The origins of al Qaeda

Origins of Al Qaeda

The Origins of Al-Qaeda: The World View of Osama Bin Laden and Ayman Al-Zawahiri, the leaders of Al-Qaeda."

Al-Qaeda and its leaders, Osama Bin Laden and Ayman Al-Zawahiri are frequently popular world news subjects.

The world seems to want to be constantly aware of the goings on of these people and their organization. There is no secret to the desired need for this information. As most people know Al-Qaeda is a significant and ongoing threat to the world, with regard to terrorist activities and continued fundamentalist extremism with regard to jihad, or what these extremists see as a holy war against the rest of the world, but mostly the Western world. This work will begin with a short introduction to the threat that Al-Qaeda poses to the world. It will then move on to discuss the background of Osama Bin-Laden and Ayman Al-Zawahiri and the fundamentalist movements that inspired them. The work will then move on to discuss the world view of the leaders of Al-Qaeda, the stages of Al-Qaeda's operations and lastly discuss some options for dealing with the threat Al-Qaeda poses.

In brief the threat that Al-Qaeda poses to the world is one that involves a worldwide network of militant extremists. The war in Afghanistan was largely brought about as an attempt to annihilate Al-Qaeda but it did only limited damage to the organization as a whole. There are estimates that there could be as many as 18,000 Al-Qaeda trained militants still operating today world wide, even after almost six years of operations against them and there seems to be no end to their ability to finance themselves indefinitely.

In the interim since September 11th the average count of attacks associated with Al-Qaeda is one about every three months, even though several have been thwarted by active counterintelligence attacks are still taking place and many have been significant in scope and severity.

Al-Qaeda is clear still very much a threat to the modern world, but to some degree the organization's lasting effects will be the extremism that they preach and the manner in which they continue to gain followers in and out of the Islamic community all over the world. In fact according to Schanzer and Ross the scattered decentralized manner in which Al-Qaeda now operates is even more elusive than it was when they were an organized and centralized organization. Al-Qaeda, can now simply provide a small sum of money to any interested party who promises to attack in its name and they will be assured of an attempt at some act of terror. In short Al-Qaeda has become not only a prominent actor in terrorism but it can be seen as a grass roots umbrella organization for fighting the supposed holy war. This threat leaves life and property at risk, as well as the minds of millions who could find favor in their extremist ideologies. The threat is invasive and evasive, world wide and the technology as well as skill utilized by terrorists, including those affiliated with Al-Qaeda continues to increase, as does the technology they use to communicate and the many illegal ways in which they obtain funding and support. The Al-Qaeda of yesterday may be history, but the ideologies and the strengths of the organization are not. Osama Bin-Laden and Ayman Al-Zawahiri will continue to be seen by many as heroes of a cause for universal social and political reformation, and by others as fearsome examples of the way in which ideology can be twisted into something altogether different and create great chaos and harm in the world.

Osama Bin Laden and Ayman Al-Zawahiri History

Osama Bin-Laden

Many people seek to have a greater understanding of the people behind the movement, namely Osama Bin-Laden and Ayman Al-Zawahiri as a way of introduction into the ideology of the terrorist regime. To do so one must clearly understand the historical perspective of the lives of these two men. Bin-Laden's early life was rather mundane. He was born in 1957 in Saudi Arabia to a Yemeni father and a Syrian mother. His father was very successful in business and eventually became a billionaire. Bin-Laden's upbringing was one of a strict Islamist. He studied at Abdul Ariz University, in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia earning a degree in Civil Engineering. The school also boasted a strong official and unofficial curriculum of Islamic politics. The university offered Bin-Laden his first introduction to the extremes of the political movements, and from this point he began to build a world view that developed into what it is today, a world view that will be better described later in the work. Bin-Laden is frequently noted by many factions of the extremist movements and even some moderate Muslims as a hero, and this is especially true of the Muslim youth in the Middle East and Africa.

The Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, in the 1980's offered Bin-Laden one of his first opportunities to express and build a following for his ideology. Bin-Laden was a militant supporter of the Mujaheddin, Afghani holy warriors, the guerrilla resistance forces to the Soviet Union.

In 1986 Bin-Laden began to build training camps in Afghanistan to train soldiers to fight in the Afghanistan civil war, that followed Soviet occupation. "Increasing needs for documentation of members of his organisation led to the creation of Al Qaeda (the 'base')." The original design of the organization was a systematic identification tier that allowed a connectivity to people, specialties and resources, and it was in conjunction with the development of increasingly militant training camps.

After the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, Bin Laden was horrified at the increasing pro-Western stance of the Saudi government and he set about creating an anti-Saudi Arabian resistance movement. He was soon forced to leave the country for Pakistan and then went back to Afghanistan and after threats to his life travelled to Sudan in 1991. He was now in a very Islamist environment and was able to set up 'front' companies in Sudan masquerading as engineering companies but in effect raising money for his Al Qaeda group. He became involved in several terrorist operations in Yemen, Saudi Arabia and Egypt as well as the 1997 bombing of the World Trade Center in New York, USA.

His connections to the earlier bombing of the WTC, was made early on and he was on the international most wanted list. This coupled with his extremist views frequently caused his expulsion from regions and countries, and he became an even better rounded political player, first as a partner to the Sudanese government and then their enemy.

Talks were held with some elements in the Iranian government and members of Hizbullah. He put huge amounts of money into the Sudanese economy through his own business dealings and helped to turn Sudan into a pan-Islamic state. He also worked closely with exiled Egyptian Islamists in Sudan. Bin Laden and the Sudanese government were concerned about the situation in Somalia which descended into chaos in 1991 after the overthrow of a relatively stable military leader. He then flew 3,000 Arab fighters from Yemen to support militia groups in Somalia and also bought land for training groups in Somalia. Bin Laden fell foul of the new Sudanese government and was expelled from the country in 1996. However, he did revisit for business reasons.

His extremism even created an almost complete disconnect from his Saudi roots. As the Saudis made an attempt on his life and the government withdrew his citizenship. Even many members of his family denounced him. The Sudanese government had great international pressure to force Bin-Laden into exile which created an opportunity for Bin-Laden to relocate to Afghanistan at some time in 1997. In Afghanistan he had much more freedom to continue to expand on and build support for his extremist views, of hatred for the West, and especially for the U.S. "An umbrella framework - the International Islamic Front for Jihad Against Jews and Crusaders - which Bin Laden set up in 1998 co-ordinates many groups across the world."

All along the road of Bin-Laden's many travels to teach and organize for his cause there were obstacles and one of the greatest was frequent attempts upon his life, which began to occur again after the formation of the Islamic Front, mentioned above. This fact not only did not deter him but is proof to many of his followers, in combination with his military involvement in many difficult causes, that he is in a sense untouchable. To his followers this is proof that he is a "chosen" leader that has a greater calling to lead them in a revolution against the westernization of Islam. Osama through stealth and wealth can evade any enemy and has for the most part simply faded into the backdrop of whatever location he is now within. He is protected by countless followers and frequently flees the scene just moments before the arrival of the "enemy." This skill and probably luck as well has given him the reputation of being capable of almost anything, as he quietly sits back waiting for his next taped television address, or voice recorded speech, calling his brothers to keep fighting the holy war against the enemies of the world.

His extremism has always been well-known and knowingly harboring him is a significant international offense. In December of 2000 the United Nations imposed sanctions against an Afghanistan struggling under Taliban rule, as a way to get the official government to hand Bin-laden over to international authorities, to answer for his already long list of terrorist crimes and collusions. Since 1998 more than 150 members of Al-Qaeda has been arrested in thirty different nations, for crimes associated with planning, supporting, conducting or abetting terrorist attacks all over the world. These attacks were but a warm up for the masterful September 11th attacks that brought the U.S. And in many ways the entire world to its knees, with its mostly successful administration of terror and its incredible loss of life and property. The attacks led directly to the invasion of Afghanistan by the U.S. And the overthrow of the Taliban government, that was to a large degree seen as holding the nation hostage with extreme fundamentalism, especially with regard to social conservatism, but who was one of Bin-Laden's most logical allies in extremist views.

The U.S. government produced compelling evidence of Al Qaeda's involvement in this 'day of infamy' and this led President Bush to announce before U.S. Congress on 20 September 2001 a 'global war against terrorism'. Because Afghanistan refused to immediately hand over Bin Laden and other Al Qaeda members to the Americans, an Allied force occupied the country in 2001-2

After many unsuccessful attempts to capture Osama Bin-Laden, smaller forces still remain in Afghanistan, attempting to rehabilitate the nation from years of war and totalitarian rule. Despite inside and outside counterintelligence as well as years of attempts, Bin-Laden is still at large and infrequently sends messages of hope and instruction to followers all over the world through the media. "In September 2003, a message was broadcast on Al Jazeera TV by Osama Bin Laden. It is believed he is now in Pakistan near the Afghan border." (at the close of 2004) the Al Qaeda group, on the other hand has dispersed throughout the world, and many are "stationed" in affluent Western cities. The are for the most part quietly living out their lives, and biding their time until they are called upon to act, again as, "they will always vow to kill Americans and their Allies."

Ayman Al-Zawahiri

Al-Zawahiri's biographical story demonstrates one that parallels Bin-Laden, and the two share a comradeship that allows them to balance the other's shortcomings. Al_Zawahiri's story is interesting in that he began his adult life as a talented physician and surgeon. He was indoctrinated into the world of extremism through his participation and later his leadership of an Egyptian terrorist group and only later became Bin-Laden's confidant, intellectual and ideological mentor and potentially his successor as the leader of Al-Qaeda. He is only a few years older than Bin-Laden. He was born in 1953 to an affluent Egyptian family and he lived his young life in Maadi, one of the more affluent of the suburbs of Egypt. His two grandfathers were significant and prominent members of the broader Egyptian community. "His grandfathers were the rector of al-Azhar University, the Islamic world's oldest and most prestigious religious school, and president of Cairo University, Egypt's leading modern secular university.

Unlike Bin-Laden Al-Zawahiri had an earlier indoctrination into extremist views, and therefore a longer clandestine life, a time in which he used his intelligence to formulate a plan of action. Having made up his mind to elicit change, after a monumental Islamic defeat, the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, Al-Zawahiri became a staunch supporter of political Islam, and at only 14 years of age he joined the Muslim Brotherhood and two years later he joined the clandestine Islamic Jihad, a violent extremist group of small and tightly knit cells.

However, 1967 had been a defining moment for him as it was for many in the Arab world. After the disastrous Arab defeat in the 1967 Arab-Israeli (Six Day) war and the disillusionment over Arab (secular) nationalism and socialism that followed, al-Zawahiri turned to political Islam.

Al-Zawahiri rapidly rose in the organization and by the age of 20 he became a prominent leader, organizer, strategizer and recruiter for the movement. Al-Zawahiri was arrested with many others after Anwar Sadat was assassinated, as a part of a large roundup of dissidents in the nation and though he had no known connection to Sadat's death he was however convicted of a weapons charge and sentenced to three years, of which he only served a little over one. His brush with prison and his resulting criminal record made it difficult for him to return to respectable life, as a physician, though he did briefly try to return to medical practice after his release, but found life in Egypt difficult. At this point he emigrated to Saudi Arabia to practice medicine but again quickly moved on to Afghanistan to treat people in field hospitals during the occupation and resistance to the Soviet invasion. There Al-Zawahiri meets Bin Laden's long time extremist teacher from Abdulaziz University in Saudi Arabia, Abdullah Azzam, and Bin Laden himself through collective political activism in an organization founded by Azzam called the Jihad Service Bureau, whose mission was to recruit Arabs from all over the Middle East and North Africa to fight a Jihad against the Soviets. The three men formed a bond through collective ideologies, regarding global jihad.

After the Soviet defeat in 1989, Zawahiri returned to Egypt and to his leadership role in Islamic Jihad. Zawahiri played an important role during the 1990s, organizing underground operations and integrating former mujahidin into the ranks of Islamic Jihad. The violence and terrorism of Islamic Jihad were met with equal force by Egyptian military and police. Bloody confrontations were accompanied by the arrest, interrogation, torture, and imprisonment of thousands. In 1992 Zawahiri moved to Sudan with bin Laden, and in 1996 both returned to Afghanistan. From there, al-Zawahiri continued to be involved in the jihad against the Egyptian state.

Zawahiri is frequently given credit for the international expansion of the jihad, and he is said to be the mastermind behind many terrorist attacks that are international in flavor.

He is believed to have been the mastermind behind terrorist attacks, including the massacre of fifty-eight tourists in Luxor in 1997, for which he was sentenced to death in absentia by an Egyptian court in 1999.

Zawahiri eventually merged Islamic Jihad and Al-Qaeda, with the assistance of its leader Bin Laden, now his great friend, which better served the global jihad ideology. Some give him near full credit for the planning of the September 11th attacks as well as the global push to expand the jihad to American and other Western targets.

Ideology: The Muslim Brotherhood

The Muslim Brotherhood, has a long and chaotic political history that transverses nearly every Islamic nation and every political movement since the mid-1920's. From its inception it was a political movement that attempted to create a pan Islamic society that would fight against Western influences in Islamic nations and the world. The Muslim Brotherhood, just like nearly every Islamic nation has gone through periods of conservatism and acceptance of modernism and/or political change. The group quikely became a very political organization.

The Egyptian Hassan Al-Banna (1906-1949) studied with Ridha's circle as a young man, and in 1928 he launched in Egypt the Muslim Brotherhood, the first modern Islamic political movement. Al-Banna sought to unite and mobilize Muslims against the cultural and political domination of the West. However, the Brotherhood eventually reached an understanding with the regime of King Faruq, which saw the Brothers as a useful counter to nationalist movements. As a result, revolutionaries among the Salafists [purist Islamic believers] began to feel less and less comfortable with the Brotherhood.

Collectively the Muslim Brotherhood, seemed to almost certainly stray form its original intent by collectively supporting the government in power and it was punished for its alliance.

Just as these differences within the Brotherhood were coming to the surface, Gamal Abdel Nasser and other military officers overthrew the Egyptian monarchy in 1952. The new socialist and nationalist military regime suppressed the Brotherhood in 1954, claiming it had plotted to assassinate Nasser.

There were many other fundamentalist reform movements that predated and post date the Muslim Brotherhood yet it is the ideology of returning to a simpler time, when outside influences, seen and often realized as corrupting the nature of the faith, state and culture of the Islamic world that draws them together, almost regardless of their political leanings, moderate or extreme doctrines and demands for action.

It was not until the 1960s that these South Asian currents influenced the revolutionary Salafists, through the writings of Pakistani cleric Abul Ala Mawdudi (1903-1979) (12) and their impact on another Egyptian outsider, Sayyed Qutb.

The connectivity between the members and leaders of Al-Qaeda does not always prove to be the Muslum Brotherhood, but the Salafist movement and the offshoots of the Brotherhood that were more extreme. The indoctrination, of Zawahiri at age 14 into a more militant group, can serve as a logical example. The Muslim Brotherhood served as a conduit to more extreme views. The recruiters, which Bin-Laden and Al Zawahiri eventually became, would seek out those who professed sympathy to Islamic fundamentalism and at the very least Islamic independence and then convert them to the idea that jihad and extremism was the only answer to the problems of obvious Western influences and in some cases complete domination of Islamic states and ideals. The story of the next great Salafist also runs along such lines.

Sayyid Qutb (1906-1966), the next bearer of the revolutionary Salafist flame, was an educator and member of the Muslim Brotherhood. Qutb warned against the Westernizing influences that continued to permeate the Muslim world during the 1940s and 1950s. He had no formal theological training, but, hearkening back to 'Abduh and Ridha, believed it the duty of the ordinary believer to seek out the supposedly pure Islam of the aslaf. (13) Expanding on Ibn Taymiyya's teaching on jihad against apostate rulers, Qutb argued for struggle against the secular regimes of the Muslim world, even if this meant killing Muslims. Qutb was also influenced by Mawdudi's call on individual Muslims to exclude nonMuslim influences from their lives and institutions. Qutb's endorsement of Mawdudi began a convergence between the revolutionary Salafists and the South Asian movements. (14) the Nasser regime hanged Qutb in 1966. (15)Nasser's secular agenda, his socialism, and his spectacular defeat in the 1967 war generated opposition to his regime and disillusionment with secularism in general. Some of this opposition flowed into the ranks of the underground Islamic political movements.

The Muslim Brotherhood, despite its many calls for peace and reconciliations, was none the less a needed conduit for extreme beliefs and actions. To the extremists any call for moderation simply served to teach them that the Brotherhood was not doing enough to exclude western influence and angered them when concessions were made to regimes that they saw as tolerant of Western influence and dominance.

The Muslim Brotherhood had by this time split with the revolutionary Salafist movements over the Salafists' calls for overturning Muslim states and societies. The Brotherhood became the most significant Islamic political opposition to Nasserism. However, the revolutionary Salafists, who viewed Qutb as a visionary martyr, gained adherents as well.

The ebb and flow of the base organization, the Muslim Brotherhood and other more extreme political movements sought to change the manner in which the Western world influenced the Islamic one, and at any given time the followers either agreed or disagreed with the majority, splintering off and finding fault in the actions or inactions of others.

Thousands from both movements languished in Egyptian prisons. After Nasser's death in 1970, his successor, Anwar al-Sadat, attempted to co-opt both traditional Islam and political Islam as counters to the political left. The Sadat regime at first tolerated the growth of a Salafist campus movement calling itself Al-Jamaa al-Islamiya (the Islamic Group), but the Jamaa began to turn on Sadat when he backed away from his earlier promise to impose sharia law. Around the same time, a more radical faction splintered from the Jamaa, calling itself simply Jihad. Sadat suppressed both groups in the late 1970s. During the 1970s, one of those who spread Qutb's message and updated his strategy was Muhammad Abd al-Salam Faraj, an electrician and self-taught theologian for the underground Jihad in Egypt. Tried as a leader of the conspiracy that assassinated Sadat in 1981, Faraj used the proceedings to present his manifesto, the Neglected Duty. Along with theological arguments justifying violence, the Neglected Duty echoes Qutb on the need for a strategy that attacks the "near enemy" -- apostate Muslim regimes -- before the "far enemy" --meaning Israel, the United States, and other Western powers interfering in the Muslim world. (16) Faraj also accused the Muslim Brothers and the establishment Egyptian clergy of collaborating with the secular Egyptian regime. The Neglected Duty was widely read throughout Egypt and the Muslim world.

This rich history of calling for change and then pulling back to ally itself with political rulers, that plaiged the Brotherhood was one that fed the extremism in Bin Laden and Al-Zawahiri, as well as many other members of the extremist camp.

After Sadat's assassination and the ensuing crackdown on both the Muslim Brothers and the revolutionary Salafists in Egypt, some Salafists gravitated to a sect headed by an engineer named Shukri Mustafa. Mustafa's group, building on Qutb's writings, preached the "denunciation as unbelievers" (takfir) of almost all of society, and separation from it. The traditional religious establishment of Al-Azhar denounced these "takfiris" as heretics. Mustafa was hanged in 1977 for the kidnapping and murder of a senior Al-Azhar cleric. (17)

In this rich enviroenemtn of political unrest many splinter groups from the Brotherhood developed strategies and organizations that later fed the most extreme of the Islamic fundamentalist groups, such as the Taliban, and of coarse the terrorist groups, such as the Al-Qaeda. The incubation of extremism, not unlike that of any extremism occurred during a time of extreme unrest and social disorder, which had to look very much like the decay of the Islamic foundations.

The guerilla war against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan from 1979 to 1989 was the incubator for the contemporary stage in the development of revolutionary Salafist doctrine and strategy. Many Arab volunteers in Afghanistan coalesced around revolutionary Salafists who remained outsiders to the Sunni clerical establishment, even as some of the Arab regimes, and the United States, funded them. Many Arabs in Afghanistan came under the influence of the Egyptian physician Ayman al-Zawahiri, a prolific writer whom many found persuasive, but who, like all the revolutionary Salafists, was condemned by the Al-Azhar clerical establishment. Zawahiri claims to have known Faraj personally; the doctor eventually became a leader of one of the Egyptian Jihad groups. (18)

According to history the meeting of Zawahiri and Bin Laden occurred in Peshwar, Pakistan, during the development of the organization founded by Azzam, Bin Laden's trusted teacher. The later partnership would in many ways change the movement and the world, and make the two of them household words.

Zawahiri met Osama bin Laden in Peshawar, Pakistan, during the guerilla campaign against the Soviets. The two collaborated closely, Zawahiri contributing his skills as an ideologist, Bin Laden his organizational talents and financial resources. The two publicly announced the merger of their groups in 1998, completing al Qaeda's development into the group that challenges the United States today.

World View of Bin-Laden and Al-Zawahiri, Israel, the U.S. And Infidels

Bin-Laden's early professed ideologies, did not include a particular hatred toward the U.S., stating that he wishes simply to please Allah at all costs. Yet, the eventual development of the Al Qaeda ideologies go much further than this, as has been said, partly through the influence of Zawahiri and others, with regard to the way in which the organization can most effectively send its message to the world, of the need for change and the need to return to a simpler Islam, not confounded by modernization or as Al Qaeda would put it, westernization. According to the Al Qaeda ideology: "The more people Al Qaeda kill, the better their members feel in Paradise - their religious propaganda is very strong." The ideology of the group includes a systematic condemnation of three main evils, first Israel for its extreme oppression and maltreatment of the Palestinian Islamic peoples as well as it occupation of the Islamic holy places, second the United States for its protection and support of Israel, as well as its extreme social and moral degradation and military colonialism, and last all infidels, meaning Jews and Christians or anyone who does not live by the laws of Islam.

Many members of Al Qaeda, as well as other fundamentalist groups and even moderate Islamic peoples have been exposed to the Westernized view, even as productive members of prominent western nations but are then sadly exposed to racial and regional prejudices that tell tale of the extreme differences between the Western and Islamic traditions as well as the cumulative hatred and misunderstanding that occurs between the two groups. The Islamic world, for most of written history has seen the Western powers seek to control the people, places and resources of the Islamic world. For Islam there has been no real or perceived stop in the colonial movement, and in many ways they are correct. The expansive influence of extremist organizations and terrorist organizations like Al Qaeda can clearly be felt in a series of headlines and events associated with attacks, threats of attacks and collective international intelligence regarding terrorism.

Many members [of Al Qaeda] have lived Westernised lives but when they attend universities or radical Islamist mosques they become aware of the prejudice towards North Africans and Arabs. At least two London mosques were hotbeds of extreme opinion and had links with Osama Bin Laden. A number of the operatives had been trained in Afghanistan to blow up transport facilities, and worked with false identities and travelled on false papers. The Russians who monitored Al Qaeda very closely warned the West of a possible aerial attack on the G8 summit meeting in Genoa, Italy in June 2001. As a result of the threat Genoa became almost a fortress with anti-globalisation protestors held at bay, and the political leaders met on a boat. Anti-aircraft guns were brought in to ring fence the summit venue. A threat was made to launch a suicide truck bomb against the U.S. embassy in Paris in 2001; the Belgians arrested the suicide bomber and explosives were found in the Arab quarter of Brussels. In London radical voices in one or two of the mosques talk about a jihad against the enemy. Three years earlier it was believed by intelligence sources in America that Bin Laden wanted to create a Hiroshima-style catastrophe using uranium and links with suppliers in Sudan and Afghanistan. It is interesting to note that on September 11 the fourth plane in the attack was supposedly heading for a nuclear power station as it would be able to penetrate reinforced concrete. However, it crashed in a field in Pennsylvania due to the heroic efforts of the passengers who tried to overpower the crew. All nuclear power stations at least in the West, were checked on the orders of the International Atomic Energy Agency to prevent radioactivity in the event of such an attack.

According the western world view, which is a relatively hard one to escape, by any standards; "Bin Laden wishes to see civil liberties, freedom of speech and democracy come under threat in these doctrines."

Bin Laden in many ways has taken the role of the foundational ideological rulers of Islam, the religious clerics. He is the poor man's cleric and the degraded man's cleric, even though he and most of his helpmates come from no where near humble beginnings.

Although only religious leaders can legitimately issue fatwas, bin Laden had nevertheless issued a fatwa allowing the killing of innocent people: ":to kill 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."When Mir pressed him on how this was permissible in light of the fact that the Prophet Muhammad forbade Muslims to kill innocent civilians, he noted that bin Laden responded only after consulting with Zawahiri and checking some Islamic sources. 20

Many point to Zawahiri as the man who rightfully discovered that if you kill and maim Western citizens and civilians that the world is more likely to take notice, than if you simply fight amongst yourselves, but the source is clearly unknown. It could be anyone, with any logical global knowledge, as it is common sense.

Others, however, contend that bin Laden has long had a global animosity toward America and Israel as well as the intellectual and financial means to pursue it, and that it is he who broadened the perspective of Zawahiri, who had spent the bulk of his formative years as a terrorist focused on toppling the regime and establishing an Islamic state in Egypt. Regardless of who influenced whom, the bin Laden and Zawahiri joint venture produced a powerful global ideology and agenda.

The strategy of Al Qaeda is much the same as it was just moments before the September 11th attacks and can be seen through the writings of its second most celebrated spokesperson.

Zawahiri remains Bin Laden's deputy as leader of al Qaeda, and the Egyptian doctor's writings provide the best insight into the terrorist organization's current strategic thinking. In his 2001 book Knights Under the Prophet's Banner, Zawahiri identifies and prioritizes the goals of what he calls the "the revolutionary fundamentalist movement": first, achievement of ideological coherence and organization, then struggle against the existing regimes of the Muslim world, followed by the establishment of a "genuinely" Muslim state "at the heart of Arab world." (19)