Andrew Hagen

Al Qaeda has taken responsibility for the Kenya attacks. (*) Al Qaeda has almost never made an admission of guilt before. Perhaps they were worried that their group would get overlooked, or perhaps they are operating under new, different guidelines, set by, perhaps, new leadership. Even if its leader has received the just desserts of an untimely death, however, the Enemy obviously remains a ferocious opponent.

The London Times speculates that in targeting Israelis on non-Arab soil, Al Qaeda may be attempting to increase its credibility among Muslims and Arabs. (†) That sounds right. This is some vindication for my long-held view that the foremost goal in the Enemy leader’s mind in plotting the 9/11 attacks was to start a world war between the West and the Muslims. What the Enemy fails to realize is, however, is that Islam is not the one-dimensional, groupthink entity that they would like it to be. There is a struggle ongoing for the soul of Islam. As free press, free communications, the Internet, and free speech penetrate the full extent of the Islamic world, that struggle will be waged not on military grounds, but on argumentative ones; and an argument is one thing that Al Qaeda simply cannot win. (‡)

The recent manifesto of Al Qaeda, attributed to Osama Bin Laden, is not in his writing style. Instead, it is written in outline form, with numerically designated points. (§) It may have been inked by Al Zawahiri, Bin Laden’s deputy, who was a physician until he turned to a life of terroristic evil. (**) The manifesto is utterly contradictory. First, it claims that terrorist attacks on the US are justified on the basis of fighting oppression. Second, the US must become completely Islamic immediately or more terrorist strikes will be launched. The notion that a forced religious conversion would be oppressive seems to elude the author.

Last modified: 10 December 2002. Changed abbreviations “AQ” to “Al Qaeda.” I plan to standardize my usage upon the latter form.

This entry was posted on Monday, December 2nd, 2002 at 23:45 and is filed under Global War on Terrorism. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.