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STUDY GUIDE FOR THE AGE OF SACRED TERROR By answering the following questions you will prepare yourself to write the research paper which will be based, in part, your thorough understanding of this material. Note: this is a Word document. To type in the response you will have to delete the lines. PREFACE 1. Origin of the NSC: ______________________________________________________ 2. The official job of the NSC: _______________________________________________ 3. Job descriptions of Benjamin, Simon and Clark: _______________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ 4. Why were Centrist and left-of-center institutions/publishers uninterested in publishing this book: _____________________________________________________________ 5. Why did Right-of-center institutions object to this book? _______________________ ______________________________________________________________________ 6. How did September 11 change the focus of the book? __________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ 7. What is the perspective of this book and why is knowing the perspective of the writers important? ____________________________________________________________ 8. What source materials is the book based on? _________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ 9. What is the authors’ thesis? ______________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ CHAPTER 1: “DAYBREAK” 1. What did jihad mean to El-Sayyid Nosair and his friends, and why do the authors argue that he inaugurated the age of sacred terror? (5-7): a. jihad: _______________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ b. ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ 2. Why did Ramzi Yousef desire to kill 250,000 people? ________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ 1 3. What was Yousef’s understanding of jihad? _______________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ 4. Why, after the publication of the fatwa, “Declaration of Jihad Against Jews and Crusaders,” did the terrorists decide to rely on suicide attacks? _______________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ 5. What four groups has bin Laden targeted for destruction: ____________________ ______________________________________________________________________ 6. Why did al-Qaeda target the Twin Towers for destruction? __________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ CHAPTER 2: IBN TAYMIYYA AND HIS CHILDREN 1. Identify the two benefits of President Bush “politically correct” rhetoric in his January 2002 State of the Union Address in which he stated that the terrorists “are not imbued with the spirit of religion…they only claim to be?” (39) a. ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ b. ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ 2. What was the supreme motivation of the terrorists according to the authors? ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ 3. The authors say that to grasp the worldview of al-Qaeda and its leader, Usama bin Laden, it is essential to start with the medieval Muslim theologian, ibn Taymiyya. Explain his views on the following: a. the Islamic scriptures: _________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ b. Islam’s Golden Age: __________________________________________________ c. The role of the clergy: ________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ d. The role of religion in the state: _________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ 2 e. A ruler who did not enforce sharia or exhibit personal piety: ___________________ ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ f. The definition and status of jihad: ________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ g. Two groups whom jihad should be used against: ____________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ h. The significance of his expanded use of jihad: ______________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ 4. What is the significance of Muhammad ibn al-Wahhab’s alliance with Muhammad ibn Saud? _________________________________________________ 5. How did the meaning of jihad change during the modern period? _____________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ 6. What is the Muslim Brotherhood credo? __________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ 7. Maududi transforming Islam into a revolutionary ideology in Pakistan by expanding the definition of Islamic religion and jihad: “The religion ‘seeks to alter the social order of the entire world and rebuild it in conformity with its own tenets and ideals…. Jihad refers to the revolutionary struggle…to achieve this objective.’” He formed _________________________________________________ 8. Sayyid Qutb fused together the core elements of modern Islam. Define his understanding of the following: a. human government: ___________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ b. jihad: ______________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ c. American culture: _____________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ d. the existential choice before Muslims: ____________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ e. salvation: ___________________________________________________________ f. Jews: ______________________________________________________________ 3 9. What is the lesson of Abdel Rahman’s (the Blind Sheikh) 1982 acquittal in a Cairo courtroom? _____________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ 10. The one characteristic of Egyptian religious terrorism: _____________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ 11. In light of the uprising at the Grand Mosque, explain why the end-of-the-world motif meshes well with the deep pessimism and anger that permeates most of the Islamic world. _______________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ 12. Describe the main threads that run through these apocalyptic visions of religious violence: a. America: ___________________________________________________________ b. a last battle: ________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ c. Historical time: _____________________________________________________ CHAPTER 3: THE WARRIOR PRINCE 1. Identify the formative event of Usama’s early twenties: ______________________ 2. Bin Laden’s early view of jihad: __________________________________________ 3. Bin Laden’s view of Saddam Hussein: ____________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ 4. The effect on bin Laden on the arrival of U.S. forces in Saudi Arabia: ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ 5. What was the hallmark of al-Qaeda’s operations in Sudan? __________________ ______________________________________________________________________ 6. Explain how world events in the early 1990’s provided frequent and alarming confirmation of a global plot against Muslims: a. The Gulf War: _______________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ b. the Madrid Peace Conference: __________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ c. the breakup of Yugoslavia beginning in 1991: ______________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ 4 d. Events in Algeria in late 1991, the first Chechnyan war from 1994-1996, and the conflict in Kosovo in the late 1990’s: _____________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ 7. But set against this crisis was bin Laden’s belief about two things that are at the heart of his thinking: a. ____________________________________________________________________ b. ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ 8. Identify al-Qaeda’s priority as set forth in bin Laden’s 1998 fatwa, “Jihad Against Jews and Crusaders” which preceded and justified the attacks on the U.S. embassies in East Africa: ___________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ 9. Explain how al-Qaeda interpreted the American appearance in the Horn of Africa (Somalia) and their resetting of priorities: ___________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ 10. What was Hezbollah’s aim concerning the U.S. and how did it differ from al-Qaeda’s? _________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ 11. What is the issue for al-Qaeda concerning the U.S.? ________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ 12. What is Abu Hajar’s contribution to al-Qaeda’s strategy? __________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ 13. What is the relation between Sunni and Shiite cooperation in terrorism (bin Laden is Sunni)? _____________________________________________________ 14. What is the significance of al-Qaeda’s attempts to procure unconventional arms? _____________________________________________________________________ 5 CHAPTER 4: RAIDERS ON THE PATH TO GOD 1. A core tenet of al-Qaeda’s strategy: ______________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ 2. Explain the following concepts that appear in bin Laden’s first fatwa, known as “the Ladenese Epistle: a. bin Laden’s prescription for the woes besetting Islam: ________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ b. the form of this action: ________________________________________________ c. the ghazis: ___________________________________________________________ 3. Explain why the removal of American troops would/will not stop bin Laden’s campaign against the U.S.: ______________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ 4. Identify and explain the significance of bin Laden’s second fatwa, issued on February 23, 1998: a. the Arabian peninsula: _________________________________________________ b. Iraq: _______________________________________________________________ c. the Middle East: ______________________________________________________ d. the power of this statement: ____________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ 5. Explain the innovation and significance of the two bombings (Nairobi and Dar es Salaam) in two countries at once: a. ____________________ b. ____________________ c. ____________________ d. scope: ______________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ 6. What is the thought inherent in bin Laden’s statement that “we [Islamists] concentrate on the following…the need to inflict the maximum casualties against the opponent, for this is the language understood by the West. ________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ 6 7. Explain the rationale and effect of two or more almost simultaneous terrorist strikes favored by the theorists of the new terror. ___________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ 8. To what extent do al-Qaeda’s actions reflect a strategy with intelligible goals and methods. Is the group a rational actor? (156-161): a. ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ b. ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ c. In the 911 and Cole attacks he tried to show the Muslim world that ______________ ____________________________________________________________________ d. ____________________________________________________________________ 9. Explain how for bin Laden 911 and its aftermath “was a moment that reversed the course of time” (158). ________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ 10. Explain how to al-Qaeda procuring a weapon of mass destruction is an act of piety. _______________________________________________________________ 11. What did the terrorist attacks of 911 mean to those who carried them out? _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ CHAPTER 5: FIELDS OF JIHAD 1. What advantage does al-Qaeda have as a “network of networks?” _____________ ______________________________________________________________________ 2. Contrast the position of the jihadists with the salafi fundametalists concerning the time of holy war. ______________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ 3. What is the position of the jihadists concerning the “near enemy” and the “far enemy”? _____________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ 7 4. Identify the four factors/reasons why the jihadists’ conviction that they may yet vanquish the near enemy is not entirely delusional: a. hearts and minds: _____________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ b. Dar al-Islam Occupies Dar al-Harb: ______________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ c. Appearances deceive: __________________________________________________ d. Burgeoning socioeconomic problems: _____________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ 6. What danger does the Muslim Brothers pose to Mubarak’s government? ______ ______________________________________________________________________ 7. What are the four basic Islamic arguments put forward that challenge the legitimacy and competence of the Saudi royal family? a. ____________________________________________________________________ b. ____________________________________________________________________ c. ____________________________________________________________________ d. ____________________________________________________________________ 8. Explain this statement: “By satisfying the clerics’ insistence that they propagate Wahhabism, the Saudi rulers buy their own political legitimacy at the cost of stability elsewhere” (187). ______________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ 9. What is the nature of the threat posed by the salafis to the stability of Jordan and the Hussein regime? ___________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ 10. Explain the significance of the June 1967 war and why jihadists are ever more eager to carry out attacks in Israel: a. ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ b. ___________________________________________________________________ 11. Explain how the Hamas charter portrays the conflict in solidly religious terms? _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ 12. What threat does Hamas pose to Arafat’s fatah movement? _________________ _____________________________________________________________________ 8 13. What is the importance of Europe for the jihadists? (215) ___________________ _____________________________________________________________________ PART TWO: AMERICA CHAPTER 6: A PARADIGM LOST 1. Describe the “unspoken consensus that has shaped American policy concerning terrorism: (see 219) ____________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ 2. What about terrorism began to change in the early 1990’s? ___________________ ______________________________________________________________________ 3. Define “paradigm” and the new paradigm that began to emerge in the 1990’s. ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ 4. Identify the major attacks that pushed terrorism up the ladder of foreign policy priorities during the early years of the Clinton presidency: a. ____________________________________________________________________ b. ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ 5. Describe the significance of the following: a. the Omnibus Counterterrorism Act of February 1995: ________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ b. PDD-39 (June 1995): __________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ CHAPTER 7: THE UNKNOWN WAR 1. What was so significant—and alarming—about the embassy bombings in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam? ___________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ 2. Explain how the issue of Pakistan’s involvement in Kashmir affected U.S. demands regarding U.S. demands regarding al-Qaeda. ______________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ 9 3. Identify two unprecedented challenges that the intelligence community faced in its attempt to “get bin Laden:” a. ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ b. ____________________________________________________________________ 4. Which federal agencies were the least troubled by the rise of al-Qaeda and contributed little or nothing to the White Houses’ understanding of al-Qaeda? ______________________________________________________________________ 5. The two greatest foreign policy traumas of Clinton’s first term: _______________ CHAPTER 8: THE SHOCK OF THE NEW 1. Contrast Condoleezza Rice’s foreign policy priorities with the outgoing Clinton administration during the early months of the Bush administration: ___________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ 2. Identify the two top foreign policy priorities of the Bush team’s first months of the new administration: a. ____________________________________________________________________ b. ____________________________________________________________________ 3. Identify the three initiatives that Clark wanted to push forward: a. ____________________________________________________________________ b. ____________________________________________________________________ c. ____________________________________________________________________ CHAPTER 9: A FAILURE OF INTELLIGENCE 1. The key question this chapter deals with is how a surprise attack of this magnitude could occur to 280 million Americans living in the information age…” (351). Identify the reasons for this intelligence failure: a. The press ___________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ b. Congress ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ c. The media (like Mary Ann Weaver and Dan Rather) believed __________________ ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ d. ____________________________________________________________________ e. ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ 10 2. Explain why the authors say that “the key date [for recognizing the threat of jihadist terror before September 11) is not August 7, the day of the [Africa embassy] bombings, but the twentieth, when the United States struck al-Qaeda targets in Afghanistan and Sudan” (351). _________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ 3. Explain why the press and the American public fail to take al-Qaeda seriously? (373) a. Insularity: ___________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ b. Cynicism and disbelief: ________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ c. Hostility to political institutions: _________________________________________ d. Culture of scandal: ____________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ 4. Explain the serious consequences of the press’ dismissal of the al-Shifa attack. ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ 5. The Bush administration chose not to raise public awareness of the danger; thus there was virtually no public discussion of al-Qaeda by the national leadership until after September 11. (382) CHAPTER 10: HOW GREAT A FAILURE? 1. How great a failure was September 11? a. ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ b. ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ c. ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ 2. Explain the “impetus”—and how alien it is to our way of thinking—behind the mass killing of September 11. ___________________________________________ PART THREE AFTER AFGHANISTAN 11 CHAPTER 11: TERROR AND STRATEGY 1. Identify reasons why the authors believe that America still does not view September 11 as a watershed: a. ____________________________________________________________________ b. ____________________________________________________________________ c. ____________________________________________________________________ d. ____________________________________________________________________ e. ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ f. ____________________________________________________________________ 2. What is the message to the U.S. of the Suleiman Abu Ghaith’s post-Afghanistan communiqué: _________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ 3. Identify some possible consequences of a second, more spectacular and more deadly attack, say in Manhattan: a. ____________________________________________________________________ b. ____________________________________________________________________ c. ____________________________________________________________________ d. ____________________________________________________________________ 4. Identify two ways to limit the frequency and scale of surprise attacks: a. ____________________________________________________________________ b. ____________________________________________________________________ 5. The authors identify four radical departures from the past that must be understood as America gropes toward a reorientation to the challenge of the new terrorism: a. pre-emption not an option: ______________________________________________ b. deterrence not an option: _______________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ c. ____________________________________________________________________ d. ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ 6. Identify three reasons why the U.S. is resented (407) and explain each one: a. ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ b. ____________________________________________________________________ c. ____________________________________________________________________ 7. Concerning al-Qaeda’s campaign against globalization, explain the following: 12 a. the catalyst for this campaign (409): ______________________________________ b. the pattern of religious belief: ___________________________________________ c. the fundamental problem: ______________________________________________ d. the current challenge: __________________________________________________ 8. Explain why voices more moderate than bin Laden’s are not necessarily more appetizing to secular western taste (410): __________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ 9. Though the West faces a serious threat that could last a generation, the U.S. possesses several advantages in its struggle against the jihadists: a. ____________________________________________________________________ b. ____________________________________________________________________ c. ____________________________________________________________________ 10. According to the authors, what are the features of a sustainable strategy against the jihadists? a. ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ b. recognize important distinctions as follows: (1) avoid putting Palestinian terrorism into the same rhetorical basket as jihadist violence because most of our allies distinguish between Arafat and bin Laden (2) Saddam Hussein is not bin Laden c. cooperation on the political level d. ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ e. ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ f. self-defense g. convince Muslim populations that they can prosper without destroying the West (418) CHAPTER 12: A WORLD OF TERROR 1. What makes religious motivated violence/warfare different from other kinds of warfare? _____________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ Copyrighted 7/1/03: AFR All rights reserved 13 14