Lecture 6 international terrorism

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AA Flight 11UA Flight 175
International
Terrorism

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International Terrorism
The Power of Ideas:
Propaganda, Strategic Communications
and the War against Salafi Jihad
 Pope Gregory XV's Congregation for Propagation of the Faith
(Congregatio de Propaganda Fide)
 Propaganda: non-violent activities aimed at a specific audience with
the intent of altering attitudes and, or behavior.
 Imagery to clearly influence a given population
 Shalmaneser III's (859-824BC) Black Obelisk
o Inscriptions in the royal palace of Ninevah -describes punishment
meted out by Assurnasirpal II against the rebellious people of Suru:
“I built a pillar over against the city gate, and I flayed all the chief men who had
revolted, and covered the pillar with their skins; some I walled up within the pillar,
some I impaled upon the pillar on stakes, and others I bound to stakes round about the
pillar; many within the border of my own land I flayed, and I spread their skins upon
the walls; and I cut of the limbs of the officers, of the royal officers who had rebelled.
Ahiababa [the rebel leader] I took to Ninevah, I flayed him, spread his skin upon the
wall of Ninevah.”

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 Western origins of Propaganda:
 Homer's - The Illiad; sequel The Odyssey
 Gaius Julius Caesar (100 B.C. - 44 B.C.)
o Commentarii de Bello Gallico:
• Win support for an unpopular war and justify expansion into
new territories
o Commentarii de Bello Civili: Explain why Caesar had to fight his
friend Pompey and “rebellious” senators in interests of the whole of
Rome
 Gutenberg Press and mass production of religious texts;
 Key tools in Protestant Reformation by Martin Luther (1517)
The Power of Ideas…

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 Russian Anarchists:
 Rebirth in the late 19th and early 20th century
 Relied heavily on intangibles, non-violent expressions of propaganda
 Leverage a positive cultural legacy and give power to the concept of an
inevitable alliance between the historic rural challenger and the masses
 State-on-State Political Warfare
 Reliance on ideas by Marx & Engels, meant the success of the USSR
was strongly connected to mobilize the masses through Propaganda of
the Deed (Carlo Pisacane, 1818–57).
 Propaganda associated with governments.
o Hitler's Mein Kampf
o Mao's ‘Little Red Book’
o USSR and the CIA-funded Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty

 Propaganda as the Preserve of the Terrorist
 Provisional IRA (PIRA):
o Successful in its political warfare undermining British sovereignty
o PM Margaret Thatcher attempted to legally prevent media
broadcasting any message from Sinn Fein
Gerry Adams: “Not to Irish interests but in the interests of foreign and native
capitalists or in military and strategic interests of a British government and its
superpower allies.”
 Strong anti-capitalist element of PIRA propaganda
 Easter Rising of 1916
o Failed insurrection used repeatedly to justify violence and portray
resistance to British as struggle for independence and reunification
o UK forces in Northern Ireland could only be met with force. This
was how to justify the deaths of 700 civilians, 1,100 security forces5

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 Baader-Meinhof Gang (RAF)
 Failed to understand the dynamic that separated
Terrorism as a method of action: Terror for terror's sake:
o Predicted by Lenin as an infatuation with violence whereby it
becomes the “chief and basic means of struggle.”
 Political violence as logic of action:
o Groups able to mobilize mass base of support (Michel Wierviorka)
 Marx: Violence was an organic part of the revolution
 Violent terrorist acts could precipitate the revolution and damage
done to the existing unjust system was enough to justify killing
 Sources of Al Qaeda’s Propaganda
 Al-Qaeda: Not created by UBL simply on the foundations of the Arab
Mujahedeen movement
o Decades of ideological evolution starting with Muslim Brotherhood
o Ibn Taymiyyah (1263-1328)

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 Sayyid Qutb:
 Born 1906 - civil servant- Egypt Ministry of Education
 Milestones: World is heretical and needs to be forcibly cleansed by Islam
 Islam is not to be understood as just a religion
 Turning point: United States as an exchange scholar from 1948 to 1950
 Reframed Islam as divinely ordained political movement that must cleanse
the world of current state of jahiliyyah (a state of pagan disbelief).
 Mohammed’s mission was to remove jahiliyyah, lack of knowledge of
the oneness of God, from the Arabia peninsula
 Qutb: 20th century Islam suffers from jahiliyyah
 True Muslims: Remove jahiliyyah from Middle East and worldwide
o West culturally and politically invading the Middle East
o Global Jihad: Not man-made construct but one divinely-framed

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 Concepts of Qutb’s books:
 Global social justice as possible only through Islam:
o “Liberate” mankind from political systems run by humans
o Democracy cannot be Sharia-compliant
• A rejection of Quranic law and Allah’s absolute sovereignty
Qutb: Islam is a divine liberation to be realized through jihad
 Quran - a guidebook, manual for life. Manifesto written by God
o “We [Muslims] cannot be loyal to a society that suffers from
Jahiliyya or paganism. ”
o “No political system of earthly power should hinder Islam”
o If anyone prevents Islamic proselytization that individual must be
killed or submit to the will of Allah
• Obstructing proselytization is understood by Qutb and Jihadist
as initial aggressive act, which justifies “defensive” jihad

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 Abdullah Azzam, The Defense of Muslim Lands
 Street Cred:
o PhD from Al Azhar University in Islamic Law
o One of few credentialed to make theological justifications for jihad
o After Soviets invasion 1979, Azzam traveled world recruiting
people to fight – made Jihad an international “brand”
 Afghan Service Bureau (MAK), which UBL turns into al-Qaeda
 The Defense of Muslim Lands, approved by Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia
 Why did Islam as an empire fall from greatness?
o Muslims: Strayed from true Islam and this is Allah’s recompense
o Unsuccessful as long as they remain untrue
o Must return to the true path, must return to the essence of Islam
 Azzam defines Jihad as a devotional act which is obligatory
 Need not have a Muslim head-of-state give you permission to fight
 Jihad’s an individual obligation - fard ayn

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 Ayman al-Zawahiri
 Qualified surgeon
 Member of Muslim Brotherhood
 Founding member of Egyptian Islamic Jihad.
o Paternal grandfather was imam of the Al-Azhar mosque in Cairo
o Maternal grandfather was President of Cairo University and
Egyptian Ambassador to Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen
o Grandfather’s brother was first Secretary General of Arab League
 Book Knights Under the Prophet’s Banner,
 Democracy’s the new enemy and Jihad is tool to realize Islamic State
o Marriage of convenience between organization that was Salafist
and parochially Jihadist fighting the Near Enemy – and an
organizational al-Qaeda, that was Wahhabist and is about the
Far Enemy - Global Jihad.

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 Knights Under the Prophet’s Banner:
 Key concepts of his seminal work
o Human beings cannot be sovereign
o Sovereignty is Allah’s alone, ergo democracy must be destroyed
o Democracy is a pagan religion - It is a form of Jahiliyya
o Line between internal and external enemies is an illusion
o Battle for Islam must go global - all Muslims must engage
o Muslims must all unite the flag of the last true prophet
o Rulers who defy Islam must be exposed and all Muslims must be
held responsible for defending Islam
o Without a Caliphate or Muslim super-state there cannot be victory
“In our means, methods, and resources we must combine patience with
infliction of mass casualties and the best method to do this is suicide attacks.”
….. “This confrontation with Islam’s enemies must be to the last drop of blood.”
~ Zawahiri

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 Brigadier S.K. Malik,
 1979 wrote: The Quranic Concept of Power
o “The purpose of war in Islam is to serve God’s divine purpose.
Jihad is waged to establish Allah’s supremacy.”
o General Zia Haq: “All Muslims must play a role in jihad, which is
a collective responsibility of the whole Muslim Ummah”
 Only book authored by a Muslim that deals with war at strategic level,
which combines military theory with divine theological explanation
o Advocates terror as a weapon willed by God
o Center-of-gravity is the soul of our infidel enemy
o Enemy’s faith is the main target and the best tool ordained by
Allah to destroy our enemy’s soul is terror
o Destroying faith of the enemy is object of war, and Jihad is the tool

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 Clausewitz’s dictum: “War is a continuation of politics
by other means.”
 Malik: “War is an activity aimed at the human heart, at man’s soul,
at his spirit, at his faith.”
 Islam is perpetually at war and peace is simply the preparation for war
 If our enemy is aiming at our faith system, at our souls, it is a de facto holy
war on our side as well because that is what the enemy has chosen to destroy
Propaganda Forgotten: Attacking al Qaeda effectively
 9/11 Commission: “The United States has to help defeat an ideology,
not just a group of people.”
 Sun Tsu: The ultimate form of victory is to win without using force,
to bend the will of your opponent without having to physically fight him

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Transnational Terrorism
 State of the World:
a. Bush/Obama: Transnational terrorism poses an
existential threat to the security of the U.S.
b. Transnational terrorism does not pose a security threat and
that it should be treated as a crime
1. Total number of attacks has declined / numbers are low
2. Domestic groups have carried out almost all the attacks
3. Fatalities from terrorist attacks have been very low except for 9/11
 Why is success of ISIS treated as a security threat rather than a
humanitarian concern?
 Could American leaders redeploy assets – military, economic, and
rhetorical- toward other policy objectives?

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Transnational Terrorism
 Reasons why we’ve taken that position:
1. Black swans
a. High improbability
b. High impact
c. Explicable only after the event
2. Potential destruction: Level of destruction could approximate war
 WMD ( biological) weapons is becoming more widespread
3. Human beings are not rational thinkers
a. Daniel Khaneman
i. Type 1 - Emotive, intuitive, non-reflective
ii. Type 2 - Rational and calculating.
 Evidence suggests the American government is devoting too many
resources to counterterrorist activities
 Kinetic attacks against Islamic Jihadist organization have increased
number of individuals willing to join jihadist organizations

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 Terrorism: Defined as politically motivated violence, directed
against non-combatant or symbolic targets and designed to communicate a
message to a broader audience.
 Critical feature: Deliberate targeting of innocents in an effort to convey a
message to another party
US perception of terrorism:
 Financial support for a group may influence but not control over its activities
 Pre-End of Cold War terrorism;
o Bipolar structure of the international system lent itself to the sponsorship
of terrorism
o War too dangerous and must fight competition via proxy wars
Global Rebels: Terrorist Organizations
As Trans-National Actors

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 Five Degrees of Separation:
 Terror-sponsor relationships
1. State control is complete-murder of dissidents
2. Recruitment and training of operatives specifically for an overseas
mission
• Murder of dissidents-a strategy of illegal state repression rather than
state-sponsored terrorism
3. Government closely controls and directs the actions of a terrorist group.
(e.g. Saiqa Palestinian Group, PFLP-GC - Sponsored by Syria; HQ in
Damascus)
4. Government provides training, funds, and safe haven for an autonomous
terrorist group -exaggeration of influence
5. Actions of terrorist movement serve the ends of a sponsoring state

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 Exporting Revolution:
 Iran sponsored terrorism is directed MORE at Gulf States then Western states.
o Supports Shia opposition groups in the Gulf states
o Middle Eastern terrorism exclusively targets the West is misplaced
o Interests always prevail!
Terrorist Networks:
 As movements coalesce and form linkages to operate together & have an
independent impact on state policy, they are indeed trans-national actors.
1. A shared ideology
2. A shared enemy
3. Shared training facilities
 “It is clear that States often support foreign groups with similar interests.”

Religious
International
Terrorism
AA Flight 77

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 Religious extremist groups in the Islamic world are deeply
divided along ideological and sectarian lines
 Stereo-typing of Islam as a monolithic religion predisposed toward
violence do not do justice to fact most Muslims are peaceful (irrelevant)
 Stereotypes also fail to take into account the multifaceted complexity
of those Islamic groups that choose violence as a political strategy
 Most Important underlying cause of terrorism is:
 Humiliation and repression by authoritarian governments.
 Absence of accountable governments in the Muslim World is indirectly
related to disputes over contested territory
Islamic Extremists: How Do They
Mobilize Support?

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 Uneducated “foot soldiers” and better-educated elite operatives
 Four additional factors:
1. Access to weapons
2. Mastery of the art of public relations
3. Access to intelligence sources
4. Development of counter-intelligence techniques
 New Islamists generally are protagonists of political Islam, they seek
to transform politics through religion and religion through politics
 Old Islamists, were willing to enjoy, at a minimum, peaceful
existence with secular politics; new Islamists ..NOT
 Wish to transform both the state and civil society in the image of what
they believe can be a truly Islamic order
 Rely heavily on Mass Media to mobilize support!
Mobilize Support?

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 Seek to capture civil society institutions, such as education
institutions and media to eventually capture the state
o Emotional incentives
o Lower class people become famous, financial rewards
o Iranian, rich Lebanese and other Shia families greatest source of funds
for Hezbollah
 Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) and Hamas are active in schools and
mosques providing social services to the poor, yet don’t invest in full
time religious training of children
 Remain fundamentally nationalistic and focus on struggle against
Israel (religion is more of a garb then guide to action)
 Decline of Ijtihad – evolving interpretation of the Quran:
 Leading to rigid and narrow interpretations of religious precepts
Mobilize Support?

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“ISIS: Saudi-Qatari-Funded
Wahhabi Terrorists Worldwide”
 Invasion of Iraq in 2003 and invasion of Libya in 2011 served to bring
together thousands of Islamic terrorists from as many as 50 countries
 Funded and indoctrinated by Saudis, Qataris, and Kuwaitis, with the
“kill them all” Wahhabi Salafi vision of Islam
 Fighters that might be affiliated with ISIS varies from 10,000- 17,000
 Center of evil is London (aka “Londonistan”) as a center for incubating
international terrorists.
 Wahhabi-Salafi Caliphate
 Similar to the Saudi funded - Pakistan trained mujahiideen in 1980’s
Terrorism & Religion

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“ISIS: Saudi-Qatari...”
 A regional threat and is primarily directed against Iran
 Promoters of anti-Shi’a ideology
o Saudi Monarchy
o Qatari monarchy under al-Thanis
o Kuwaiti monarchy under the al-Sahahs
 Consider Shi’as as heretics who should be annihilated to purify Islam
 Muhammad (Ibn) Abd Al-Wahhab: Scholar and jurist in 18th century who
insisted on adherence to Quranic values and teachings of the word of God
as revealed to the Prophet Muhammad
1744: Muhammad ibn Saud and Muhammad ibn Abd al Wahhab swore a
traditional Muslim oath to work together to establish a state according
to Islamic principles

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1802: Wahhabis captured Karbala in Iraq, and destroyed
tomb of Shiite Imam Husayn
1803: Wahhabis captured holy city of Mecca.
 1811: Ottoman Turks became alarmed dispatch Muhammad Ali
(Ottoman Ruler of Egypt) to challenge the Wahhabis – and won!
1901: With Wahhabi help Saudi emir abd al-Aziz al Saud recapture Riyadh
 Became official kingdom in 1932
 Freudian term: Narcissism of small differences between ISIS and Saudi
version of Islam
 Beheading of Kafirs acts of both ISIS and al-Qaeda under UBL
 A beneficiary of Saudi money and wide ranging gulf support

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Other countries listed as sources of militant money:
 Qatar
 Kuwait
 United Arab Emirates
Saudi money (to ISIS) and to train terrorists
 Russia’s Chechnya, Dagestan, North Ossetia, Ingushetia
 Pakistan along the Afghanistan an Pakistan borders
 Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan belt in Central Asia
 Europe, particularly in Britain’s Londonistan
Tower Hamlets in East London: Were Shia hating radical Saudi cleric and head
Imam of Mecca, Sheikh Abdel al-Kalbani met local council leaders in 2008
(Mayor of the Tower Hamlets, Luftur Rahamn)
 More British Muslims fighting Syria than n in the U.K. armed forces

AQ Affiliate
Muhammad Jamal
Group
Boko Haram
Ansar al Sharia Tunisia
AQAP
MILF
East Turkestan
Islamic
Movement
Islamic Jihad Union
Islamic Movement of
Uzbekistan
Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan
Haqqani Network
Lashkar –e-Taiba
Afghan Taliban
Other Groups
(JEM, HUJI, HUM, etc
Abu Sayyaf
Jamal Is lamia
AQ Central
AQ Ally
AQIM
Caucasus Emirates
Jabhat al- Nusrah
AQ Central
Ansar al-Din
Al-Mua’qi’oon Biddam
(who sign with blood)
Ansar al-Sharia Libya
Al Shabaab
Former Management Council
Ansar al Islam
AQI

LIBYA
NIGERIA
KENYA
SOMALIA
YEMEN
Diabaly
MALI
EGYPTALGERIA PAKISTAN
AFGHANISTAN
TUNISIA
El Kef
Raqqa
ISRAEL
IRAQ
Batna
HasakahAzazTizi Ouzou
Sana
SYRIA
Bouira DernaKasserine
Khost
Benghazi
Fallujah
Ouargla
RawalpindiGhadamis
Ramadi
Sabha
Ghat
Tamanrasset Karachi
ArlitMAURITANIA
Konna
ArgadezNouakchott Timbuktu
Niamey
SUDAN
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/26/sunday-review/the-franchising-of-al-qaeda.html?_r=0

Khorasan
“land where the sun rises”
Muhsin al-Fadhli

Q & A
“War is successfully waged only when there is a synergy among the government, the
military and the will of the people… Woe to the government, which relying on half-
hearted politics and a shackled military policy, meets a foe who, like the untamed
elements, knows no law other than his own power.”
~ Carl von Clausewitz
Q & A

AQAP
East Turkestan
Islamic
Movement
Islamic Jihad
Union
Islamic
Movement of
Uzbekistan
Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan
Haqqani Network
Lashkar –e-Taiba
Afghan Taliban
Other Groups
(JEM, HUJI, HUM, etc
Caucasus Emirates
AQ Central
Former Management Council
Ansar al
Islam
AQI
Jabhat al-
Nusrah
Al Shabaab

Lecture 6 international terrorism

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Lecture 6 international terrorism