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AIM: How and why did Al
Qaeda rise in popularity?
DO NOW: What are the religious origins of Al
Qaeda?
www.history.com/topics/osama-bin-laden/videos
What is Al-Qaeda?
• Osama bin Laden- leader radical Islamic
terrorists
• Founded during Afghan resistance to USSR
• Funded in part by the US
• Why turn against the US?
US support of
Saudis and
US troops in
Saudi Arabia
in Gulf War
turned him
against US
Al Qaeda's World View
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Islam in mortal danger from the West
jihad a duty
Americans are the new Mongols
U.S. creates Israel
U.S. troops still in Saudi Arabia
U.S. remains in Afghanistan
Al Qaeda Thought
• 12-12-2001 statement (Ayman al-Zawahiri)
• “The need to inflict the maximum casualties against the opponent,
for this is the language understood by the West, no matter how much
time and effort such operations take.”
• “Tracking down the Americans and Jews is not impossible. Killing
them with a single bullet, a stab, or a device made up of a popular
mix of explosives, or hitting them with an iron rod is not impossible.
Burning down their property with Molotov cocktails is not difficult.
With the available means, small groups could prove to be a
frightening horror for the Americans and Jews.”
“The ruling to kill the Americans and their
allies -- civilians and military -- is an
individual duty for every Muslim who can
do it in any country in which it is possible
to do it, in order to liberate the al-Aqsa
Mosque and the holy mosque [Mecca]
from their grip, and in order for their
armies to move out of all the lands of
Islam, defeated and unable to threaten
any Muslim.”
World Islamic Front Statement 23 Feb 1998
Jihad Against Jews and Crusaders
This is in accordance with the words of
Almighty Allah, "and fight the pagans all
together as they fight you all together,"
and "fight them until there is no more
tumult or oppression, and there prevail
justice and faith in Allah."
World Islamic Front Statement 23 Feb 1998
Jihad Against Jews and Crusaders
World Trade Center Bombing,
Febuary 26, 1993
• Kuwaiti man, Ramzi
Yousef, and at least
three other men
• “car” bomb in the
garage of the World
Trade Center
• blast would topple
one tower into the
other?
• spread cyanide gas
across town killing
thousands.
Kenya and Tanzania American
Embassy Bombings
August 7, 1998
• Suicide bomb
attacks at two
different
embassies
• hundreds of
miles apart
• within minutes
of each other.
Yemen Naval Port, Bombing
of the U.S.S. Cole
October 12, 2000
• Two men sailed a small
boat full of explosives
next to the U.S.S. Cole,
detonating the bomb.
• 20 x 40 foot hole in the
side of the ship.
• Rationale: Goal was
to sink the ship and
lower U.S. morale
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What are the main Themes of Bin Laden’s
Rhetoric?
The United States is the main enemy of Islam.
Islam has been betrayed from within by Muslim
governments who have been corrupted.
The Jihad is self defense!
Bin Laden is a motivator of all Muslims, not their
leader.
All weapons are on the table.
Osama bin Laden Profile
• Saudi born
• One of 52 Sons and Daughters fathered
by Mohammed bin Laden with 22
different wives
• Heir to bin Laden construction company
• Westernized until his teens
Bin Laden’s War: Cold War Roots
• 1979-Soviet forces arrive in Afghanistan to support
communist forces
• Resistance against the Soviet forces soon became a “
jihad”
• Pakistan and Saudi Arabia were the largest backers of this
jihad
• Bin Laden joins the “jihad”
ABC John Miller Interviews Bin Laden,
May 1998