Developing Coherent Strategy for a Long War With Al Qaeda

Al-Qaeda Developing a Coherent Strategy for a Long War with Al-Qaeda The phrase 'War on Terror' would have been a very uncommon phenomena if it was discussed somewhere near the 1970s. Till then, wars had only been fought amongst nations for the race to become a super power and achieve global supremacy over other states. In present times, the term 'War on Terror' has brought a new dimension to the concept of war on our planet.

This has been due to organizations rising up to achieve their agendas using the means of violence. The Al-Qaeda has been one such organization and it can be said that the current international 'War on Terror' is being fought mainly because of the Al-Qaeda and its terrorist activities around the globe. Such activities have and will continue to hinder global development in all aspects and endanger people's lives, if not dealt with urgency.

Therefore, to achieve global peace and harmony, it is vital to strictly act against the Al-Qaeda and its operations being carried out through the globe. But, considering the mobile nature and globally expanded network of the Al-Qaeda and other such difficulties, this war has taken more than a decade to fight and to bring these terrorists to justice, and it still doesn't seem to end. Therefore, different perspectives over this war against the Al-Qaeda have been discussed in this paper.

To tackle this problem, the necessity to follow a strong strategy and the important areas to focus, have been laid down. If properly followed, such a strategy can surely achieve success against the Al-Qaeda and its terror. Introduction: The decision to go to war against a country or a particular group is usually made by the Congress or the President in the case of an emergency.

However, these few individuals not only make the decision for themselves, they decide on behalf of the millions of people that reside in their country. Thus, the elected representatives of a country should bear in mind when making such irreversible decision with gargantuan consequences for the nation and people they govern and the ones on which they are set to declare war.

The costs and benefits that arise from taking such an action that puts millions of lives in inevitable risk and danger should be evaluated with great care and each and every move should be strategized and planned meticulously. It should be the least sought after option for political wars can lead to mistrust and unrest in the public when body-bags start rolling in as an aftermath.

Carl Von Clauswitz is of the opinion that, "No one starts a war or rather, no one in his senses ought to do so, without first being clear in his mind what he intends to achieve by that war and how he intends to conduct it. Since war is not an act of senseless passion but is controlled by its political object, the value of the object must determine the sacrifices made for it in magnitude and also in duration.

Once the expenditure of effort exceeds the value of the political object, the object must be renounced and peace must follow." (Clauswitz, 1984) A cohesive and well thought-out strategy is required in combating those that threaten the security of a nation.

In this case, we choose Al-Qaeda, the architects of the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Centre and definers of the term, "International Terrorism." The pre-September 9, 2001 history of Al-Qaeda has been largely erased to poise the terrorist group as Anti-American with objectives to destroy the democratic and economic progress in the country. The origin of Al-Qaeda and its ties to the CIA are rarely mentioned.

Formed in the early 1980's, Al-Qaeda started out as a band of Muslim soldiers (also referred to as the Mujahedeen) fighting against the Soviet Union in the Soviet-Afghan War, with financial and military-training support provided by the CIA in close connection with the Pakistani ISI (Coll, 1992).

Literature Review: Ahmed Rashid reports that, "With the active encouragement of the CIA and Pakistan's ISI, who wanted to turn the Afghan Jihad into a global war waged by all Muslim states against the Soviet Union, some 35,000 Muslim radicals from 40 Islamic countries joined Afghanistan's fight between 1982 and 1992. Tens of thousands more came to study in Pakistani madrasahs. Eventually, more than 100,000 foreign Muslim radicals were directly influenced by the Afghan jihad." (Rashid, 1999).

Indeed, the illusive leader and mastermind behind modern day Al-Qaeda, Osama Bin Laden was recruited from Saudi Arabia, to fight in the Soviet-Afghan war in the Mujahedeen army (Davies, 1998). The main motive of those serving in Al-Qaeda in the 1980's was to eradicate non-Muslim influences in Afghanistan. This, at the time, meant the Soviet Union. After the Soviets withdrew from Afghanistan in the 1990's, Al-Qaeda turned its attention toward other western influences that were seen to have a corrupting effect on their culture as well as on the Muslims worldwide.

So the objectives of Al-Qaeda evolved. The main purpose of their existence in modern times is to remove all Western influence from Islamic Nations and to govern these states under strict Islamic Sunni Shariah Laws. Post-September 9, 2001, the links between the CIA and Al-Qaeda are seen to be of a "bygone era" and irrelevant when taking into consideration the current situation with regard to both organizations.

Today, Al-Qaeda operates as a multinational, stateless army, i.e., it consists of loosely aligned individuals and groups with a common purpose; the removal of Western influence from Muslim states through a global Jihad (Gunaratna, 2002). Al Qaeda maintains liaisons with terrorist organizations such as Jama'at al-Tawid wal Jihad (Iraq), Abu Sayyaf Group (Philippines) and Islamic Army of Aden (Yemen) etc. (Council On Foreign Relations).

In the book, The Secret History of Al-Qaeda, Abdel Bari Atwan summarizes the strategies and long-term objectives of the Al-Qaeda to be implemented in various methods, to rid the Muslim Ummah (Muslim Generations) from oppression. These include: Provoking the United States Government in to attacking a Muslim country (as to attain a motive of retaliation to wage a war against the U.S.A.). Encourage the locals to resist the occupying forces and create a state of chaos and anarchy.

Converting the Al-Qaeda ideology into a set of principles that can easily be franchised in other countries without any direct involvement of the group itself and then through those franchises, incitement of attacks on those countries to be made which ally with the United States in the War against Terrorism. Pressuring the U.S. economy into collapse as a result of numerous engagements in various parts of the world with regard to the War.

As a result, initiating a domino effect, with economies that are dependent on the United State's economy collapsing as well, throwing the world into a state of global political instability and economical crisis. A Global Jihad in the face of western crisis and the establishment of a global Wahabi Caliphate across the world (Atwan, 2005). Data and Design: To carry out its plans, Al-Qaeda has formed a command structure to formulate and control each and every step of the operations that it conducts against its Western Enemies.

The head of the pack was, before his assassination by the U.S. forces on May, 11 2011, Osama Bin Laden. Most of the financing in the early days of Al-Qaeda even came from Bin Laden's personal wealth (estimated 300 million). After his death, Aymen al-Zawahiri, Al-Qaeda's Deputy Operations Chief, took his place as the first-in-command (New York Times, 2011). The Second in Command was said to be Atiyah Abd al-Rahman. However, he was captured and killed in August 2011 (Balz, 2011).

A congress of an estimated 20-30 senior Al-Qaeda members serve on the Shura Council as advisors to previously Bin Laden and now to Aymen al -- Zawahiri. There is a Military Committee which is in-charge of training troops, planning attacks and acquiring weapons of sorts. While The Business Committee is responsible for arranging funds for the operation of the organization and also provide false passports and air tickets to travelling Al- Qaeda members (Hoffman, 2002). Al-Qaeda has also established As-Sahab.

It is a production house that caters to its media relations needs. It supplies all the video and audio material needed by the group to interact with the world and get their message across. Other Committees include the Law Committee which ensures compliance of the actions of the Al-Qaeda with the Shariah Laws, and the Fatwah Committee which issues religious edicts.

In order to defeat an enemy, one must gain complete and clear understanding of whom and what the enemy is, what its capable of, its strengths and weakness and its motives. It has been made clear by al-Qaeda that their motive is the destruction of the modern Western world and restoration of fundamentalist Islamic Caliphate.

Conservatism is the major key behind such a mission statement of the Al-Qaeda, and instead of using proper dialogue and humanitarian ways to achieve their goals, this organization has resorted to violent terrorist activities all around the planet, focusing especially on the U.S. And European nations. These attacks have resulted in the loss of thousands of lives (Post, 2002), and the number continues to grow.

Keeping in mind the aforementioned description of Al-Qaeda's background, power structure, operation methods and ideology, one can easily conduct an examination of the strengths and weakness of the group and determine how best to achieve victory over this multi-faced foe.

The Chinese General and military strategist, Sun Tzu, in his book 'The Art of War' (Giles, 2005) has famously said, "To fight and conquer in all our battles, is not supreme excellence; supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy's resistance without fighting." A well-thought out strategy is required to defeat a foe of such vast influence and caliber. It should in no way be underestimated. A strategy is basically any course of action that is assumed with the achievement of a certain objective in mind.

Attention should be paid to details in the course of action undertaken, i.e. planning of resource allocation and development of short-term plans that eventually lead to the realization of the ultimate goal. The ultimate goal should be clear and defined in the heads of those executing the strategy.

When addressing the media at the White House in Washington in November 2001, President George Bush stated that, "No group or nation should mistake America's intentions: We will not rest until terrorist groups of global reach have been found, have been stopped, and have been defeated" (National Strategy For Combating Terrorism, 2003). Such a statement clearly puts out the intentions of developed nations, such as the U.S., in regard of the measures to be taken against such a global terrorist outfit like the Al-Qaeda.

However, attaining the above stated national security objective is not easy. All the resources and instruments available to the U.S. government must be used full steam ahead in their respective capacities in order to uproot Al-Qaeda once and for all. Not only the diplomatic, military, economic and informational powers of the United States should focus on incapacitating Al-Qaeda through exploitation of their weakness but these instruments should also address weakness in the U.S. Government itself and provide adequate protection to the citizens of the country.

Military operations tend to be a small part in context to what is largely at stake here. Micheal Howard has explained that, "The roots of victory and defeat often have to be sought far from the battlefield, in political, social, and economic factors which explain why armies are constituted as they are, and why their leaders conduct them in the way they do." (Howard, 1981). Research Methodology: To counter Al-Qaeda, it is important to cut them off early on in the pursuit of their objectives.

Since the command structure and objectives of Al-Qaeda are well-known, an aggressive and cohesive strategy can be developed to stop the terrorist organization in its tracks. An analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the group can lead to a better assessment and determination of the policies to be adopted against the group and the plan to be followed in order to bring about its downfall. If we first focus on the strengths of the group, one of the biggest advantages the Al-Qaeda has is the devotion of its troops.

The fighters of the "Mujahedeen" army are committed to the cause of Al-Qaeda with unwavering loyalty and dedication, despite being highly under resourced against the U.S. forces and knowing that only violence and death, not only for them, but also for innocent millions of lives, await them out on the global battlefield. They are highly trained in combat (having had prior contacts with the CIA) and capable of long-term planning and its scrupulous execution.

They usually act in covert operation throughout the Western World so it is difficult to spot a pattern or to keep an eye on their moves. Another aspect of the powers that Al-Qaeda wields is its support from certain Arab communities. These communities not only help the group of the Al-Qaeda with financial resources and support, but also provide them with refuge within their boundaries and assist them with recruiting, even using their own personnel and soldiers, when required and necessary.

Many large businesses operated in such countries act as a front for Al-Qaeda activities, aiding them to have an infrastructure that supports in plotting and carrying out acts of terror. The Al-Qaeda operates as decentralized troops functioning in independent cells controlled by a rigid ideology. Targeting just one or two units of Al-Qaeda terrorists will not deliver a fatal blow to their ever-increasing numbers.

There is no link between one independent unit and another so there is no break in the overall chain of command and the power structure that binds the group together under the banner of Al-Qaeda remains intact. Infiltration of the organization is futile since many of the fighters in the troops never even get close to the central power structure of the group. The secrecy and scattered troops serve Al-Qaeda well. The basic strategy employed by the Al-Qaeda is simple. Incite the U.S.

government into retaliation attacks through the commitment of calamitous terrorist acts against U.S. civilian and military targets. It makes use of explosive devices and other conventional weapons such as rifles to further its motives. It also relies heavily on the global media to report its acts of violence to create fear and terror in the minds of billions of people around the world and establish their place in the world community as a force to be feared and reckoned with.

Despite the above stated strengths, the top-most terrorist organization has its fair share of weakness as well. These include the difficulty of obtaining weapons of mass destruction and the training operatives may be compromised due to the scattered nature and possible U.S. infiltration of their ranks. Also there are financial support problems (although a lot of rich individuals sympathetic to their cause do make substantial donations), since the transfer of funds is heavily monitored and subjected to the scrutiny of financial forensics.

However, these are nothing compared to the newest weakness that has emerged recently. This is the fall of the leadership of Osama Bin Laden and stumbling of the Al-Qaeda power structure. On May 2, 2011, Osama bin Laden was gunned down in his home in Abottabad, Pakistan by U.S. forces. Bin Laden had held together the loosely aligned troops that made up the Al-Qaeda under his notorious leadership since the 1980's.

His sudden death at the hands of Al-Qaeda's arch enemy was unnerving and came as a huge shock to the members of the organization. The group rallied again under the leadership of Aymen al-Zawahiri, who took charge after Bin Laden's death. Al-Zawahiri inherited the leadership of Al-Qaeda under intense pressure and at a time when the troops had pretty much lost their "father-figure" in their fight against the West.

Many of the experts on the New York Times panel are of the opinion that his many flaws are likely to weaken the network of this once mighty and much feared organization. Al- Zawahiri not only lacks combative experience but also has a history of petty squabbles of over ideology and of giving pedantic speeches. Such an abrasive manner is not really attractive for young militants whose allegiance and support is required by the new leader to move ahead in the plans of the organization.

Bin Laden's death will, undoubtedly, serve as a deterrent to aspiring young radicals who were attracted to the organization due to the seemingly invincibility of the leader. This will lead to the group having difficulty finding new recruits and the on-going war against terror with current troops will help wipe out the slightly smaller crop of militants left in the Al-Qaeda Army. All such strategies made by the U.S. government that seek to defeat the organization should focus on exploiting this weak point further (Tayekh, 2011).

Analysis and Assessment: It should be kept in mind that the strategy adopted by the U.S. shouldn't allow the Al-Qaeda to adapt to counter it. All kinds of organizations have a vast number of motivations to carry out their objectives and not every organization is the same as the other one. But, in a general manner, most of the terror organizations share a similar basic hierarchal structure.

This structure can be summed up as follows: Leadership Organization State Sponsorship (internal & external support) International Environment Underlying Conditions (National Strategy For Combating Terrorism, 2003). While dealing an international terrorist organization such as the Al-Qaeda with complete effectiveness, a strategy should be developed and followed by the U.S. that at the same moment targets every level of the organizational hierarchy mentioned above, using all the available national power and resources.

As we effectively bring in to use these resources, we are settling down with the notion that the U.S. And the Al-Qaeda are entwined in to a complex, adaptive, nonlinear scenario that throws in two competitors, which are evolving, in the survival fight of life and death. To successfully attempt to counter balance the perks enjoyed by the Al-Qaeda, that are lacking symmetry naturally, it is important for the U.S.

To work upon a strategic plan that pushes the Al-Qaeda in a constantly running chaotic state which leads to a reduction in the response time of the opponent and shoves the organization of Al-Qaeda in to a chain of reacting events, that would never end, to reduce the response time of the organization and pilot it to the lack of ability to act to external provocation. This motive for the U.S.

can be achieved by using the national resources of power in a way which gives birth to a host of clouds of uncertainty and trickery that target at the disruption, disorientation, and eventually the fall of the organization of the Al-Qaeda. In light of the already mentioned five levels of the hierarchical structure of an organization, we can explore the way these are implemented within the Al-Qaida as a terrorist organization, catering to its characteristics that are distinctive in nature.

"You must understand that few of the problems of our time have been solved by military power alone." (Sorsen) Leadership: It is the responsibility of the leadership of an organization for the progress of the objectives and goals of that organization and to exemplify that organization, thus making the leadership level of the structural hierarchy the core of a terrorist organization. In the absence of the leadership, the effectiveness in achieving its objectives and working towards the motives of an organization in a better way are said to fall immensely.

When seen with a broader perspective, the non-existence of leadership within an organization puts it at risk since it is lacks the vital component to keep it motivated towards achieving its purpose. In its strategy, the U.S. should, therefore, focus on eliminating the key leadership of the Al-Qaeda to make it incapable as an organization.

Such a strategy of eliminating the leadership focuses on pushing the Al-Qaeda in a continual loop of changing personnel at the leadership level, which would eventually bring in less experienced and less qualified individuals at the top, who will be unable to save the sinking ship. This makes the removal of the key personnel of the Al-Qaeda the most essential part of the strategic campaign.

Organization: It is vital to understand the structural system of the Al-Qaeda and the way it runs to decide what is the best possible way to use the national resources against it. More focus should be put over the economic side of Al-Qaeda's structure, looking at the flow of financial resources and tracking this flow to its source. Taking necessary action against this flow of financial resources will directly affect the ability of the Al-Qaeda to act freely and eventually, its survival.

To develop awareness based on situations so that regular pressure is kept on the organization of Al-Qaeda, an effort focusing around the intelligence and information system is a vital component. It is important for the international community to put in collective effort in every part of the intelligence system that includes the following stages: 'Planning and direction, Collection, Processing, Analysis and production, and Dissemination.' The information and its control play a crucial role to make sure that the support of the public of the U.S.

And the international community is extracted and sustained at all the times during this campaign against the Al-Qaeda. Carl Conetta had mentioned during the discussion related to targeting the Al-Qaeda: "Official discourse on terrorism has tended to treat the subject in an undisciplined fashion, preferring rhetoric to analysis. Effective action requires the subject to be parsed. An important first step is to recognize the 'terrorist', per se, is not the type of thing against which a state or alliance can 'wage war,' properly speaking.

Terrorism is a political pathology generated by conditions of communal violence, civil decay, and social despair, polarization, and alienation." (Connetta, 2002).