Historical Dictionary of Terrorism Third Edition

QA’EDA, AL • 559one such fatwa was faxed to the London Arabic-language newspaper,Al Quds Al Arabi, signed by bin Laden and three others, declaringit “the religious duty of every individual Muslim to kill Americanseverywhere, whether soldiers or civilians, to free the holy cities ofIslam from the presence of foreign, non-Muslim troops.” Althoughbin Laden himself is not recognized by reputable Muslim religiousleaders as being a scholar competent to issue fatwas, these statementsstruck a resonant chord among Muslims throughout the world of allsocial classes who often have blamed the problems of their nationson the United States. These fatwas identify the general objective ofcountering U.S. power but not the concrete steps to achieve this.Intermediate-range goals, found in the Encyclopedia of the AfghanJihad, include radicalization of Islamic groups throughout theworld; overthrowing of “apostate” Muslim governments; support forMuslim insurgents in countries around the world; destroying Israel;destroying the United States; and finally, restoration of the Islamiccaliphat uniting all Muslim nations. More practical, concrete tacticsto attain these goals are given in the Al Qa’eda Training Manual.Other documents indicate al Qa’eda’s desire to obtain or else developweapons of mass destruction. Even without more exotic weapons,al Qa’eda has developed great expertise in using explosives and creativityin turning Western technology into mass-casualty weapons,as in seizing the four airliners used as flying bombs in the WorldTrade Center and Pentagon attacks of September 11, 2001.While Osama bin Laden is al Qa’eda’s Emir, or “commander,” hisdeputy, Muhammad Atef, headed its military committee and mastermindedthe 1998 East African U.S. embassy attacks but was laterkilled in U.S. air raids in November 2001. Ayman al Zawahiri, anEgyptian doctor who led the Jihad group, is bin Laden’s personal physicianand chief counsel. He also heads the Islamic study committee andnow is believed to be the acting second-in-command after bin Laden.Another al Qa’eda figure, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the mastermindof the September 11, 2001, attacks, was captured by Pakistani forces on1 March 2003 and remanded to U.S. investigators. It is estimated thatroughly two-thirds of al Qa’eda’s core leaders were killed or capturedduring the operations in Afghanistan beginning in October 2001.After 1996 the al Qa’eda base outside Jalalabad held about 600 followers,while graduates of the training camps were estimated to numberaround 10,000 or more in over 25 countries. Al Qa’eda operations