Historical Dictionary of Terrorism Third Edition

QA’EDA IN IRAQ, AL • 565instructed al Qa’eda in his bombing expertise. Recovered records ofal Qa’eda’s international telephone calls show that over 10 percentof its calls were routed through Iran. During October 2003 one of binLaden’s sons, as well as Abu Musab al Zarqawi, the future leader ofal Qa’eda in Iraq, and Turki al Dandani, wanted for the 12 May 2003Riyadh bombings, were known to be hiding in Iran despite Iranianclaims to the contrary. The support of the now-defunct Taliban regimein Afghanistan was more that of a co-opted state than an equalwith al Qa’eda. Since having been expelled from Afghanistan in late2001, the core al Qa’eda group is believed to be hiding in the tribalareas of northern and southern Waziristan in Pakistan, which is outsidethe effective control of the Pakistani government.According to the July 2007 National Intelligence Estimate (NIE)presented by Mike McConnell, Director of National Intelligence,to the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, the central alQa’eda group continues to remain the most significant threat to U.S.homeland security while its leadership continues to develop highimpactplots and to seek to expand its influence over extremist Sunnicommunities worldwide. Despite al Qa’eda’s losses of personnelfollowing the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan, this NIE presentedevidence that the central al Qa’eda organization had substantiallyregenerated its ranks and that the leadership located in the FederallyAdministered Tribal Areas, far from being isolated, retained effectivecommunications with its affiliates worldwide and was continuing toestablish cells in other countries. The former head of Great Britain’ssecurity service, known as MI5, revealed in November 2006 thatBritish intelligence had knowledge of at least 30 plots directed todestroy British lives and Britain’s economy that were traced back tothe al Qa’eda leadership in northwestern Pakistan. See also ORGA-NIZATION OF TERRORIST GROUPS.QA’EDA IN IRAQ, AL (AQI). The AQI group is an Islamic fundamentalistgroup, affiliated with the main al Qa’eda group, made uppredominantly of non-Iraqi fighters involved in the post-2003 insurgencyagainst U.S., Iraqi government, and other coalition forces inIraq, as well as attacks on both Shi’ite and Sunni civilians viewed asdisloyal to the insurgency. The group has adopted a number of namesand aliases, being originally known in 2003 as the Jama’at al-Tawhidwal-Jihad, or Divine Unity and Jihad Group, until 17 October 2004