Maktab al-Khidamat (MAK - Services Office)
International Islamic Front for Jihad Against the Jews and Crusaders
| Al-Qaida is a multi-national support group which funds and orchestrates
the activities of Islamic militants worldwide. It grew out of the Afghan
war against the Soviets, and its core members consist of Afghan war veterans
from all over the Muslim world. Al-Qaida was established around 1988 by
the Saudi militant Osama bin Ladin. Based in of Afghanistan, bin Ladin
uses an extensive international network to maintain a loose connection
between Muslim extremists in diverse countries. Working through high-tech
means, such as faxes, satellite telephones, and the internet, he is in
touch with an unknown number of followers all over the Arab world, as well
as in Europe, Asia, the United States and Canada.
The organization's primary goal is the overthrow of what it sees as
the corrupt and heretical governments of Muslim states, and their replacement
with the rule of Sharia (Islamic law). Al-Qaida is intensely anti-Western,
and views the United States in particular as the prime enemy of Islam.
Bin Ladin has issued three "fatwahs" or religious rulings calling
upon Muslims to take up arms against the United States. (see Bin
Ladin’s Declaration of War).
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Attempts to radicalize existing Islamic groups and create Islamic groups
where none exist.
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Advocates destruction of the United States, which is seen as the chief
obstacle to reform in Muslim societies.
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Supports Muslim fighters in Afghanistan, Algeria, Bosnia, Chechnya, Eritera,
Kosova, Pakistan, Somalia, Tajikistan and Yemen.
In February 1998, bin Ladin announced the formation of an umbrella organization
called “The Islamic World Front for the struggle against the Jews and the
Crusaders” (Al-Jabhah al-Islamiyyah al-`Alamiyyah li-Qital al-Yahud
wal-Salibiyyin) Among the members of this organization are the Egyptian
al-Gama’a
al-Islamiyya and the Egyptian al-Jihad.
Both of these groups were have been active in terrorism over the past decade.
(see Attacks of al-Gama’a
al-Islamiyya and al-Jihad). |
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History
Osama bin Ladin entered on his current path of holy warrior in 1979, the
year Soviet troops invaded Afghanistan. He transfered his business to Afghanistan--including
several hundred loyal workmen and heavy construction tools--and set out
to liberate the land from the infidel invader. Recognizing at once that
the Afghans were lacking both infrastructure and manpower to fight a protracted
conflict, he set about solving both problems at once. The first step was
to set up an organized program of conscription. Together with Palestinian
Muslim Brotherhood leader Abdallah Azzam, he organized a recruiting office--Maktab
al-Khidamat (MAK - Services Office).
MAK advertised all over the Arab world for young Muslims to come fight
in Afghanistan and set up branch recruiting offices all over the world,
including in the U.S. and Europe. Bin Ladin paid for the transportation
of the new recurits to Afghanistan, and set up facilities to train them.
The Afghan government donated land and resources, while bin Ladin brought
in experts from all over the world on guerilla warfare, sabotage, and covert
operations. Within a little over a year he had thousands of volunteers
in training in his private bootcamps. It is estimated that as many as 10,000
fighters received training and combat experience in Afghanistan, with only
a fraction coming from the native Afghan population. Nearly half of the
fighting force came from bin Ladin's native Saudi Arabia. Others came from
Algeria (roughly 3,000), from Egypt (2,000), with thousands more coming
from other Muslim countries such as Yemen, Pakistan and the Sudan.
Superpower vs. superpower
The war in Afghanistan was the stage for one of the last major stand-offs
between the two superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union. The
Americans at that time had the same goals as bin Ladin’s mujahedin--the
ousting of Soviet troops from Afghanistan. In what was hailed at the time
as one of its most successful covert operations, America’s Central Intelligence
Agency launched a $500 million-per-year campaign to arm and train the impoverished
and outgunned mujahedin guerrillas to fight the Soviet Union. The most
promising guerilla leaders were sought out and “sponsored” by the CIA.
U.S. official sources are understandably vague on the question of whether
Osama bin Ladin was one of the CIA’s “chosen” at that time. Bin Ladin’s
group was one of seven main mujahedin factions. It is estimated that a
significant quantity of high tech American weapons, including “stinger”
anti-aircraft missiles, made their way into his arsenal. The majority of
them are reported to be still there.
The Mujahedin were wildly successful. In ten years of savage fighting
they vanquished the Soviet Union. What had begun as a fragmented army of
tribal warriors ended up a well-organized and equipped modern army--one
capable of beating a super power. The departing Soviet troops left behind
an Afghanistan with a huge arsenal of sophisticated weapons and thousands
of seasoned Islamic warriors from a variety of countries.
The Afghan Veterans
Some of these veterans returned to their own countries and got on with
their lives. Others returned to their own countries steeped in Islamic
fundamentalism and a will to topple “western-influenced, infidel governments”
in favor of Islamic regimes. They used the knowledge gleaned in the Afghan
war to set up guerilla and terror cells. In Egypt and Algeria, the “Afghan
Veterans,” as they came to be called, aided Islamic extremists in their
fight against the secular governments. In most Arab countries, the veterans
were not at all welcome, and the governments kept a close eye on their
doings. However, in some countries the Afghan veterans were accorded a
warm welcome. Such was the case in Sudan, where the government gave them
jobs, helped them to set up training camps, and appointed some of them
to government posts.
In addition to these facilities established in “friendly” Arab countries,
the majority of the mujahedin training camps in Afghanistan continued to
operate, supplying Islamic mercenaries to conflicts in a number of countries.
Afghanistan was still seen as the hearth-stone of the mujahedin, from whence
trained fighters could be sent out to fight wherever they were needed.
Mujahedin veterans began showing up in Islamic struggles in such places
as Somalia, Bosnia, Kosovo, and Chechnya.
A state unto himself
Toward the end of the war in Afghanistan, bin Ladin split with MAK co-founder
Azzam in the late 1980s, and in 1988 formed al-Qaida to continue the work
of the Jihad. While Azzam continued to focus on support to Muslims in Afghanistan, bin Ladin turned his attention to carrying the war to other countries. In late 1989 Abdallah Azzam died in the explosion of a car
bomb, generally blamed on a rival Afghani faction. Several rumours circulating
at the time blamed bin Ladin himself for the attack.
After the victory in Afghanistan, Osama bin Ladin returned to his native Saudi Arabia to take
up the fight against the infidel government there. The Saudis were not
disposed to tolerate his calls to insurrection, and quickly acted against
him. In April 1994, his Saudi citizenship was revoked for “irresponsible
behavior,” and he was expelled from the country. Together with his family
and a large band of followers, Bin Ladin moved to Khartoum in Sudan. There
he set up factories and farms, some of which were established solely for
the purpose of supplying jobs to out-of-work mujahedin. He built roads
and infrastructure for the Sudanese government and training camps for the
Afghan Veterans. Among bin Ladin’s numerous Sudanese commercial interests
are: a factory to process goat skins, a construction company, a bank, a
sunflower plantation, and an import-export operation.
His construction company “el-Hijrah for Construction and Development
Ltd.”--in partnership with the National Islamic Front and the Sudanese
military--built the new airport at Port Sudan, as well as a 1200 km-long
highway linking Khartoum to Port Sudan.
Another company reputed to be owned by bin Ladin is the “Wadi al-Aqiq”
Company, an export-import firm. He also runs the Taba Investment
Company Ltd. and the “el-Shamal Islamic Bank” in Khartoum, a joint effort
with the NIF, in which bin Ladin is said to have invested $50
million.
For many years, bin Ladin lived in Khartoum, in a residence guarded
by the local security forces, while he was arranging for many of the “Afghan
veterans” to move to Sudan. Bin Ladin is said to be close to Sudanese
leader Omar Albashir, and to Hassan Turabi, the head of the National Islamic
Front (NIF) in Sudan.
However, Sudan--long on the U.S. State Department’s list of state sponsors
of terrorism--in recent years began to thaw toward the West. As a gesture
toward the United States, the Sudanese government requested that bin Ladin
depart. In May 1996, he moved to Afghanistan, leaving behind him in Sudan
a network of Afghan Veterans and several successful factories and corporations.
Several major companies in Sudan are linked to him, and are believed to
be doing double-duty as logistics support for bin Ladin’s network.
The Islamic Front for the struggle against the Jews and the Crusaders
In February 1998, bin Ladin announced the formation of an umbrella
organization called “The Islamic World Front for the struggle against the
Jews and the Crusaders” (Al-Jabhah al-Islamiyyah al-`Alamiyyah li-Qital
al-Yahud wal-Salibiyyin) Among the members of this organization are
the Egyptian al-Gama’a al-Islamiyya
and the Egyptian al-Jihad.
Both of these groups were have been active in terrorism over the past decade.
(see Attacks of al-Gama’a
al-Islamiyya and al-Jihad).
The founder members of the Front include, besides bin Ladin; Dr. Ayman
al- Zawahiri, leader of the Egyptian Jihad; Rifa'i Ahmad Taha, a
leader of the Islamic Group. The Islamic Group is linked with the al-Dir
al-Bahri massacre in Luxor in November 1997,which claimed the lives of
58 tourists; and some leaders of extremist fundamentalist movements in
Pakistan.
On May 28, 1998 the Islamabad daily, The News reported that Osama
bin Ladin had announced the formation of an International Islamic Front
for Jihad against America and Israel. Talking to a group of journalists
who had traveled from Pakistan to meet him at his base in Khost in southern
Afghanistan, he said leaders of Islamic movements in several countries,
including Pakistan had evinced interest in joining the front. He stated
that Dr Aiman Al-Zawahiri, leader of the Jamaat-ul-Jihad in Egypt
who was present at the time, had played a crucial role in launching the
front.
Bin Ladin justified the formation of the anti-American and anti-Israeli
front by arguing that Muslims everywhere in the world were suffering at
the hands of the U.S. and Israel. He said the Muslims must wage holy war
against their real enemies not only to rid themselves of unpopular regimes
backed by the Americans and Israelis but also protect their faith. When
a reporter maintained that bin Ladin and his colleagues could not possibly
take on the world's onlsuperpower, bin Ladin contended that the US was
vulnerable and could be defeated in war. This would happen in the same
way as the USSR suffered humiliation at the hands of the Afghan and Arab
“mujahideen” in Afghanistan and was eventually dismembered
On 14 May 1998, The London Al-Quds al-'Arabi published an article
to the effect that clerics in Afghanistan had issued a fatwa stipulating
the necessity to move U.S. forces out of the Gulf region. Addressing Muslims
the world-over, the Afghan ulema said: “The enemies of Islam are not limited
to a certain group or party; all atheists are enemies of Islam, and they
take one another as friends.” The Afghan ulema declared “jihad --
based on the rules of the Shari'ah -- against the United States and its
followers.” They urged Islamic governments to perform the duty of “armed
jihad
against the enemies of Islam,” pointing out that “if Muslims are lax in
their responsibility, the enemies of Islam will occupy the two holy mosques
as well, just as they occupied the al- Aqsa Mosque.” They stressed, in
a statement attached to the fatwa, that: “This fatwa--with
the evidence and the rulings issued by early and current ulema, on which
it is based--is not merely a fatwa issued by the ulema of a Muslim
country, but rather a religious fatwa that every Muslim should adopt
and work under.”
There are probably a few hundred Arab volunteers still living in Afghanistan.
They are the leftovers of the several thousand Arabs who came to Afghanistan
via Pakistan in the 1980s to take part in the “jihad” against the
USSR's Red Army and the Afghan communists. Those left behind have nowhere
else to go because they risk being caught should they venture to return
home. No other country would be willing to accept them. In any case, present-day
Afghanistan continues to be their safest hideaway. The ones who have returned
to their countries have mostly joined the political and military struggle
aimed at bringing an Islamic change there. Known as Arab-Afghans, these
battle-hardened Islamists have come to be known as the most radical and
dangerous of the fighters who have taken up arms against the Algerian and
Egyptian governments.
The Paris al-Watan al-'Arabi estimated on 26 June 1998, that
“the fact that bin-Ladin has shown up again in the press clearly indicates
his emergence as a leader of the revolutionary council that was eventually
established.” According to the newspaper, a Dutch official who closely
follows developments in the new Islamic Front, in cooperation with European
organs, believes that relations were actually reorganized among the organizations--which
used to cooperate and coordinate with each other on the organizational
and logistical levels--on a new basis that gives an organizational working
configuration to past relations. This is a new and important development.
According to the Dutch official, this confirms the seriousness of this
event, which requires larger and more accurate coordination between the
European and U.S. authorities. It also calls for cooperation by some of
the Middle Eastern authorities.
The organizations whose membership in the Islamic Front was announced
are the Egyptian Jihad, the Egyptian Armed Group, the Pakistan Scholars
Society, the Partisans Movement in Kashmir, the Jihad Movement in
Bangladesh, and the Afghan military wing of the “Advice and Reform” commission
led by Osama bin Ladin. All these organizations once cooperated and coordinated
with one another, but without any specific configuration or mechanism for
such cooperation. Moreover, each of these organizations had freedom of
action, and they determined their own objectives independently. Cooperation
among these organizations was only at the level of “those who carry arms,”
which is one of the organizational levels of each organization. There were
no means of cooperation and coordination among “the people of the call,”
another of the organizational levels. This is due to the fact that Afghanistan
enhanced relations among the “carriers of arms” and created a kind of interpersonal
cohesion.
According to this evaluation, the threat posed by this new front is
due to the fact that it combines all the organizational levels, by establishing
a shura [consultative] council. According to most assessments, this council
is led by Osama Bin Ladin. This increases the front's effectiveness. It
can be said that the Islamic Front has now moved from the constituent and
organizational phase to the operational phase.
Ideology and Strategy
Al-Qaida is a network of many different fundamentalist organizations in
diverse countries. The common factor in all these groups is the use
of terrorism for the attainment of their political goals, and an agenda
whose main priority is the overthrow of the “heretic governments” in their
respective countries and the establishment of Islamic governments based
on the rule of “Shariah.”
Much of the driving philosophy behind al-Qaida was no doubt formed during
the Afghan war of 79-89. Al-Qaida's leader, Osama bin Ladin came to see
that conflict in the light of "Muslim believers vs. heretics." In his view,
the term, "heretics" embraces the "pragmatic" Arab regimes (including his
homeland, Saudi Arabia), and the United States, which he sees as taking
over the Muslim holy sites of Mecca and Medina, and assisting the Jews
in their conquest of Palestine. Throughout bin Ladin’s public statements
and declarations runs one fundamental and predominant strategic goal: the
expulsion of the American presence, military and civilian, from Saudi Arabia
and the whole Gulf region.
According to the “Declaration of War against the Americans Occupying
the Land of the Two Holy Places,”
“the latest and the greatest of [the] aggressions, incurred
by the Muslims since the death of the Prophet . . .is the occupation of
the land of the two Holy Places - the foundation of the house of Islam,
the place of therevelation, the source of the message and the place of
the noble Ka'ba, the Qiblah of all Muslims - by the armies of the American
Crusaders and their allies.”
The declaration is presented as the first step in “correcting what
had happened to the Islamic world in general, and the Land of the two Holy
Places in particular. . . Today . . . the sons of the two Holy Places,
have begun their Jihad in the cause of Allah, to expel the occupying enemy
out of the country of the two Holy places.”
In an interview with Nida’ul Islam several months later bin Ladin
details the work that has been done in this direction:
“There were important effects to the two explosions in Riyadh on both
the internal and external aspects. Most important amongst these is the
awareness of the people to the significance of the American occupation
of the country of the two sacred mosques, and that the original decrees
of the regime are a reflection of the wishes of the American occupiers.
So the people became aware that their main problems were caused by the
American occupiers and their puppets in the Saudi regime.”
However, these terrorist attacks had a larger strategic importance, as
bin Ladin reveals in the same interview:
“. . . these missions also paved the way for the raising of the voices
of opposition against the American occupation from within the ruling family
and the armed forces; in fact we can say that the remaining Gulf countries
have been effected to the same degree, and that the voices of opposition
to the American occupation have begun to be heard at the level of the ruling
families and the governments of the . . . Gulf countries.”
Bin Ladin sees the new Islamic Front as the vehicle that will eventually
vanguish the American enemy:
“The movement is driving fast and light forward. And I am sure of
our victory with Allah’s help against America and the Jews. . . After the
Americans entered the Holy Land, many emotions were roused in the Muslim
world, more than we have seen before. . .The co-operation is expanding
between general supporters of this religion. From this effort, the International
Islamic Front for the Jihad Against Jews and Crusaders was formed, which
we are a member of with other groups.”
Terrorist Activity
Bin Ladin's name has come up in connection with a number of terror attacks
around the world, among them the attacks in Riyadh (November 95) and Dhahran
(June 96), that left about 30 people dead. It is doubtful whether he had
any direct connection with these two attacks. He is also implicated in
the attacks on a Yeminite hotel (December 92) that injured several tourists;
the assassination attempt on Egyptian president Mubarak in Ethiopia (June
95); the World Trade Center bombing (February 93) that killed 3 and injured
hundreds; and the Somali attack on American forces that left hundreds wounded.
The following list of American grievances against bin Ladin and his
network was taken from a U.S. State Department Fact Sheet:
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Bin Ladin's followers conspired to kill US servicemen in Yemen who were
on their way to participate in the humanitarian mission "Operation Restore
Hope" in Somalia in 1992, and plotted the deaths of American and other
peacekeepers in Somalia who were there to deliver food to starving Muslim
people.
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Bin Ladin's network assisted Egyptian terrorists who tried to assassinate
Egyptian President Mubarak in 1995 and who have killed dozens of tourists
in Egypt in recent years.
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The Egyptian Islamic Jihad, one of the key groups in the network, conducted
a car bombing against the Egyptian embassy in Pakistan in 1995 that killed
over 20 Egyptians and Pakistanis.
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Members of bin Ladin's network plotted to blow up US airliners in the Pacific
and separately conspired to kill the Pope.
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His followers bombed a joint US and Saudi military training mission in
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in 1995.
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Bin Ladin's network has publicly and repeatedly articulated a clear and
violent anti-US agenda:
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In August 1996, bin Ladin issued a "declaration of war" against the United
States.
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In February 1998, bin Ladin stated "If someone can kill an American soldier,
it is better than wasting time on other matters."
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In February 1998, the bin Ladin network's World Islamic Front for Jihad
Against the Jews and Crusaders declared its intention to attack Americans
and our allies, including civilians, anywhere in the world.
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In May 1998, bin Ladin stated at a press conference in Afghanistan that
we would see the results of his threats "in a few
weeks."
Although Osama bin Ladin is suspected of involvement in a whole
string of terrorist attacks on American targets, it’s interesting to note
that no one was able to produce incontrovertible proof that his hand was
the one on the trigger. At least this was the case until the August 7th
bombing of the American embassies in Nairobi and Dar-es-Salaam. The breakthrough
in proving bin Ladin's role in that attack came on August 15th,
1998 when Mohammed Sadiq Odeh was arrested at Karachi International Airport
in Pakistan. Odeh’s description of bin Ladin’s international network--and
his role in the bombing of the American embassies--finally brought conclusive
evidence of the extent of bin Ladin's activities. This provided the
opportunity for the U.S. to put into play a whole stable of electronic
eavesdropping measures from U.S. spy satellites and ground-based facilities.
The U.S. had been trying for some time to “get connected” to bin Ladin’s
network. The East Africa bombings provided them with the opportunity. Reportedly,
the U.S. had intercepted communications linking bin Ladin to the bombings
within a few days after they occurred, something that was impossible to
attain in connection with previous attacks.
On August 20, 1998, the U.S. military struck a number of facilities
associated with bin Ladin's network. The targets included six training
camps belonging to al-Qaida and a pharmaceuticals factory in Sudan which
the intelligence sources suspected of producing components of chemical
weapons. The American administration has since admitted that the attack
on the factory was a mistake.
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Al-Qa'ida (the Base) - Articles
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Is There an Islamist Internationale?
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Reuven Paz
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Full Text
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Suicide Terrorist Operations in Chechnya
An Escalation of the Islamist Struggle
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Reuven Paz
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Full Text
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Palestinian Participation in the Global Islamist
Network
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Reuven Paz
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Full Text
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Y2K and the Apocalypse: The Potential for Terrorism
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Yael Shahar
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Full Text
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Osama bin Ladin and the Egyptian Terrorist Groups
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Yoram Schweitzer
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Full Text
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Harkat-ul-Mujahideen - An Update
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B. Raman
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Full Text
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Bin Ladin vs. the West:
Round Two
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Yoram Schweitzer
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Full Text
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Will Operation Desert Fox Generate a Wave
of Terrorism against the U.S. and Britain?
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Ely Karmon
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Full Text
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Bin Ladin is out to get America!
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Ely Karmon
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Full Text
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Is There an “Islamic Terrorism”?
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Reuven Paz
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Full Text
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Responding to Terrorism--the American Dilemma
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Yoram Schweitzer
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Full Text
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The American Strikes in Afghanistan and Sudan
Syria and Lebanon Respond
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Dr. Reuven Erlich
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Full Text
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Osama bin Ladin: Marketing Terrorism
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Yael Shahar
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Full Text
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Osama Bin Ladin: Wealth plus Extremism Equals Terrorism
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Yoram Schweitzer
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Full Text
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Fundamentalist
Islam at Large:
The Drive for Power
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Martin Kramer
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Full Text
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Al-Qa'ida (the Base) - Documents
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Statement by the President on the Imposition of Sanctions against the Taliban
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Office of the Press Secretary
(Clarksdale, Mississippi)
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Full Text
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Executive Order Blocking Property and Prohibiting Transactions
with the Taliban
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Office of the Press Secretary
(Clarksdale, Mississippi)
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Full Text
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CRIMINAL DOCKET FOR CASE #: 98-CR-1023-ALLUSA v. Hage, et al
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Proceedings against Wadih al-Hage
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Full Text
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Clinton's Letter to Congress on Freezing of bin Ladin Assets
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Text of letter from President Clinton to the leaders of Congress
explaining why he ordered the freezing of all assets controlled by
or affiliated with terrorist chieftain Usama bin Ladin.
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Full Text
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Links to Relevant Articles & Documents
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