In July 2005, at least 50 people were killed and nearly 700 hurt in bomb attacks targeting commuter trains and a double decker bus in London, Britain.[1][i] The Al Qaeda group, or at least elements inspired by its philosophy, were implicated and held to be responsible.

The Al Qaeda, as well as its associate organizations, is an amorphous terror group that has staged successful attacks thus far in Britain, the USA, Kenya, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Egypt, Yemen, Iraq, and Indonesia, to name a few countries in which the group was and probably still is, active.

In 2003, an Osama bin Laden audio tape surfacing again on an Islamic website, in which the Al Qaeda leader praised the failed militant attacks on the US consulate in Jiddah, Saudi Arabia, is the latest attack in conjunction with its global insurgent strategy by this international terrorist network.[1][ii] Since then audio tapes featuring either Osama himself or his deputy, Ayman Al Zawahiri, has made frequent video-tape appearances.

Seen from the perspective of an anti-Western enemy, the Al Qaeda certainly is a resilient organization. Despite world-wide crack down on its activities and the accumulated arrests of hundreds, if not thousands of its members, Al Qaeda, nevertheless, had survived the destruction of the Taleban regime in Afghanistan in Oct 2001, and the fall of Saddam Hussein in Iraq in April 2003. Its training camps were demolished, its financial assets mostly frozen, yet still terrorist attacks attributed to this group have taken place since Sept 11 in an unpredictable fashion at various targets, ranging from Kenya to Indonesia.

The goals of Al Qaeda are many. The group has stated time and again its opposition to the US and its allies, in particular, protesting the Israeli occupation of Palestine. It also seeks to end secular governmental regimes in the Middle East, which the group regards as being not Islamic enough in practice and outlook. Its leader, Osama bin Laden spoke frequently in his messages of his dream to restore an Islamic empire, a caliphate, which stretches from Africa to the Philippines.

Al Qaeda operates very much as a horizontal network of autonomous sleeper cells, which consisted seemingly of people with normal everyday lifestyles. An old Arab saying goes, “ The enemy of my enemy is therefore my friend”. This group recognizes the value of alliances, forming links with many like-minded militant groups with shared objectives. It is even prepared to work with non-secular organizations. The latest release of classified memos released by the CIA demonstrating some links between it and the Saddam regime, has proven this point.

In its periodically surfacing fatwas, Al Qaeda uses poetic and religious language overlaid with recent international events, stressing time and again the justness of their cause and the call for unity among Muslims, disregarding even the Sunni and Shi’te differences. The group admits to attacks, choosing to justify their acts as necessities of a jihad, a holy war waged with a style of a guerilla campaign.

Al Qaeda plans and executes terrorist attacks with great care and security, with discipline similar to that of guerilla operations. It stages acts of terrorism on various kinds of targets in many places all over the world. By far, its most frequent and effective type of attacks are that of suicide bombing, with the passenger airlines crashing into the New York Towers and the Pentagon on Sept 11, 2001 being the most spectacular.

Looking closely however, many of its attacks are actually only partially successful in military terms. However, publicity, nevertheless, is achieved as Al Qaeda’s attacks are meant to be highly profiled and have a huge economical and political impact. Out of the four hijacked airliners on the fateful day of Sept 11, only three reached their targets. In Nov 2002, the shoulder launched missile attack intended to bring down the Israeli airliner in Mombassa, Kenya, missed its target by only a few meters.
What should states do?

Al Qaeda is not simply any terrorist organization with an agenda against a particular state or government. Its reach is world wide, and it has a colossal objective of establishing a huge theocratic state run along strict Islamic lines. It has competent leaders with broad visions and long term objectives, with a flair at organizing and implementing their strategies. The world has seen spectacular terrorist acts this group is capable of staging or inspiring, as in Sept 11 and the Bali bombing. The terrorist training camps in Taleban ruled Afghanistan is a clear example of what Al Qaeda will do if it takes root in a sympathetic nation.

Only the power of increased international co-operation between nations, in particular, Muslim states, can effectively combat this threat. Military means simply are not enough to eradicate the Al Qaeda menace. Al Qaeda portrays itself as struggling to achieve a grand goal of restoring the glories of the historical caliphates. In its means to do so, it takes on popular enemies in disenchanted Islamic societies such as Israel and the United States. It is thus, the political and social factors, which states should work upon, to argue against Al Qaeda’s goals as being unrealistic and unattainable, thus gradually withering away the support the group has, and to shatter its myth of bringing hope towards disfranchised Muslims.

[1] “The big hunt – Total effort to nab terrorists as death toll hits 50” The Straits Times 09/07/05

[1] “Bin Laden 'praises' Jeddah militants' attack” The Telegraph 16/12/2004

Image Courtesy of DayLife - Activists of Pakistan's hardline Islamic party Jamaat-e-Islami chant anti-U.S. slogans during an anti-US protest in Peshawar December 18, 2008. Pakistani Islamists called on Thursday for the government to block vital supply routes for Western forces in Afghanistan in response to U.S. missile strikes on al Qaeda and Taliban targets in Pakistan. Photo from Reuters Pictures

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