Criticism and condemnation of al-Qaeda that originate from the worldwide Muslim community present the most formidable challenge to its existence and legitimacy as an organization and movement. There is ample literature that questions whether or not...
Suicide terrorism is re-emerging as the dominant tactic in asymmetric warfare. Al Qaeda in association with affiliates in the greater Salafi-jihadi movement conduct suicide terror or martyrdom campaigns against strategic and operational targets....
The U.S. (U.S.) Government’s ability to influence friends and foes around the world has immense strategic implications that can either enhance U.S. strategic objectives or contribute to a loss of U.S. power. Nine years after the beginning of the...
After the events of the 11 September 2001 and the advent of the War on Terrorism focused mainly against Al-Qaeda, interest in studying the Islamic groups has increased. Such enquiries can have a huge impact on both the Muslim World as well as the...
Osama bin Laden and Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri enticed tens of thousands of Muslims from around the world to travel to Afghanistan, swear allegiance to bin Laden and the cause of Al Qaeda, fight and even die for that cause. Bin Laden united faithful...
The emergence of non-state actors and sub-national entities on the world stage has presented the established international system with challenges for which it is ill equipped to handle. The historical inclination to resort to military force when...
The history of the Chechnya and that of the Sultanate of Patani, comprised by the southern Thai provinces of Narathiwat, Yala, and Pattani, share a religion, Islam, and a long history of insurgency against an ethnically and religiously dissimilar...
Thesis Statement: The future battlefield is still to be determined but our enemy, as seen today, may forever change our ethical behavior and how we prepare ourselves to defeat them. Should the Army change how we train our personnel, continuing to...
Al Qaeda is a significant threat to the national security of the United States and its allies. This makes it important for individuals in these countries, both military and civilian, to understand the evolution of this threat. This thesis analyzes...
The monograph analyses the origins of the use of violence in the name of religion by the Salafist movement in Europe in order to enable identification of key characteristics to shape national strategies of prevention that are appropriate for...
Usama Bin Laden, the leader of al-Qaeda, declared war on the United States in a statement issued in August 1996. With the words, "It is a duty now on every tribe in the Arab Peninsula to fight in the cause of Allah and to cleanse the land from...
United States Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
This is the first in a series of reports by the Majority and Minority staff of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs (Committee) on the threat of homegrown terrorism inspired by violent Islamist extremism. The Committee...
The United States is a nation at war. It will be a long war. The terrorist attacks on 11 September 2001 were the catalyst that brought the US to this war: the Global War on Terrorism. However, US and coalition responses to Islamic extremism since...
While in the past two decades, the region of West Africa has experienced various armed conflicts, a new security threat that has emerged is the growing threat of violence by radical Islamist groups. This phenomenon has assumed prominence in the...
A radical Islamic insurgency named Alshabab has appeared in Somalia in recent years. African Union forces, with the support of the international community are actively engaged to defeat this movement. The African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM),...
While all warfare is an expression of politics, none is more pervasively so than irregular conflict. The irregular side, most probably employing a mixture of guerilla tactics and terrorism, will seek favorable political effect from several courses...
While it is no secret that Islamic terrorists utilize the internet, the assertion that the internet is a virtual safe haven more important than any geographical safe haven is rarely made. As a result of the expansion of the Internet capabilities...
A systems perspective is beginning to permeate doctrine. This perspective calls for an analysis of the key systems of an adversary. PMESII is an acronym that stands for political, military, economic, social, infrastructure, and information systems....
From shortly after its inception, Al Qa’ida has sought sanctuaries from which it could safely operate and provide support to Islamist groups around the world. It found one in Sudan from 1992 to 1996, in Afghanistan from the late 1980s to 2001,...
While Algeria was facing internal security issues with illegal Islamist armed groups in the 1990s, some Sahelian-Saharan states were reducing their institutional presence in their border region with Algeria. Mali was demilitarizing its northern...