al-Qaeda

Osama bin Laden founded al-Qaeda in 1988. The group was organised both vertically and horizontally. Vertically, it was organised with bin Laden, the general, at the top, followed by other al-Qaeda leaders and leaders of the constituent groups. Horizontally, it was integrated with 24 constituent groups. The vertical structure was formal, the horizontal integration, informal. Immediately below bin Laden was the Consultative Council. Four committees- military, religio-legal, finance and media- reported to the Council. It was members of these committees that conducted special assignments for bin Laden and his lieutenants. Secrecy was paramount. Fighting alongside the Taliban against the Northern Alliance, the al-Qaeda members were designated the 055 Brigade. There were no female members.

Peter Bergen, one of the few Americans to have met and spoken with Osama bin Laden- in 1997 he produced the first televised interview with bin Laden broadcast on American television- views the latter as “at once a product of globalization and a response to it.” “Abetted by modern technology and fuelled by a sense of profound grievance coupled with religious piety, bin Laden was able to launch the first truly global insurgency.”

It would have been difficult to operate a group such as al-Qaeda in another era. Bin Laden is alleged to have communicated with widely dispersed operatives via satellite phones, which only became available in the 1990s. The Internet also played a role in recruitment and communication. In addition, many of the places where al-Qaeda flourished didn't exist before the demise of the Cold War: Azerbaijan, for example. In the 1970s and ‘80s many terrorist groups were dependent upon the largesse of various sponsor-governments. With the ceasing of superpower rivalries, however, things changed rapidly, and Bin Laden had a fortune at his disposal large enough to allow him to operate in these changed times.

Since September 11, the international dragnet has pulled in some 1,500 suspected terrorists in more than 50 countries. However, US intelligence and law-enforcement personnel investigating the September 11 hijackers have unearthed links from the 19 men to individuals or organizations in at least 63 countries worldwide. The threat still posed by al-Qaeda was highlighted last week in Singapore, where authorities announced the arrest of a group of suspected terrorists linked to bin Laden. Since September 11, law-enforcement agencies from Dublin to Bonn to Jakarta have shared intelligence in an effort to root out al-Qaeda sleepers. The trail has grown cold, however, as suspects have fled underground.

On January 10 last, the first group of 20 al-Qaeda fighters were transported on a C-17 cargo plane from Kandahar airport in Afghanistan to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The prisoners were manacled and chained to their seats. Two US soldiers accompanied each detainee for the duration of the 27-hour flight. Approximately 500 al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters are currently in the custody of US troops in Afghanistan. According to German intelligence, a total of 60,000 men were trained in al-Qaeda camps in Afghanistan and Sudan during the last decade. However, this estimate has been queried by a number of commentators who believe a figure in the low thousands is probably more appropriate.

The Pentagon has recently crossed off the names of at least eight influential al-Qaeda leaders from its most-wanted list, American forces have detained at least four others. American bombings reportedly killed Abu Hafs al-Mauritania, a high-ranking bin Laden lieutenant, and Abu Jafar al-Jaziri, an operative who handled logistics and fundraising. Those in U.S. custody include Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi and Abd al-Hadi al-Iraqi, both believed to be responsible for training recruits in al-Qaeda's military camps. In addition, an intensive manhunt is under way for Abu Zubaydah, the al-Qaeda aide charged with managing the global web of cells and planning the logistics of attacks.

The US has killed or seized hundreds of bin Laden's fighters, but many are still on the loose. A progress report on those that have been detained and those still at large from Time.Com (January 21, 2002).

‘Looking for Trouble'

Al-Qaeda talent spotters scour British mosques for fresh operatives such as suspected shoe-bomber Richard Reid. This report from Time Europe details their exploits (January 2002/Vol. 159, No.3).

Terrorist Group Profiles: Al-Qaeda

Short profile supplied by the Dudley Knox Library at the US Naval Postgraduate School and excerpted from the US Department of Justice's ‘Patterns of Global Terrorism, 2000.'

Terrorism's CEO: An Interview with Peter Bergen

In his book ‘Holy War, Inc.,' Peter Bergen argues that Osama Bin Laden used corporate-management techniques to turn al-Qaeda into the world's pre-eminent terrorist organisation. Bruce Hoffman, a terrorism analyst for the Rand Corporation, interviewed him for the Atlantic Monthly.

‘Al-Qaeda International'

Statement for the record of J. T. Caruso, Acting Assistant Director of the Counter Terrorism Division of the FBI, on al-Qaeda, before the Subcommittee on International Operations and Terrorism Committee on Foreign Relations of the US Senate (December 2001).

Al-Qaeda Training Manual

Excerpts from al-Qaeda training manual provided by the US Department of Justice (Pdf format).

‘Inside Al-Qaeda: A Window Into the World of Militant Islam and the Afghani Alumni'

The breeding grounds of militant Islamic terrorism span a host of different environments from the Afghan battlefields of the 1980s to places much closer to home. Richard Engel, for Janes.Com, charts the careers of some of Bin Laden's converts and co-conspirators, offering an insight into al-Qaeda's inner workings (September 2001).