To understand al-Qaeda, one must read the books of Ayman Al-Zawahiri, al-Qaeda's principal ideologue and chief strategic thinker. After Osama bin-Laden, Al-Zawahiri is the most-wanted Middle Eastern terrorist. The FBI has a $25 million reward for information leading to his capture or arrest.
In 2001, Al-Zawahiri published Knights under the Prophet's Banner (Fursan Taht Rayah Al-Nabi) even as the empire he built with Bin-Laden, and Taliban leader Mullah Omar crumbled under the weight of U.S. air, special operations forces, as well as the Northern Alliance assaults. (1) Initially serialized in the Al-Sharq Al-Awsat newspaper in 12 installments beginning in early December 2001, Knights under the Prophet's Banner can now be found in the back alleys of any major Arab city. (2) The word "knights" in the title refers to the members of the jihadist movement while evoking the image of the knights of the crusades.
The book begins with Al-Zawahiri saying: "I have written this book ... to fulfill the duty entrusted to me towards our generation and future generations. Perhaps I will be unable to write afterwards in the midst of these circumstances and changing conditions." According to Al-Zawahiri, the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks were just an opening salvo against the Christian and Jewish "infidels."
Al-Zawahiri sees the United States, Israel, and Israel's Western and Arab allies as the "first force" and Islamic militant movements that depend on God alone the "second force." He believes the United States is removing Islam from power through rigged elections, brutality, and force. He views treaties, peace negotiations, and bans on weapons as steps in the direct occupation of Muslim land by U.S. forces. To Al-Zawahiri, jihad is an ideological struggle for survival--a war with no truce. He believes the Islamic jihadist movement should strike Islam's enemies, using the Luxor incident of 1997 as the means and as an example) He supports the growth of jihad among youths and numbers his success in the tens of thousands of young men in Arab prisons around the Middle East.
Al-Zawahiri says the jihad has not stopped, and the movement is either attacking or preparing an attack. He asserts Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's replacement of six interior ministers is proof of jihadist success. He also says acts of violence, beginning with the Egyptian Islamic jihad attack on the Military Technical College in 1974 and the agitation in Southern Egypt of the early 1980s, were poorly planned, emphasizing that deriving lessons from mistakes and improving the potency of jihadic operations should be hallmarks of Islamic militant movements.
From a U.S. military force-protection perspective, Part Seven of Al-Zawahiri's book reveals that the 1999 joint U.S.-Arab military exercise, Bright Star, was designed to keep fundamentalists from seizing political power, equating the exercise to the Napoleonic invasion of Egypt in 1798. (4) He claims the timing of Bright star was not an accident; it was timed to observe the 200th anniversary of the French occupation of Egypt. To him, U.S. troop commitments are evidence of a victory for jihad forces. He combines his interpretation of Islam, Egyptian history, and news reports on U.S.-Egyptian military exercises to weave his own conspiratorial web to encourage youth to embrace his political objectives through violence and terror.
Al-Zawahiri dreams of a future jihad in the southern Russian Republics, Iran, Turkey, and Pakistan to unite a nuclear Pakistan and the gas-rich Caspian region to serve jihad. Al-Zawahiri identifies the following targets for al-Qaeda and its affiliates:
* The United Nations.
* Arab rulers.
* Multinational corporations.
* The Internet.
* International news and satellite media.
* International relief organizations, which he believes are covers for spying, proselytizing, attempted coups, and weapons transfers.
Al-Zawahiri urges Islamic militants to take matters into their own hands: "Tracking down Americans and Jews is not impossible. Killing them with a single bullet, stab, or a device made up of an explosive mix or hitting them with an iron rod is not impossible. [S]mall groups could [prove to] be a horror against Americans and Jews." These words bring to mind the actions of Beltway Snipers John Allen Muhammad and Lee Malvo, who killed 10 people in the Washington, D.C., area in a 2002 shooting spree. Mir Amal Kansi was another famous lone-jihadist, who killed two CIA agents in 1993. Kansi was caught in 1997 by the FBI in Pakistan and extradited to the United States.
Al-Zawahiri urges his followers to inflict maximum casualties in the West, advocates a cost-benefit assessment of martyrdom operations, urges attacks on the enemy's power structure, and advocates patience, planning, and maximum damage to cause mass disruption. Although he is not specific about targets, one can deduce he means banks, transportation links, and energy refineries.
The Al-Zawahiri and Bin-Laden tapes that appear on Al-Jazirah television cannot be fully understood without first reading Al-Zawahiri's book. Creating a serious psychological operations campaign without delving into his book would be difficult.
Egyptian Islamic Jihad became so unpopular in Egypt in the late 1990s that Al-Zawahiri developed the strategy of striking the enemy (the United States) afar instead of near (Arab governments). Refuting Al-Zawahiri's theories and selective use of Islamic history is critical to the ideological fight against al-Qaeda.
For further study of Al-Zawahiri, I recommend The Road to al-Qaeda: The Story of Bin Laden "s Right Hand Man by Islamist lawyer and former radical Montassser el-Zayat, who spent time in prison with Al-Zawahiri and is now highly critical of Al-Zawahiri's actions. (5) This book, which is the best English translation of a critical analysis of Al-Zawahiri's theories, takes readers inside the mind of a geostrategic Islamic militant. The book is from El-Zayyat's original, Al-Al-Zawahiri Kama Araftuh (Al-Zawahiri as 1 knew him). (6)
These books represent the new frontier in military studies. Books by Islamic militants contain valuable tips for those involved in force protection, counterterrorism, and counterinsurgency tactics.
NOTES
(1.) Ayman Al-Zawahiri, Fursan Taht Rayah Al-Nabi (Knights under the Prophet's Banner) (Casablanca, Morocco: Dar-al-Najaah Al-Jadeedah, 2001).
(2.) I prepared this review essay by collecting the 11 installments of the Al-Sharq Al-Awsat in Arabic that first appeared in December 2001. The translation represents my understanding of the material. Any errors or omissions are my own.
(3.) In November 1997, the Egyptian Islamic extremist group al-Gama'at al-Islamiyya (Islamic Group or IlG) staged a brutal attack that left 58 tourists and 4 Egytians dead. The attack, which occurred at Hatshepsut's Temple in Luxor, became the worst attack on tourists in Egypt's history. See U.S. Department of State Publication 10535, Patterns of Global Terrorism (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1997), on-line at , accessed 21 December, 2004.
(4.) Egyptian military forces and members of the U.S. Central Command's Army, Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps, and special operations components participated in the 1999 Exercise Bright Star, a joint/combined training exercise in Egypt. Military forces from a dozen nations, including France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Jordan, Kuwait, Spain, and the United Kingdom, participated in the exercise (Department of Defense News Release 485-01, 3 October 2001).
(5.) Montassser el-Zayat, The Road to al-Qaeda: The Story of Bin Laden's Right Hand Man (Stealing, VA: Pluto Press, 2004).
(6.) Zayyat, Al-Al-Zawahiri Kama Araftuh (Al-Zawahiri as I knew him) (Cairo: Dar Misr Al-Mahrusa, 2002).
Lieutenant Commander Youssef Aboul-Enein. U.S. Navy, is a Medical Service Corps and Middle East-North Africa Foreign Area Officer. He received a B.B.A. from the University of Mississippi, an M.B.A. and M.H.S.A from the University of Arkansas, and an M.S. from the Joint Military Intelligence College. He is the Director for North Africa and Egypt and Special Advisor on Islamic militancy at the Office of the Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs.
donderdag 3 januari 2008
maandag 30 april 2007
Serial Killers and Society
The nineteen-seventies was an incredible decade. It was a
decade of change, one of freedom, a time for great music. It was also
an incredible decade for shock, fear and serial killers. John Wayne
Gacy, an amateur clown, was a pedophiliac homosexual. He tortured and
killed thirty three little boys and stored their remains under his
house. David Berkowitz, a.k.a. the Son of Sam, stalked New York City
from nineteen-sixty-seven to nineteen-seventy-seven. He claimed to
have been following a voice from his dog that told him when and where
to kill. Ted Bundy, who is believed to have killed at least
thirty-four people, was charged for only three under his own defense-
and in fact, he was commended by the judge for his own defense. He was
put to death.
With the combination of a very powerful media and a society
fascinated with gruesome, sadistic crimes, modern serial killers have
been put in the spotlight. We are enraptured with serial killers so
much, that we pay seven dollars to go see a movie where everyone
except the bad guys gets strangled, mutilated, or shot- and enjoy it
in some sick way. The media goes out of its way to glamorize murder
and terrify the public. We support killers like Charles Manson on
Death Row with our tax dollars. In fact, we support them with more
than that. About two months ago there was an art show in California
entitled: The Death Row Art Show III. Pieces sold for thousands of
dollars regardless of their aesthetic appeal, because of the identity
of the artists. Serial killers are becoming as popular as rock stars.
Serial killers are a development of the industrial world; they
really didn't "come about" until the late eighteen-hundreds when
society was becoming modernized and the threat of the new age sort of
displaced some individuals so much they felt they had to kill to get
their point across to society. Jack the Ripper is probably the most
notorious killer in history because he established the serial killer
profile. Ripper set up a pattern for the new line of mass murderers
who would follow in the tradition of a truly organized killer. He had
a sexual obsession with prostitutes that led him to target complete
strangers for a days work. When he was done, he laid his victim out in
a ritualistic manner with various disemboweled items placed
strategically on or around the victim's corpse.
Of course, murder has been around for centuries, committed by
under-educated thieves. No one was interested in meeting, and hearing
about a poor peasant that slit someones throat in a dark alley. But
ever since the introduction of serial killers into our society, with
their precision and strategy of the murder, the media became
fascinated with these people, and so did society. So instead of
killing or punishing these horrible people, we now have television
networks arguing over movie rights to the killers story. News shows
fighting to get the "exclusive interview". T-shirts with the killers
faces on them(e.g.. the famous "Manson T-shirt"). The only explanation
I can offer is that we are still obsessed with our own mortality, and
we always will be. As long as we die, we'll be fascinated by those who
seem to be invincible from death like, serial killers, Hitler...its
almost as is we like to see the act of death itself, over and over, to
observe the exact moment- or what it is that puts us over that
incredible brink between life and death.
I can honestly say I am fascinated with the serial killer. But
since when did we condone the practice of serial killers? Why aren't
they put to death promptly after being convicted, instead of being
kept alive for the media to interview? You have to wonder who is
making money in this. When we allow people like this to dominate our
media, it's like we're saying its all right to murder. Did society and
the media forget that the victims of those serial killers are us and
our families? Its not the serial killers that affected the twentieth
century so much, but the spotlight that allowed them to grow.
Maybe if not for all the attention, there wouldn't of been so
many deaths. There are so many maybes, so many problems. But it all
comes down to one thing, basically, money. The media will do just
about anything for money. When are they going to learn that they have
been corrupting the minds and souls of observers everywhere?
---
Works Cited
Yofee, Ellen B. "Here Pigs!" Gear October 1995: 10-12
The editors of Time Life Books Serial Killers. Alexandria, Virginia:
Time Life Books, 1992.
The nineteen-seventies was an incredible decade. It was a
decade of change, one of freedom, a time for great music. It was also
an incredible decade for shock, fear and serial killers. John Wayne
Gacy, an amateur clown, was a pedophiliac homosexual. He tortured and
killed thirty three little boys and stored their remains under his
house. David Berkowitz, a.k.a. the Son of Sam, stalked New York City
from nineteen-sixty-seven to nineteen-seventy-seven. He claimed to
have been following a voice from his dog that told him when and where
to kill. Ted Bundy, who is believed to have killed at least
thirty-four people, was charged for only three under his own defense-
and in fact, he was commended by the judge for his own defense. He was
put to death.
With the combination of a very powerful media and a society
fascinated with gruesome, sadistic crimes, modern serial killers have
been put in the spotlight. We are enraptured with serial killers so
much, that we pay seven dollars to go see a movie where everyone
except the bad guys gets strangled, mutilated, or shot- and enjoy it
in some sick way. The media goes out of its way to glamorize murder
and terrify the public. We support killers like Charles Manson on
Death Row with our tax dollars. In fact, we support them with more
than that. About two months ago there was an art show in California
entitled: The Death Row Art Show III. Pieces sold for thousands of
dollars regardless of their aesthetic appeal, because of the identity
of the artists. Serial killers are becoming as popular as rock stars.
Serial killers are a development of the industrial world; they
really didn't "come about" until the late eighteen-hundreds when
society was becoming modernized and the threat of the new age sort of
displaced some individuals so much they felt they had to kill to get
their point across to society. Jack the Ripper is probably the most
notorious killer in history because he established the serial killer
profile. Ripper set up a pattern for the new line of mass murderers
who would follow in the tradition of a truly organized killer. He had
a sexual obsession with prostitutes that led him to target complete
strangers for a days work. When he was done, he laid his victim out in
a ritualistic manner with various disemboweled items placed
strategically on or around the victim's corpse.
Of course, murder has been around for centuries, committed by
under-educated thieves. No one was interested in meeting, and hearing
about a poor peasant that slit someones throat in a dark alley. But
ever since the introduction of serial killers into our society, with
their precision and strategy of the murder, the media became
fascinated with these people, and so did society. So instead of
killing or punishing these horrible people, we now have television
networks arguing over movie rights to the killers story. News shows
fighting to get the "exclusive interview". T-shirts with the killers
faces on them(e.g.. the famous "Manson T-shirt"). The only explanation
I can offer is that we are still obsessed with our own mortality, and
we always will be. As long as we die, we'll be fascinated by those who
seem to be invincible from death like, serial killers, Hitler...its
almost as is we like to see the act of death itself, over and over, to
observe the exact moment- or what it is that puts us over that
incredible brink between life and death.
I can honestly say I am fascinated with the serial killer. But
since when did we condone the practice of serial killers? Why aren't
they put to death promptly after being convicted, instead of being
kept alive for the media to interview? You have to wonder who is
making money in this. When we allow people like this to dominate our
media, it's like we're saying its all right to murder. Did society and
the media forget that the victims of those serial killers are us and
our families? Its not the serial killers that affected the twentieth
century so much, but the spotlight that allowed them to grow.
Maybe if not for all the attention, there wouldn't of been so
many deaths. There are so many maybes, so many problems. But it all
comes down to one thing, basically, money. The media will do just
about anything for money. When are they going to learn that they have
been corrupting the minds and souls of observers everywhere?
---
Works Cited
Yofee, Ellen B. "Here Pigs!" Gear October 1995: 10-12
The editors of Time Life Books Serial Killers. Alexandria, Virginia:
Time Life Books, 1992.
suicide
Contemplating Suicide
Dreaming of a wasteland with no one there, but only me.
No more emotions to struggle in the future.
A bridge is so cruel
Water is cold
A building too tall
I’m afraid of it all.
What changes people their life.
Is it the blood, or the knife.
Sometimes everything goes well.
And some days, Life is just a tormenting hell.
Dreaming to fall asleep for eternity
I just want to be.
Dreaming of a nightly scene where I can sit by the pond.
Stars glittering like pearls on the water.
The surface lit by the reflection of dim moonlight
It must be a pretty sight.
Wanting to be one with the sea.
Why am I doubting to flee.
Smoking the last cigarette, Ashes falling to the floor.
One sigh.
I’ve had enough.
Bury my inner core.
I don’t want no more.
Water is pouring down.
Soaring like silver bullets trough the sky.
Where is the truth and where is the demise.
Silent raindrops explode in a silver crown.
--------------------------------
Written on 09/12/2004
Gunther V. (Alastor)
Dreaming of a wasteland with no one there, but only me.
No more emotions to struggle in the future.
A bridge is so cruel
Water is cold
A building too tall
I’m afraid of it all.
What changes people their life.
Is it the blood, or the knife.
Sometimes everything goes well.
And some days, Life is just a tormenting hell.
Dreaming to fall asleep for eternity
I just want to be.
Dreaming of a nightly scene where I can sit by the pond.
Stars glittering like pearls on the water.
The surface lit by the reflection of dim moonlight
It must be a pretty sight.
Wanting to be one with the sea.
Why am I doubting to flee.
Smoking the last cigarette, Ashes falling to the floor.
One sigh.
I’ve had enough.
Bury my inner core.
I don’t want no more.
Water is pouring down.
Soaring like silver bullets trough the sky.
Where is the truth and where is the demise.
Silent raindrops explode in a silver crown.
--------------------------------
Written on 09/12/2004
Gunther V. (Alastor)
...
Jouw Ogen
Ze brachten me in een wereld,
waar fantasie groter was dan werkelijkheid
jouw ogen
ze keken me aan en zegden iets
maar ik begreep ze niet
jouw ogen
ze deden me stotteren en vergeten
wat ik tegen je zeggen wou
jouw ogen
ze gaven me dat speciale gevoel
en zegden iets,maar wat?
ze straalden en lachten naar me.
ik......ik lachte terug.
Ze brachten me in een wereld,
waar fantasie groter was dan werkelijkheid
jouw ogen
ze keken me aan en zegden iets
maar ik begreep ze niet
jouw ogen
ze deden me stotteren en vergeten
wat ik tegen je zeggen wou
jouw ogen
ze gaven me dat speciale gevoel
en zegden iets,maar wat?
ze straalden en lachten naar me.
ik......ik lachte terug.
friend
Ik sluit me af van de buitenwereld
mijn gevoelens sluit ik af
geen traan laat ik in het openbaar
mijn hoofd gonst
mijn tranen prikkelen mijn ooghoeken
toch hou ik me sterk
maar niet sterk genoeg
mijn glimlach verdwijnt
mijn hart bloedt
mijn gevoelens sluit ik op
mijn leven wordt leeg en eenzaam
zonder jou
als vriend.
mijn gevoelens sluit ik af
geen traan laat ik in het openbaar
mijn hoofd gonst
mijn tranen prikkelen mijn ooghoeken
toch hou ik me sterk
maar niet sterk genoeg
mijn glimlach verdwijnt
mijn hart bloedt
mijn gevoelens sluit ik op
mijn leven wordt leeg en eenzaam
zonder jou
als vriend.
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