HOT SPOTS Terrorism and Threat Background Brief DATE SGT Carnes, Primary Instructor SPC Newman, Secondary Instructor HUMAN INTELLIGENCE PLATOON, B COMPANY,

HOT SPOTS

Terrorism and Threat Background Brief

DATE

SGT Carnes, Primary Instructor

SPC Newman, Secondary Instructor

HUMAN INTELLIGENCE PLATOON,

B COMPANY, 311TH MI BN

TASK: Familiarize soldiers who are assuming DRB on the world threats and areas to which they can deploy.

CONDITIONS: Given a Power Point Presentation in a classroom environment.

STANDARDS: Soldiers will be able to recognize the areas that are a threat to American security and the places to which they can deploy.



OUTLINE:• Basic facts about Islam and Arabs

• Al Qaeda and Osama Bin Ladin

• Hot Spot Countries

• Summary



BASIC FACTS ABOUT ISLAM AND ARABS

• Not all Arabs are terrorists or are Muslim extremists.

• Not all Arabs are Muslims.

• Most Muslims live outside the Middle East.

• Islam is a peaceful religion. It advocates war (what the west thinks of as “jihad”) only in cases of self-defense and against a country that does not allow Islam.

• Islam is a “continuation of Christianity.” It considers Jesus to be a prophet and Muhammad to be the messenger of al Quran.

• Islam is split into two major sects: Shiite (Iran, south Iraq, Lebanon) and Sunni (the rest of Muslims). Their differences are relatively minor.

• Terrorist groups use Islam as an excuse to wage war. They are not true Muslims.



WAR ON TERRORISMAll current threats to the US are linked to terrorism. The umbrella group for terrorist groups against the United States is Al Qaeda.

Al Qaeda began in 1988 as a safe house in Pakistan for Arabs mujahdin (holy) fighters, who were also supported by the Americans, in the war in the Soviet-Afgan War (1979-1988). After the war, the safe house and training camps in Afghanistan continued and expanded.

During the Gulf War Al Qaeda offered their service to Saudi Arabia to protect it against an Iraqi attack. The Saudi kingdom instead turned to the Americans.

It was this point that Al Qaeda and its leader turned against the US.



OSAMA BIN LADENThe head of Al Qaeda is Osama bin Laden. He started Al Qaeda in 1988 only as support to the Afghans. His primary role in the war was financial and construction support. After the US “invaded” Saudi Arabia during the Gulf War did he organize Al Qaeda into a terrorist organization against the US.

He was stripped of his Saudi citizenship in 1994 and expelled from the Sudan in 1996. He now lives in Afghanistan.

In 1996 he declared war on the US and in 1998 organized the World Islamic Front for Jihad Against Jews and Crusaders.

He is the spiritual leader and role model of Muslim extremists.



AL QAEDABin Laden’s terrorist organization is Al Qaeda. It is a group of terrorist organizations around the world, including the Middle East, Asia, and Europe.

Its goal is a unified Muslim state without the presence of Americans or Westerners and instituting Islamic law. It supports violent acts and terrorism.

It supports Muslims in Kosovo, Bosnia, Chechnya, the Middle East, and

Southeast Asia. Al Qaeda has cells around the world, including most of Europe and the US.



ACTS OF AL QAEDAAl Qaeda has committed or suspected of committing various acts against the US and West to include:

• Arming and participating in the Somali operations against the US (1993)

• Bombing of the World Trade Center (1993)

• Assassination attempt of Egyptian President Mubarak in the Sudan (1995)

• Bombing of US personnel in Khobar Towers, Saudi Arabia (1996)

• Assassination attempt of the Pope and President Clinton, both in the Phillipines, and plotting to blow up US airliners in the Pacific

• Bombing of the US embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (1998)

• Bombing of the USS Cole at Aden, Yemen (2000)

• Bombing of the WTC and Pentagon (2001)



COUNTRIES IN WHICH AL QAEDA OPERATE





AFGHANISTAN



AFGHANISTAN Afghanistan is a country of resilient, multi-ethnic mountain people. They have stopped two British and one Soviet invasions. They have had a

monarchy, republic, and an Islamic government. These changes in government have resulted from bloody coups.

Afghanistan has been suffering from 23 years of continuous war. In 1979 the Soviet Union invaded in order to save the Marxist government. The US, though the CIA, supported the Muslim mujahideen (many, including bin Laden, were Arabs). The mujahideen won, and the Soviets withdrew in February 1989.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-120101cluster5_gniw5rke.photo



AFGHANISTANThe US after the war stopped supporting the mujahideen, and civil war began in 1989. The mujahideen felt abandoned, and the Arab “Afghans” began turning their efforts against the US through terrorist groups. As a result, al Qaeda was created.

In the early 1990s an Islamic fundamentalist group called the Taliban. This group was formed from the Pashtuns around Kandahar. Their goal was making an Islamic state based around Shir’a. In 1996 the Taliban gained control of Kabul and had, before October 2001, control of 90% of Afghanistan. Their leader is mullah Muhammad Omar.

The Northern Alliance, an opposition group in the north, controlled 10%. They are an alliance of Uzbek and Tadjik fighters. Their main goal is destroying the Taliban.



AFGHANISTAN The Taliban allowed Afghanistan to be used as a base for al Qaeda and invited bin Laden to stay as a guest there. The US and the West has demanded the Taliban to give him and his group up, but they remained defiant.

On 9 September the Taliban assassinated the Northern Alliance leader Ahmad Shah Massoud. Two days later, 9/11 occurred.

Beginning in October 2001, the US began air strikes against the Taliban and destroyed the Taliban infrastructure. Now an interim government, led by Pashtun fighter Hamed Karzai, leads Afghanistan until elections occur. There is still a danger of civil war in Afghanistan.

http://www.afghan-info.com/Politics/Massoud/AhmadShahMassoud_Page.htm

PAKISTANPakistan has been the gateway for terrorists into Pakistan. While the US did not officially recognize Pakistan as a terrorist-sponsoring country, it did support the mujahideen during the Soviet-Afghan war and after the war when the mujahideen turned their focus toward terrorism.

The ISI, Inter Service Intelligence, is the agency that supports terrorism. They give weapons to and train the rebels in Kashmir, a disputed region between northern Pakistan and India. The group is called the Harakat al-Mujahideen.



PAKISTANDuring the 1990s the Pakistani government supported the Taliban and was only one of three countries to recognize them. This is partially due to the large Pashtun minority there. Pakistan has allowed the Taliban to run training camps in Pakistan and use them as an ISB.

After 9/11 the government has taken a new stance against the Taliban. The president General Pervez Musharraf has been giving full support to the US with use of its air bases and air space for the war on Afghanistan. Musharraf also is calling for a scaling back of the ISI, though that may be

difficult due to the fact that even he may not know the extent of this agency.



http://www.getpakistan.com/home/celebrity/celeb_mush.htm

IRANIran is a primary supporter of terrorism. It is a Shiite Muslim country and supports Shiite groups, including in southern Iraq and Hizbollah in Lebanon. It traditionally has been at war with the Sunni Islamic majority, but since the Gulf War Iran has been cooperating with Sunni movements, including the Taliban before 1998 and al Qaeda.

The executive branch of the Iranian government, led by President Mohammad Khatami, is moder- ate and has been trying to implement some reforms. The Islamic courts, however, are conservative and block any reforms. Since the Islamic Revolution of 1979, led by Khomeni, Iran has been very anti-US and anti-Israel and has been using terrorism to spread its views.



IRANThe Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps is the government agency that handles terrorist activity. Its goal is to protect and spread the Islamic Revolution to the rest of the world, partially through terrorism.

Iran has been giving support of both weapons and money to terrorist

organizations. Recently Israel intercepted a boat with a shipment of weapons to the

Palestineans.

Iran is an active force behind al Qaeda. While it states that it has nothing to do with

al Qaeda, Iran is supporting them with money, weapons, and possibly as refugees.



IRAQ



IRAQSince Saddam Hussein came into power in 1979, Iraq has almost constantly at war. The Iran-Iraq War (1980-8), which ended in a draw, devastated its economy. The Gulf War (1991) after Iraq invaded Kuwait in August 1990, the UN-imposed sanctions have destroyed the rest of the economy.

The Iraqi government—which is a socialist Arab government, not an Islamic one—has been persecuting both the Kurds in the north and the Shiite Muslim minority in the south.



IRAQThe military, though severely weakened after the Gulf War, is still one of the strongest in the Middle East. The military is split into two parts, the Republican Guard and the Regular Army. Most of the Republican Guard remained intact after the Gulf War. The government rules the country through the military and the police.

Iraq has been producing weapons of mass destruction (WMD). They have chemical and biological weapons and have been trying to build nuclear. During the Iran-Iraq War, WMD may have been used.



IRAQIraq refuses the UN to send weapons inspection teams into Iraq. On the occasions when they did allow UN teams, the government simply moved WMD around from site to site and did not allow surprise inspections.

Iraq supports terrorists through training camps and intelligence. While they do not support Iran’s efforts or terrorist groups because they are Muslims, the government uses terrorist groups to destroy the US and the West.

Unlike Afghanistan, there is no large organized opposition. The Iraqi National Congress, a coalition of Kurds and Shiites, is extremely weak inside Iraq. The only reason they still exist is the no-fly zones in Iraq.



GULF STATESSix countries in the Persian Gulf area—Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, UAE, and Oman—are oil-rich, conservative Arab Muslim states. A seventh, Yemen, has little oil and suffers from poverty.

The governments of these nations are very conservative kingdoms or sheikdoms

(nations that are ruled by a sheik).

While all of these governments do not support terrorism, two (Saudi Arabia and UAE), recognized the Taliban in Afghanistan.



http://www.kingfahdbinabdulaziz.com/jpghi/f140.jpg

GULF STATESMany of the Al Qaeda members come from the Gulf States. Half of all the prisoners in Camp X Ray, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, are Saudi citizens.

Many countries did harbor terrorists, especially Yemen. Since November 2001 Yemen started cracking down Al Qaeda members.

All of these countries support the war on terrorism, but Saudi Arabia and others have stated that they will not allow US forces on their land for an attack on another Arab country.



http://www.guardian.co.uk/Guardian/gallery/image/0,8543,-10304339670,00.html

PALESTINE and ISRAELPalestinean extremist groups fighting in the West Bank and Gaza Strip of Israel are funded by either Iran directly or Al Qaeda. These groups goal is the overthrow of Israel and institution of a Palestinean state consisting of all Isreali lands for 4.5 million Palestineans living in Israel or a refugee camp.

HAMAS is a Palestinean group working mainly in the West Bank and Gaza. It has a military wing and a recruitment and charity wing. The charity wing is funded by Al Qaeda. It is a serious challenge to Yassir Arafat and the PLO.

Hezbollah is a Palestinean Shiite Muslim group working out of Lebanon. It is funded by Iran. It is a powerful cultural force in Lebanon, and it commits terrorist acts against Israel.



EGYPTThe government of Egypt has been very anti-terrorist, but many terrorist groups against the government groups work there, especially in southern Egypt.

Al-Gama’ al-Islamiyya is Egypt’s largest militant organization. Its goal is violent means of overthrowing the government and instituting an Islamic government. They massacred foreign tourists in Luxor in 1997. There spiritual leader is Sheik Omar Adudal Rahman, the head of the WTC bombings in 1993.

Al Jihad is another Muslim extremist group in Egypt. The head is Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri, who is now chief of operations for Al Qaeda. Al Jihad now is a wing of Al Qaeda and supports international terrorism.



SUDANThe Sudan is a terrorist-supporting country in Africa between Egypt and Somalia. There is a civil war between the Muslim Arab north and the black, pagan south. The Sudan is extremely poor, and most of its economy is based on foreign and private aid, especially from rich extremist Arabs.

Since the Soviet-Afghan war, the Sudan has been harboring Arab mujahadeen and in the 1990s al Qaeda. Sudan allowed bin Laden to live there from 1994 to 1996, and bin Laden with his family’s construction company improved the Sudan’s infrastructure. Most of this construction was aimed at improving the government’s war fighting capabilities.



SOMALIASomalia is another haven for terrorists. It, like the Sudan, is extremely poor, but it also has no functioning government. It is ruled by warlords, and they restrict humanitarian aid to the seven million staving Somalis.

The warlords have been housing al Qaeda since the early 1990s, and al Qaeda fighters fought against the UN humanitarian forces, including American Task Force Ranger, in 1993.

Al Qaeda has been using Somalia as a staging base for wars in the Sudan and Ethopia as well as terrorist acts such as the embassy bombings in 1998. There are also numerous terrorist training camps there.



SOUTHEAST ASIAMany countries in southeast Asia, including Indonesia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, and the Philippines, are Muslim countries.

These governments support a crackdown on Al Qaeda-supported groups, which are

working in southeast Asia.

In Sri Lanka the Liberation Tigers of Tamale Elam is an Al Qaeda guerilla group is

targeting the country’s infrastructure. The group is causing severe poverty in Sri Lanka.

In the Philippines, Abu Sayyaf is a Al Qaeda group in the southern Philippines. Their goal is to set up a Muslim government. They are very violent and have killed Western missionaries.



OTHER AREASAl Qaeda supported Muslims during the wars in Bosnia-Hercegovina and Kosovo. Now many former mujahideen are married to Bosnians or Albanians and live in Europe. Some still may be active members in Al Qaeda.

All over the world there are active and inactive cells of Al Qaeda, including most of the major cities in Europe, the United States, and Canada.

Most of these cells work in logistics and planning, conducting reconnaissance missions of future targets.



http://islamic-world.net/youth/pic/shaheed2.jpg

SUMMARYAny of these groups or governments that support terrorism can attack the US or US interests at any time.

President Bush called for an end to terrorism by destroying al Qaeda and the groups it supports. This includes freezing bank accounts in the West, using CIA and special operations, and possibly the use of regular military troops.

Until al Qaeda is destroyed in each of these countries, the US and the West is not safe. Many countries are doing there part.

The governments that do continue to support al Qaeda will be subject to US intervention in their country.



QUESTIONS?



Documents

HOT SPOTS Terrorism and Threat Background Brief DATE SGT Carnes, Primary Instructor SPC Newman, Secondary Instructor HUMAN INTELLIGENCE PLATOON, B COMPANY,