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| Yes | 63% | 258 votes | Total: 409 votes | |
| No | 37% | 151 votes |
Yes
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Add to FavoritesRoadside and subway bombings, cars driven into airports, assassinations, kidnappings and beheadingswelcome to the al-Qaida terrorist network. This is a network with global reach and is one that commits terrorist acts against individuals and governments throughout the world in countries such as the United Kingdom, Spain, Indonesia, Egypt, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Morocco, amongst many others. Al-Qaida perpetrated several attacks against the United States at home and abroad and the United States is a central target of the network. Notably on August 7, 1998, two attacks were carried out within minutes of each other at the U.S. embassies in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and Nairobi, Kenya. On October 12, 2000, in Aden, Yemen, two men drove an explosive-laden boat into the USS Cole, a U.S. Navy destroyer in which seventeen American sailors were killed. Even during this time, al-Qaida was not perceived as a fundamental threat to the U.S. homeland. This all changed on September 11th 2001 with the unprecedented use of airplanes that crashed into the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon in Washington D.C.
Seven years after these attacks on U.S. soil, many say the threat from the network is not as significant as portrayed by some government officials. They say the threat from terrorism is simply overblown. These people generally do not have access to government information and do not see the threat reporting from all levels of the government apparatus. They talk about civil liberties, about government conspiracies, and argue that the United States isn't really facing a "war on terrorism." In their mind, it is all simply contrived and hyped to benefit anyone from corporations to the defense industry.
The reality is there is a lot of money being spent by the U.S. government in order to ensure the safety of Americans both at home and abroad. Law enforcement and intelligence agencies work around the clock to disrupt the activities of those that would like nothing more than to kill Americans. What they do is not always publicized. From time to time we hear about this plot or that plot being thwarted. And, there are just some things that Americans should not be told. Fighting a war against any threat requires some level of secrecy. We simply cannot be told everything the government is doing, otherwise these agencies couldn't effectively fight against al-Qaida because they would be informed of our efforts every step of the way.
Like before 9-11, we are going about our daily lives and even though everything that happens abroad has a connection to us, it is "over there." We go about our daily lives believing that everything is under control by those in the government entrusted to keeping us safe as long as our rights our not infringed upon. Americans once again are complacent. Every year when we commemorate that dark day when al-Qaida struck, we fear that American's are becoming further removed from the reality of terrorist threat. If this were not true, Americans would be demanding the type of security measures in the United States that countries such as Israel accept as part of their daily routine. Americans would stop complaining about even our smallest security measures. Americans would demand the government be more proactive if they believed they faced an impending threat.
Americans remain very insular and insulated about the world around them. Americans have never been outward looking. But we cannot forget that this is indeed how Usama bin Ladin began his campaign and struck while the American giant slept. Against this complacency is the unfortunate reality of the world. Militancy in the Muslim world is at its high point. Attacks take place on a daily basis in numerous countries throughout the world. Opinion polls all over the world indicate that anti-Americanism is at an all time high. To be an American today is not something that is highly regarded no matter what Americans choose to believe about themselves and their way of life. Fighters from around the world descend on Iraq and Afghanistan to challenge Americans. Hatred for U.S. policies is well-publicized. All around the world individuals are being told that "Islam is the Solution" to their problems. We have a significant problem on our hands when radicalized views of Islam are being portrayed as the solution to the problems faced by Muslims. This solution includes violence against others, particularly the United States. Nonetheless, our fear of the al-Qaida network, which draws its support from these radicalized Muslim elements, is not misplaced.
Real security requires that we inconvenience people for the good of the whole and that we look outward at the threats facing us. What is also a requirement is a much more proactive government approach to finally destroy the al-Qaida network. We need to go after the network, not wait for the network to attack us. We are much too reactive in our dealings with al-Qaida and because of the perceived constraints we face as a democratic government, we are much too passive. Effectively fighting al-Qaida on the same level that the network fights us is simply not something that can be carried out in the public realm under the scrutiny of those looking for a reason to claim that terrorism isn't a threat. Proactive approaches require that few people know the reality of what it will take to break a network like al-Qaida. This may not be a popular approach, but it is one that is necessary.
Learn more about this author, Elena Mastors.
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No
Al Qaeda, as an organization, is actually small - no more than a few thousand fighters in any current operational theater...Al Qaeda's leadership, especially senior levels of second-tier leaders, is in constant flux because of lethal attrition inflicted by Western forces or forces friendly to the West. This leadership flux adversely impacts organizational ability to plan and execute against desired targets...While still dangerous at the tactical level, the greater, more strategic threat arises from the conflict between backward looking Islamic theory employed for self-serving reasons by a variety of social-religious-pol itical influencers, and the reality of the modern world.
On the whole, Al Qaeda's military and operational capabilities have been significantly degraded since the US and allies commenced coherent military/civil-milit ary actions against them. Only the most senior of the core organization's leadership appears to have remained intact; and although this leadership is the doctrinal and philosophical 'head of the snake' the core leadership group appears to have little direct operational control over its franchise operations in theaters beyond Afghanistan and the Duran Line region (or semi-autonomous tribal regions) of far northern Pakistan.
Al Qaeda is more a reflection of a social movement than it is a cogent fighting force. There is within the Muslim world a disconnect between Islam's life system-pervasive theology and life in the modern world. The operant philosophy within the Al Qaeda network is extreme fundamentalist Wahabi Sunni Islam; a throwback theo-philosophy which rejects modernity (because this version of Islam is incapable of compromise or evolutionary social growth) which seeks to impose Sharia Law on all other societies, i.e., because Wahabism can't adjust to any values system other than its own, other values systems must be changed to conform to with the Wahabist's values.
While the Al Qaeda movement uses elements of modern technology effectively, particularly the Internet, neither Al Qaeda, its franchised offshoot groups, other types of radicalized Sunnis and certain nationalistic sects within the Shia 'denomination' of Islam actually embrace modernism.
With the advent of satellite TV in the Middle East and Southwest Asia, the average person may now see glimpses, images, of Westernism. In some countries wherein all media are state-owned, only the most reprehensible of Western images are allowed...For example, the Iranian government, the most nationalistic and conservative of all Shiite governments in the region, regularly allows broadcast of truly vile Western pornography. The aim of these broadcasts is not to titillate but to convince Iranian viewers that the West is so wicked and corrupt that it must be brought down.
In Dubai, the United Arab Emirates (predominantly Sunni, moderately secular, and not Wahabist), more than 90% of commercials broadcast on both state-owned and privately owned television are for American-made goods...Chevy is one of the most popular automobile brands because of GM's very successful advertising campaign. Much of the programming available in Dubai is also available in Iran...the mixed images create a very confusing and puzzling image of the West for young Iranians, who comprise about 75% of the population...and some are so outraged by the licentiousness and excess they see on TV that the radical words of radicalized Mullahs have a profoundly negative impact on some young people...
While Iran and the UAE represent the ideological poles within non-Wahabist Islam, most Muslims live somewhere in the theo-philoshical middle ground...Most Muslims live poor, short lives in circumstances ranging from soul-grinding poverty to moderate affluence. Only in Saudi Arabia and the UAE do we find a pervasive affluence - and in both cases, affluence is subsidized by ruling families as a means to stave-off popular uprising against not-so-benign monarchs.
Is it any wonder, then, that millions of young Muslims are disaffected? Should we in the West be surprised that tens of thousands of young, sometimes well-educated young people raised in sub-elite families, are willing to strap a bomb to themselves to murder others? Note that not a single Saudi or UAE prince, son of a Yemeni government official, son of an Iranian Mullah or Egyptian government officer has himself taken to the homicide bomb; while many are sons (and rarely daughters) of mercantile and professionals.
My experience tells me:
- Al Qaeda is a symptom of the conflict within the Islamic world between throwback theo-philosophy and modernism;
- Emotional, intellectual and cultural confusion among literate Muslims is increasing worldwide as they gain visibility on Western culture;
- Radical conservative elements in the Islamic world, in an effort to preserve their current power, foment confusion, discontent and anger then propagandize the populace so anger at perceived inequities, their poverty and political powerlessness is directed at Western interests;
- And, that the number of true believers in the Universal Islamic Caliphate are rare, but often influential and able to radicalize significant numbers of people.
So, no, Al Qaeda isn't as strong as it was in 2001, nor has it been successful in achieving any of its goals; but the number of disaffected and radicalized Muslims has grown significantly...Whil e Al Qaeda and several of its franchise operations remain dangerous on a tactical level, the real strategic threat comes from the sheer numbers of young Muslims who have become radicalized and anti-Western because of disparity between their own life experience and the known possibilities for an alternate life system which continues to remain out of their reach.
Learn more about this author, James Coles.
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