizations like Masonic Lodges, Lions and Rotary clubs, and foreign schools. They aimed at producing a wasted generation that pursued everything that is western and produced rulers, ministers, leaders, physicians, engineers, businessmen, politicians, journalists, and information specialists. [Koranic verse: as Allah’s enemies plotted and planned, and Allah too planned, and the best of planners is Allah]
            They (the rulers) tried, using every means and (kind of) seduction, to produce a generation of young men that did not know (anything) except what they (the rulers) want, did not say except what they (the rulers) think about, did not live except according to their (the rulers) way, and did not dress except in their deception back on them, as a large group of those young men who were raised by them (the rulers) woke up from their sleep and returned to Allah, regretting and repenting.
          The young men returning to Allah realized that Islam is not just performing rituals but a complete system: Religion and government, worship and Jihad (holy war), ethics and dealing with people, and the Koran and sword. The bitter situation that the nation has reached is a result of its divergence from Allah’s course and his righteous law for all places and times. That (bitter situation) came about as a result of its children’s love for the world, their loathing of death, and their abandonment of Jihad (holy war).
            Unbelief is still the same. It pushed Abou Jahl – may Allah curse him – and Kureish’s valiant infidels to battle the prophet – God bless and keep him – and to torture his companions – may Allah’s grace be on them. It is the same unbelief that drove Sadat, Hosni Muberak, Gadhafi, Hafez Assad, Saleh, Fahed – Allah’s curse be upon the non-believing leaders – and all the apostate Arab rulers to torture, kill, imprison, and torment Moslems.
            These young men realized that an Islamic government would never be established except by the bomb and rifle. Islam does not coincide nor make a truce with unbelief, but rather confronts it.
            The confrontation that Islam calls for with these godless and apostate regimes, does not know Socratic debates, Platonic ideals nor Aristotelian diplomacy.
But it knows the dialogue of bullets, the ideals of assassination, bombing, and destruction, and the diplomacy of the cannon and machine-gun.
            The young came to prepare themselves for Jihad (holy war), commanded by the majestic Allah’s order in the holy Koran. [Koranic verse: Against them make ready your strength to the utmost of your power, including steeds of war, to strike terror into (the hearts of) the enemies of Allah and your enemies, and others besides whom ye may not know, but whom Allah doth know.]
            I present this humble effort to these young Moslem men who are pure, believing, and fighting for the cause of Allah. It is my contribution toward paving the road that leads to majestic Allah and establishes a caliphate according to the prophecy.

A lot of speculation exists as to who will replace Osama bin Laden (when he is killed or captured). Some experts (e.g., Jamestown Foundation) think that Osama's son, 28-year old Saad bin Laden, is next in line to the throne. Saad, along with some other key al-Qaeda leaders, were rounded up by Iranian intelligence around 2004. They had been hiding out in Iran, but in 2006, the Iranians "released" them from house arrest and are apparently grooming them for future al-Qaeda leadership positions. For example, the Iranians sent Saad to Lebanon to train with Hezbollah and are allegedly giving him command responsibilities on the Iraq-Syria border. On the other hand, other experts (e.g., West Point's AQ Misadventures in the HOA) think that a strategist named Saif al-Adel will eventually take on al-Qaeda's top leadership role. Some of his profile is as follows:

When speaking of al-Qaeda, one should strive to be clear if they are speaking of: (a) traditional al-Qaeda, the group which attacked the US on 9/11; (b) ideological or doctrinal al-Qaeda, the leaderless followers who simply believe in the same ends; or (c) the new al-Qaeda, which is part of the insurgency in Iraq and elsewhere targeting other Muslims. The second type is likely to be rather unpredictable, and the third type is likely to be far more dangerous, as newer, younger members may see the old, core members as something of an anachronism, and may try to carry the torch further. One of the lessons regarding religious terrorism is that it almost always involves change in the form of "transmutation" or what White (2002) awkwardly calls "transmogrification." It is therefore difficult to characterize such a threat in absolute terms.

Al-Qaeda has, in fact, "morphed" at least three times since 9/11. According to Bergen (2002), the following three phases can be identified, with the last phase best called al-Qaeda 3.0:

Al-Qaeda 3.0 (or "al-Qaeda once removed") consists of multiple insurgencies and large, homegrown terrorist cells around the world supported by facilities in Pakistan and the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region. These facilities are not old-style training camps, but support, intelligence, logistical, financial, and propaganda functions. Iraq is chiefly used as a training camp, where al-Qaeda "trains its trainers" and then sends them out to help the homegrown groups hit soft targets in "near enemy" places like Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Algeria, and Yemen. Stratfor analysts refer to AQ 3.0 as the "al Qaeda 3.0 operational model" using operatives without external funding or direct operational guidance. Examples include the 1990 assassination of Rabbi Meir Kahane, the 2002 El Al Airlines ticket counter massacre, and the 2005 London bombings. No experienced commander is sent out from the core al Qaeda group as with AQ 1.0.

Windrem (2007), a NBC investigative producer, estimates that on any given day, there are about 20 al-Qaeda attack plots carried out around the world, and Riedel (2007), a Brookings fellow, says that the new al-Qaeda maintains about 4,500 jihadi web sites. This results in what are called "resilient networks" where plots are supported globally, and of particular importance is England (note: travel is unimpeded between Britian and Pakistan) where disaffected Muslim youth (like Bangladeshi immigrants to England) are often recruited and linked up with training and communications possibilities. The notion that religious terrorists have patience and will "wait" for the right opportunity to come along may be misleading. If anything, in recent years, they have shown an amazing ability to regroup in different, reconstituted forms. The terrorist phenomenon known as al-Qaeda will be well-placed to threaten global security for many years to come.

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Last updated: Aug 19, 2008
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