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The Base of Holy War- Al Qaeda in 2012Al Qaeda, the most widely known terrorist network, was founded in 1988 by the mostwanted terrorist in America, Osama Bin Laden. It started off with three members and grewover the years. They were active during the Persian Gulf War because they did not agreeupon the Americans joining and they have committed multiple attacks afterwards on mostcommonly US targets. They have committed crimes such as the attack on the World TradeCenter in New York City and the Pentagon in Washington D.C. on September 11th
, 2001 aswell as the bombings on nightclubs in Bali. Even though their leader, Osama Bin Laden, wasexterminated one year ago, the terrorist network still exists. Two days after his death, a newleader was elected who is said to be ‘better’ than Osama Bin Laden.
Not only Osama Bin Laden has been “removed from duty”; also the leader of the Al Qaeda in the ArabianPeninsula who was shot by an FBI agent, as well as the leader of the Al Qaeda in East Africawas shot by a Policeman. Yet, the Al Qaeda network is powerful and is still growing in theamount of their supporters. Al Qaeda is still a global threat because of their globalsupporters, financial means and their access to weapons and chemicals.First off, the many Al Qaeda supporters around the world are trying to sustain the well-organized terror assembly. In 2001, they were only active in Afghanistan and Pakistan andhad little support from other areas. Besides, the network has 7 groups, spread across 5different continents. They have a group in the Islamic Maghreb, Oceana, Afghanistan,Pakistan, and Europe, in the Arabian Peninsula as well as in east Africa. Through this, theiradvantage is that they are able to easily conduct an attack anywhere around the globe. Eachgroup has different targets. Furthermore, the Al Qaeda in East Africa (AQEA) is focused onbombing US embassies in Africa while the Al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) is focused on bombing USWarships and Tanks in the Middle East. In addition, since the Persian Gulf War, Al Qaeda hasgrown in the number of supporters. They started off with two members: Osama Bin Laden,and Ayman Al Zawahiri. As John Ellis, an American Journalist from the Business Insider whofrequently travels in Afghanistan stated:
“Today, it has more members, greater geographicreach, and a level of ideological sophistication and influence it lacked ten years ago.”
(Business Insider) To add on, Jayshree Bajoria, an Al Qaeda focused Journalist, said
“
estimates range from several hundred to several thousand members”
(Council on Foreign
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Relations).The many members and supporters of the Al Qaeda network sustain the group’s activity and therefore, is a main aspect to why they still exist.Secondly, their financial means keep them powerful in a financial sense. In order to conductattacks, they require a lot of money. As Fred Bruno, a criminal defense lawyer said “ theLondon transit bombings on July 7, 2005, only cost about $15,000
” (Council on Foreign
Relations).The AQIM (Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb) earn some of their money bysmuggling between countries. A great deal of their smuggling actions include illegal drugtrafficking. Another manner in which they earn their financial aid is through kidnapping.They kidnap tourists throughout the Sahara, most of which occur in areas such as Egypt, dueto the historic attractiveness to travelers. To exemplify, they kidnapped 32 AustrianTourists. After they kidnapped the tourists, they threatened Austria that they would killthem if no one would pay ransom. In this case, Austria payed the ransom, but in other casesthe hostage keepers would kill the hostages. To add on, they get money through supporters.As mentioned before, Al Qaeda has many supporters who also support the group withmoney. Some Muslims have to support Al Qaeda otherwise they are considered
“Not Muslim anymore”
(AQIM Interview Podcast) and are seen as being against their faith. The money they get through their supports,