Al-Qaeda

Al-Qaeda ({{lang-ar|???????}}, al-Q??idah; "the foundation" or "the base") is the name given to an international Islamic fundamentalist campaign comprised of independent and collaborative cells that all profess the same cause of reducing outside influence upon Islamic affairs. Though al-Qaeda is philosophically heterogeneous, prominent members of the movement are considered to have Salafi beliefs. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8524679

Political revolt or structured terrorist organization: unknown

Some organizational specialists have said that Al Qaeda's network structure, as opposed to a hierarchical structure is its primary strength. The decentralized structure enables Al Qaeda to have a worldwide distributed base while retaining a relatively small core. While an estimated 100,000 Islamist militants are said to have received instruction in Al Qaeda camps since its inception, the group is believed to retain only a small number of militants under direct orders. Estimates seldom peg its manpower higher than 20,000 world wide.

Related Topics:
Network - Hierarchical structure

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For its most complex operations (such as the 9/11 attacks on the US) all participants, planning and funding are believed to have been directly provided by the core Al Qaeda organisation. But in many attacks around the world where there appears to be an Al Qaeda connection, its precise role has been less easy to define. Rather then handling these operations from conception to delivery, Al Qaeda often appears to act as an international financial and logistical support-network, channelling income obtained from a network of fundraising activities to provide training capital and coordination for local radical groups. In many cases it is these local groups, only loosely affiliated to core Al Qaeda, which actually undertake the attacks.

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The 2002 Bali bombing and subsequent bombing of the Marriott Hotel in Jakarta in 2003 provide some insight into Al Qaeda's decentralized method of operations: the attacks showed far greater coordination and effectiveness than might historically have been expected from regional terrorist networks. But police investigations and subsequent trials showed that while Al Qaeda was believed to have provided expertise and coordination, much of the planning and all the personnel who undertook the attacks came from local radical Islamist groups.

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Al Qaeda has been known to establish and foster new groups to further the radical Islamic interest in local conflicts. Indeed the Taliban might be deemed to fall into this category, the roots of the organisation formed from radicalised students from the Bin-Laden funded medressas of the Afghan refugee camps at the time of the Russian occupation.

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