Modern History of al-Qaeda and Terrorism against the USA

1979-Present

What is al-Qaeda?

• Al Qaeda is a stateless (meaning without a country) terrorist organization.

• It is led and financed by Osama bin Laden, a radical Shi’a Muslim.

When did al-Qaeda form?

• The beginnings of al-Qaeda go back to 1979 when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan.

• 1979 was during the Cold War, a time when the USA was a rival to the Soviet Union. The USA wanted to help Afghans fight the Soviets.

• The CIA sent stinger missiles to Afghans to shoot down Soviet helicopters.

Bin Laden in Afghanistan• Son of a wealthy Saudi

Arabian family, Osama bin Laden made lots of like-minded friends.

• He learned that scantily-armed Muslims could defeat a powerful Christian army

• The Soviet army left in 1988.

Bin Laden moves to Sudan

• Bin Laden and his friends, feeling powerful, wanted to set up a base for future jihads. A jihad is a Muslim word for holy war, usually against Christians. He stays in Sudan about 5 years. Note: Most Muslims don’t feel that jihads are about car bombs and plane hijackings.

• In 1983, during the presidency of Ronald Regan, a terrorist group bombed a Marine barracks in Lebanon. Reagan did not retaliate. 283 killed.

Desert Storm (Gulf War I)

• In 1990, Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein invaded the tiny, oil-rich country of Kuwait. Kuwait owed Iraq money, so Hussein wanted to secure Kuwaiti oil fields.

Operation Desert Storm

• The United States imports oil from Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. If Saddam Hussein wanted to, he could take his army into Saudi Arabia and seize their oil fields too.

Iraqi tanks

US and Saudi coalition

• The United States asked the Saudis for permission to establish military bases in their country. The Saudis have a tough choice to make. Do they allow a Christian army into the holiest country of Islam? Can the Saudis themselves stop Saddam Hussein?

Saudi’s choice• Osama bin Laden was back home from Afghanistan.

He offered the Saudis the use of his soldiers to fight the Iraqi army because once America establishes a base, they won’t leave. Christian armies have no place in the land of Islam according to bin Laden.

Saudis chose the USA and snubbed bin Laden.• President George H.W. Bush liberates Kuwait and pushes the

Iraqi army back into Iraq.

Bin Laden

• Osama bin Laden overtly criticizes the Saudi government. Saudi Arabia banishes him; his family disowns him (officially).

• Bin Laden leaves Saudi Arabia for Sudan to further build al Qaeda.

USA in Somalia

• Dec. 4, 1992, George H.W. Bush sends 28,000 American troops to Somalia.

• Bush wanted to help the Somali people since all attempts to send food to them were intercepted by war lords.

Black Hawk Down!

• In 1993, 18 Americans died when their Black Hawk helicopter was shot down over Mogadishu, Somalia.

al Qaeda?

• We think al Qaeda operatives taught the Somalians how to shoot down helicopters just like they did in Afghanistan against the Soviets.

Iraqi terrorism

• In 1993, agents working with the full support of Saddam Hussein tried to kill former President George H.W. Bush.

• President Clinton responded by destroying their intelligence center.

World Trade Center bombing

• 9-11 was not the first terrorist attack on the WTC. In 1993, a man rented a Ryder truck and detonated a large bomb in one of the towers hoping to knock it over onto the other tower.

Ramzi Yousef• He was a planner of the WTC

bombing. He was a member/leader of al Qaeda.

• Yousef stated, "Yes, I am a terrorist, and proud of it as long as it is against the U.S. government."

• Speaks 7 languages and has college degrees in engineering and chemistry.

• Currently serving a life sentence.

1993 WTC bombing

It killed 6 people and injured over 1000.

1995 Oklahoma City bombing

• Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols detonated a large truck bomb at the Murrah federal building in Oklahoma City.

Oklahoma City

• 168 people died and many more were injured, including children in the day care on the bottom floor.

Conspiracy theorists will love this!

• Terry Nichols, Ramzi Yousef, and 9-11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Muhammad were in the Philippine city of Cebu on the same days. Is there a connection?

• According to Richard Clarke, the main counter-terrorism czar for Clinton and GW Bush, Nichols’s bombs worked only after he returned from the Philippines Khalid Sheik MuhhamadTerry Nichols

1996 car bombing of Khobar Towers

• The Khobar Towers provided housing for American military stationed in Saudi Arabia. 19 Americans were killed and hundreds injured. Look familiar?

Fatwa

• In August of 1998, Osama bin Laden and 4 of his close associates sign and distribute a statement declaring “it is the individual duty for every Muslim who can do it” to kill Americans.

Kenyan embassy bombings• Two American embassies in

Kenya and Tanzania were bombed simultaneously in 1998. 220 people were killed.

Clinton responds.

• President Clinton, risking “Wag the Dog” criticism during the Lewinsky scandal, decided to attack al Qaeda in response.

US attacks al Qaeda training camps in Sudan and Afghanistan with Tomahawk missiles. Camps

were destroyed. Osama lives.

US responds. with Tomahawk missiles

Tomahawk missile.

Millennium Attacks Foiled!

• Jordanian police halted 4 bombings that were to happen January 1, 2000. 16 al Qaeda members were arrested.

• Four al Qaeda terrorists were arrested after one tried to cross the Canadian border with nitroglycerin in his spare tire. They set out to bomb LA International Airport.

• In Yemen, a boat with explosives tried to bomb a navy ship but sank due to being overloaded!

USS Cole attack Oct. 2000• In Yemen, Al

Qaeda operatives sent a suicide bomber aboard a small ship near the USS Cole and detonated its bomb, blowing a large hole in the US Navy ship. 17 sailors killed.

Where is Sudan and Yemen?

September 11, 2001

• Four airplanes were hijacked by al Qaeda terrorists.

• Two crashed into the 2 World Trade Center towers.

• One crashed into the Pentagon, the military building of the US armed forces.

• One crashed into a field in Pennsylvania, likely because passengers forced the plane down.

• 2819 people were killed• 343 firefighters and

paramedics were killed

Khalid Sheik Muhhamad was the centralPlanner of the 9/11. Most terrorists (at right)were from Saudi Arabia.

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Firemen going up before towers collapsed.

Shoes people left behind to run faster.

Looking for loved ones.

Temporary memorial to WTC

Pentagon

• A plane crashed into the Pentagon killing hundreds.

• It showed Americans that terrorism doesn’t just happen in New York and our most important buildings are vulnerable.

Pentagon after attack

Flight 93 crashed in Pennsylvania

Its target was possibly the White House or Capitol building. We think the passengers forced the plane down.

Taliban

• Al Qaeda and the Taliban government of Afghanistan were virtually one and the same.

• President George W. Bush sent a small force into Afghanistan to eliminate the government and destroy al Qaeda.

• This war is still going on.• Many criticize President Bush for taking

troops out of Afghanistan to fight in Iraq.

Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan

Where is Afghanistan?

Tora Bora

• Famous battle in Afghanistan where al Qaeda allegedly saved Osama bin Laden’s life and snuck him out of the area.

Tora Bora

Today in Afghanistan• In ‘08, more US troops died in Afghanistan

than in Iraq. US troops are still fighting Taliban and Al Qaeda troops near the Pakistani border.

• In ’04 Afghanistan had its first election. The people voted for Hamid Karzai

• Despite terrorist attacks, daily

life is better in Afghanistan.

• Well, where do you think he is?

Pakistan

• Pakistan is a powerful Muslim country who has cooperated with the USA for years. They have nuclear weapons.

• While the Pakistani government likes the USA, its citizens don’t.

Pakistan cont. . .• If the Pakistani government goes after Osama bin

Laden and al Qaeda too strongly, the Muslim people could overthrow the government and be the first al Qaeda-dominated nuclear power. This is what bin Laden wants!

Review Quiz

Are you ready?

Review Quiz• 1. Name 3 Al Qaeda leaders.• 2. The Soviet Union invaded what country in 1979 where

al Qaeda formed?• 3. In the first Gulf War, what was bin Laden’s objection

regarding American troops in Saudi Arabia?• 4.Was Osama bin Laden friends with Saddam Hussein of

Iraq?• 5. After the first Gulf War, what did Iraq try to do to upset

the USA?• 6. How was the WTC attacked in 1993?• 7. What American embassies were bombed in 1998?• 8. What Navy ship was bombed in 2000?• 9. How many planes were hijacked on 9/11/2001?

Terrorism after 9/11

• In 2005, terrorists bombed a London subway.

• They were trying to get England out of Iraq.

Richard Reid • December 22, 2001• Now known as the “shoe bomber”, tried to destroy an

airplane by igniting explosives hidden inside his shoes. English mother, Jamaican father. Converted to Islam in prison. Now in Colorado.

Bali nightclub bombing Oct. 2002

Where is Bali?

The Muslim World

May 1, 2011

Zero Dark Thirty• May 1, 2011 - In the early morning hours (approximately

mid-afternoon on May 1 in the United States), a group of 25 Navy Seals raid the compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. - They arrive outside the compound in two Black Hawk helicopters. - The operation takes 40 minutes total.- U.S. Special Forces must breach the outer walls of the compound before fighting their way through the ground floor of the three-story building where bin Laden lived.

Zero Dark Thirty con’t

• - The firefight then moves to the second and third floors where the bin Laden family lives.- In the last 5-10 minutes of the firefight, bin Laden is killed by a gunshot wound to the head, above the left eye.- Three men, including a son of bin Laden, are killed as well as one woman. - Bin Laden's body is identified by one of his wives. Facial recognition is used also.